When you fall in love with making coffee, you must be thinking: do I need to buy a coffee grinder? Or you may be thinking, do I need to buy an electric bean grinder or a manual grinder?
I can't tell you which one you should buy, everyone has different habits and preferences. But I would share more information about buying and using it with you. In this blog, I will share the manual coffee grinder. If you also want to know more about manual coffee grinders, that's great!
Do You Honestly Need A Manual Coffee Grinder?
Don't want to have a cache of unused coffee appliances in your home, so before you buy one, ask yourself, do I need a manual coffee grinder?
For example, I like outdoor events, if I buy a fully functional electric grinder, Although one button can start it, it will be used by me in a very short time. Or if you enjoy the process of grinding coffee and like to smell the aroma of coffee being ground, then a manual grinder is the right for you.
In brief, here are three points to consider:
Using environment
A manual coffee grinder may not be a bit good if used in the office (it will be a little awkward) and it takes some time to make a cup of coffee, so if your boss is ok with it, please be willing to use it boldly.
Using purpose
Did you buy the grinder for fine coffee or to settle for a cup of caffeine?
If you like fine coffee, we recommend you buy a high-end grinder with better features (what is a high-end grinder, we will explain next), a manual grinder usually has better cost performance than an electric grinder for the same price, and is more portable and better maintenance cost.
If you like espresso, then a manual grinder will be more tiring for your hands, and an electric grinder may be more suitable for you.
Using frequency
How many cups of coffee do you drink a day? Do you have time to clean the coffee machine?
Making a cup of coffee takes much more than just a few minutes of brewing, you also need to prepare the appliance, boil the water, weigh and grind it, and clean it afterward. Overall, it takes at least 20 minutes. Of course, if you have a dishwasher and your coffee utensils can be put in the dishwasher without fear of breakage, that's fantastic!
How Do I Choose Manual Coffee Grinder
There is no one product will work for everyone. Therefore, I suggest you should fully understand your needs when shopping for one, rather than asking others. The following five dimensions are recommended to consider which manual grinder you should choose.
#1 Price
Hand crank bean grinders may look simple, but the price can range from a dozen to several hundred dollars depending on the materials used, design, manufacturing process, processing accuracy, brand value-added, etc.
If you have heard of "you get what you pay for", you can well understand that the more expensive bean grinders are better than the cheaper ones, both in terms of grinding efficiency and grinding quality.
Grinders around $40 are practical products, they may have a certain gap with the brand's machine, for example, the durability may be slightly weaker.
Grinders around $70 are not bad in performance and are in the most cost-effective price range, and enthusiasts will generally choose products in this range.
Grinders around $140 can be purchased casually, they are not very different from $70, more brand premium.
#2 Grinding efficiency
The high grinding efficiency of the manual grinder is demonstrated by the low force required and the short grinding time.
A manual grinder is usually composed of a crank, a body, a grinding knife, a grinding disc, and a powder bin, five parts.
One turn of the crank, and one turn of the blade, so it is clear that the grinding efficiency is only related to the diameter of the blade. The larger the diameter of the blade, the more beans can be ground at the same time, and the more efficient (and of course, more labor intensive) it is.
Other factors can lead to subtle differences, such as the material and design of the cutter disc, the body material, etc.
#3 Grinding quality
Grinding quality is usually measured by two indicators: "powder size distribution" and "fine powder ratio".
- Powder diameter distribution
Whether it is a manual or electric grinder, although there are differences in the structure of the blade, the principle is to control the size of the ground particles by adjusting the gap between the grinding knives. Coffee powder larger than this gap will be chopped or crushed, while coffee powder smaller than this gap will pass straight through.
No grinder can grind all the coffee particles to the same size (except by other means, such as filtering through a screen).
- Fine powder ratio
Coffee beans will inevitably produce fine powder in the process of grinding.
The material of the cutter plate will affect the design of the cutter plate, for example, ceramic material, due to the issue of ceramic processing, it will not be possible to achieve a sharp edge, which also leads to the ceramic cutter plate can only work in the way of grinding, this will lead to a high proportion of fine powder and low uniformity of grinding.
#4 Maintenance Cost
Usually, we use a small brush to clean up the residual coffee powder on the surface after using the manual grinder.
If you keep the coffee grinder for a long time, you need to take it apart and clean it before storing it to avoid odors.
Note: Not every manual grinder can be disassembled, please refer to the manual for details.
You can also buy a specialized knife plate care solution for maintenance.
#5 Other factors
You may also need to consider a few factors:
- Design
- Portability
- The capacity of the powder compartment
- The link between the powder compartment and the body
- The design of the scale adjustment dial
Which One Should You Buy?
Here I will share a few manual grinders at different price points for your reference.
#2 High Performance with $99.86
(click on the picture to learn more)
(click on the picture to learn more)
If you are just getting started with coffee, the third product will be more suitable for you.
If you like espresso, then the second product is good for grinding espresso powder.
If you are a daily coffee drinker and belong to the daily grinding coffee powder, the first product is a good choice for all the overall ratings.
For more product videos and parameters, please click on the picture to learn more.
