Choosing the Right Coffee Grinder
Posted: March 30th, 2010 | Author: author | Filed under: General | No Comments »
If you consider yourself a serious coffee drinker, you have no doubt decided that freshly ground coffee beans lead to a better cup. As with most foods, coffee beans deteriorate when exposed to air. Ground coffee is affected by the same issue as a slice of cake. Because a bigger part of the surface area is exposed to the air, it will deteriorate much quicker. Also, be sure not to miss the Nespresso D290 Espresso Machine.
Purchasing coffee beans and grinding them at home will ensure that you are brewing the freshest coffee and as a result getting the freshest tasting cup. Naturally, grinding coffee at home isn’t exactly convenient, so if you want to take the time to grind coffee, you ought to be sure you get the best coffee grinder you can afford. Be sure to check out the Bunn A10 Pour-O-Matic.
There are two large types of coffee grinders; burr grinders and blade grinders. So, the first choice you should make is the kind of grinder you would like. Blade grinders do not technically grind the ingredients; rather, they slice the coffee into chunks. These types are the more common type of home coffee grinders, yet they cause the complication of inconsistent granule sizes. Because the size of the coffee particles can vary, the amount of flavor released during brewing will change every time. Another problem encountered with blade grinders is that they produce friction and heat, which releases a bit of the essence from the granules in advance of brewing.
Burr grinders avoid the problems experienced with blade grinders by helping the user to control the fineness of the granules as well as the speed of the teeth. A Burr grinder crushes the beans by using two metal plates, one of them having teeth. Burr grinders enable you to adjust the size of the granules based on the style of coffee you want to make. Seeing as you can dictate the speed, you may even dictate the amount of heat and safeguard the flavor of your beans.
There are two kinds of burr grinders: wheel grinders and conical grinders. Wheel burr grinders result in well ground coffee, but those models are somewhat messy and noisy. Conical grinders are made to run much slower, which means that you could grind extremely fine coffee – such as the type used for expressos.
The more important features you ought to look for in any kind of coffee grinder are quality construction, reasonable noise levels and ease in cleaning. Timers in addition to automatic shutoff functions can be very useful, and you’ll find it a requirement to see the coffee grounds. A tinted plastic window may look fashionable, but it will make it very hard for you to monitor the hue of the beans as they are ground. Obviously, the highest quality grinder you find will cost considerably more than a so-so one, so while you are prioritizing your preferred characteristics, you will want to figure out your budget also.