Burr Coffee Grinders Versus Electric Blade Coffee Grinders
July 30, 2010 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized
If you are thinking of purchasing a coffee grinder there are primarily two kinds, the burr coffee grinder and the electric blade coffee grinder. I will be writing about what each type does and how it operates, so you can decide which is the best purchase for your home.
The lesser expensive of the two kinds of coffee grinders is the blade grinder. The electric version was introduced into the U.S. market in the 1950s. Some say that this type of coffee grinder is similar to a small electric blender.
If you are goint to make an espresso drink using this kind of grinder you won’t be able to get the exact grind that is necessary because this type of grinder has no grind settings.
On the other hand blade grinders are inexpensive and quick. You can grind beans for regular drip coffee in about 25 seconds.A drawback for this quickness however is that the flavor of the bean can be destroyed due to the heat from the blades.
The second type of grinder is the burr coffee grinder which is a bit more expensive but will provide a much better grind for specialty drinks such as cappuccino and lattes.
Burr type grinder like the grinder in the Gaggia Titanium SS espresso machine have correctly flake the coffee bean little by little using rough metal plates. The wheels of the grinder turn slowly which keeps the heat to a minimum and thus exposing the beans to the most surface area for extracting the oils.
Most quality grinders of this type will have a dosing mechanism that will measure the amount of ground beans to be placed into the porta filter of your espresso machine.
One thing to keep in mind however is that if you use your burr grinder to grind flavored beans that it might flavor the burrs and cause your regular beans to take on a different flavor.It’s nearly impossible to get the burr wheels all of the way clean.
Now days when you purchase an espresso machine a lot of them, for example the Gaggia Titanium coffee machine 90500 will come with a quality burr grinder built right in.