Coffee is a complex product. Most of the steps from planting, harvesting, washing, transporting to roasting are out of your control. But there are two important steps that depend on you: how to grind coffee and how to make it.
Since we have to grind coffee first, let's discuss how to maximize the flavor of coffee beans and make a good preparation for making a perfect coffee!
There are five different types of coffee grinder: blade type, cone burr type, flat wheel burr type, roller type and traditional mortar and pestle. Most have manual and automatic versions.
Blade grinder
This type of grinder uses a set of rotatable blades to cut coffee beans into small pieces like a propeller. Blade grinder is cheap, widely used because of its simple operation, and is very popular.
However, they have some defects. First of all, the only way to control the grinding degree of coffee beans is the grinding time. The longer the blade is rotated, the finer the coffee beans are ground.
The problem is that some beans are more finely cut than others, grinding out a mixture of coffee powder and lumps. When you make coffee, it is very important to maximize the flavor of the coffee. Otherwise, small coffee beans will be over extracted (which will make the coffee sour), while large coffee beans will not be fully extracted (which will make the coffee as plain and boring as water).
The second problem with blade grinders is that they generate heat. Because the propeller gets hot, it will trigger the chemical reaction of coffee beans, which will change the flavor before being brewed.
Conical Burr Grinder
Instead of using a blade, the Burr Grinder uses a stationary and movable burr, where the coffee beans are crushed in the void. In the conical Burr Grinder, both burrs are conical, and the coffee beans are pulled into the coffee grinder by gravity.
This method has great advantages. Unlike a blade grinder, each coffee bean is ground once through the coffee and is ground to a uniform size. In addition, the burr does not produce as much heat as the blade, so it does not change the flavor of the coffee beans. There are electric and manual versions of the conical Burr Grinder. Manual is ideal for office and travel, because they are portable and relatively light. Electric is more convenient, but the relative price is higher and noisy.
If you like to grind your coffee beans by hand on a quiet Saturday morning, the manual grinder is the best choice. For most people who wake up bleary eyed, easy to use electric Burr Grinder is also a relatively high price.
Flat wheel Burr Grinder
Unlike conical burrs, the flat wheel Burr Grinder uses two flat wheel burrs to grind beans.
The advantage is that the grinding is extremely uniform, but the shape of the flat wheel makes it easier for coffee beans to get stuck, and the machine needs to be cleaned more thoroughly.
Similarly, there are manual and automatic versions, and the advantages and disadvantages are also described above.
Mortar and pestle
To pursue the ultimate manual grinding experience, use the most primitive way. Needless to say, grinding your coffee with a mortar and pestle is a challenge that requires great skill and patience.
But in addition to the aesthetic experience of preparing coffee in this most classic way, the biggest advantage of this method is that it can achieve the ultimate fineness of grinding. If you like the way Turkish coffee is prepared, that is, pour hot water directly on the ground coffee as fine as powder, the mortar and pestle may be your grinding tool.
(however, please make sure that your mortar is only used for grinding coffee. Otherwise, if you grind other spices and beans with the same mortar and pestle, it will taste immediately.)
Roller grinder
Using a roller grinder, the beans are ground between the spiral rollers. The coffee produced by this method is very even. But you should not use them at home, because they are expensive and large, and most of the roller grinders are used by commercial and industrial coffee manufacturers.
summary
Even though there are many options for grinding coffee beans, most people prefer the two most popular options: the blade grinder with high cost performance but disadvantages, or the (electric) conical Burr Grinder with higher price but more convenient and reliable.
If sensitive to price, the manual conical Burr Grinder is better than the cheap electric blade grinder. It only takes a few minutes to grind the coffee beans manually, and the coffee beans can be grinded more evenly manually. Look at the equipment we have, and try it!
If you buy ground coffee beans at present, any way will greatly enhance the flavor of coffee, really, you will be surprised!
