# Any advice on burr grinders for a newbie?



## iliria (Oct 25, 2011)

I am looking to buy a nice little burr grinder for home to grind coffee for french-press and vacuum siphon coffee. I have no intention of venturing into the espresso "area" at this point in time. I have done a bit of reading and learned a bit about anti static, noise and consistency of grind. I am also aware that you get what you pay for. My budget is around £60 and I am well aware that at that budget I won't get the anti static feature. Is there a burr grinder that would have a good consistency of grind and low noise levels for my price range?

I am new to the home brewed coffee world so any advice would be much appreciated.


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## seeq (Jul 9, 2011)

I would state before anyone else does that your budget is a little low. That said your question is what you can get for that budget for drip/French press brewing. I am not aware of much available between the krupps/delonghi grinders and the £100+ grinders that everyone is bound to suggest. Does it have to be electronic? For a low budget hand grinders are available and almost as good as the £100+ electronic ones.

I will probably get crucified for this, but for drip and french press I would probably just stick to a krupps grider for around £30. The consistency is not as important as it is with espresso. Unless you are planning on something such as an aero press.


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

I would definitely recommend the baratza maestro (in your price range). Or if you want more stepped settings get the Baratza Virtuoso (probably not in your price range).

The more you read about Baratza, the more you realise what a great company they are.


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## bobbytoad (Aug 12, 2011)

Krupps is fine for drip and french press but cant go anywhere near fine enough for espresso - though may do the job for you


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## iliria (Oct 25, 2011)

fatboyslim said:


> I would definitely recommend the baratza maestro (in your price range). Or if you want more stepped settings get the Baratza Virtuoso (probably not in your price range).
> 
> The more you read about Baratza, the more you realise what a great company they are.


Did a Google search on the Maestro but unfortunately the cheapest I could find was £100 which is beyond my price range.


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## iliria (Oct 25, 2011)

seeq said:


> I would state before anyone else does that your budget is a little low. That said your question is what you can get for that budget for drip/French press brewing. I am not aware of much available between the krupps/delonghi grinders and the £100+ grinders that everyone is bound to suggest. Does it have to be electronic? For a low budget hand grinders are available and almost as good as the £100+ electronic ones.
> 
> I will probably get crucified for this, but for drip and french press I would probably just stick to a krupps grider for around £30. The consistency is not as important as it is with espresso. Unless you are planning on something such as an aero press.





bobbytoad said:


> Krupps is fine for drip and french press but cant go anywhere near fine enough for espresso - though may do the job for you


The French press I have is a Bodum Chambord and I plan to get a Bodum Pebo (former Santos) vacuum coffee maker in the near future. I dont have any intentions to make espresso in the next few years so not too fussed about the fine settings really.

Is the Krupps grinder better than the DeLonghi KG79 grinder?


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## Monkey_Devil (Jul 11, 2011)

I don't have experience with these, but I'd go for a porlex or hario hand grinder. Consistency is important for French press to minimize the "mud". I have the Krups gvx2 as an old present from my parents and to be honest, it feels cheap, lacks decent user control (coarseness important particularly for vac pot) and just feels cheap and nasty. Also, a lot of grinds stay in the chute and cleaning it is impossible to do well.


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## RolandG (Jul 25, 2010)

I've got a Dualit - as with the others, not espresso suited, and I haven't tried with a vac pot, but works well for all other brewed/filter methods. That's around £60 - £70. The porlex or hario hand mills are also good value, but obviously rather a lot of extra hassle for regular use (not as quick or accurate to adjust grind with either). I can't comment on the Krups etc, but I've found the dualit to be sturdy and reliable, and relatively easy to maintain.


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

Without wanting to cause arguments, I would say definitely don't go with a hand grinder! I find with both my Hario slim and my Porlex that the coarser you go the less consistent it is. I've been on the lookout for a dualit for brewed on ebay for a while but really it's the maestro plus that I want.

I'd say go for a dualit, it should be fine for brewed


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## iliria (Oct 25, 2011)

Since it's been mentioned I've heard that hand grinders are quite good but they're slow. What do people mean by slow? How long would it take for a hand grinder (Let's say...Zassenhaus Brasilia) to grind enough coffee to make two mugs in a frenchpress?


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

I agree with Luke. Inconsistent grind size with hario mini mill made bad coffee for me. A decent grinder does still matter for non-espresso coffee so go for the best you can afford. I'd only choose a hand grinder if there was no other option.


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## MartinB (May 8, 2011)

My Gaggia MM is fine for Aeropress & French press however a tad noisy. You can pick them up on ebay from £15-£50. Just about suitable for espresso too if you were to get into that but definitely worth an upgrade if you were to opt for espresso.


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## iliria (Oct 25, 2011)

MikeHag said:


> I'd only choose a hand grinder if there was no other option.


Are hand grinders that bad? I read somewhere that a good hand grinder is as good as £100+ auto grinders. I know that hand grinders are slow in comparison to auto, but that doesnt bother me much since I won't prepare more than 4 cups of coffee per day. That's about 3-4 minutes of grinding time which I am happy to do.

If I had the option to get either a Zassenhaus Brasilia or a Dualit 75002 auto grinder, both the same price, which one should I go for?

Are Zassenhaus still as good as they used to be?


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

For most folks they probably aren't as bad as I'm making out. I'm just picky.


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

iliria said:


> Are hand grinders that bad? I read somewhere that a good hand grinder is as good as £100+ auto grinders.


I'd say that for espresso that might be the case, but for brewed I'd take a cheap electric burr grinder over a hand grinder any day of the week.


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## iliria (Oct 25, 2011)

Thank you everyone for your advice. After listening to the opinions here and doing some research (actually quite a lot of it) on the internet I purchased a Porlex Tall Hand grinder. I believe it will be sufficient for my needs and the fact that can grind for Turkish coffee is also a bonus. And best of all I can take it with me in the office. Imagine a 35 year old male social worker sitting in the office grinding coffee (in my break hour of course). That will either make people wet themselves laughing or it will just reinforce even more the idea that social workers sit around doing no work. lol


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