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Burr Coffee Grinder vs Chopper/Blender

Watch out for products which purport to be grinders but are in actual fact bladed choppers/blenders.

What’s the difference you may ask?

Grind: To crush, pulverize, or reduce to powder by friction, especially by rubbing between two hard surfaces: grind wheat into flour

Chop: To cut into small pieces

Chopping

A chopper usually uses a sharpened stainless steel blade which spins at high speed, you control the fineness of the end product by the length of time you chop for.

PROS: The cheapest machine to get your coffee beans into a usable size for making filter coffee.

CONS: Noisy, Inconsistent particle size, you tend to end up with some extremely fine parts and other large pieces, Results are as consistent as your judgement

Grinding

Whereas a grinder usually consists of one stationary and one rotating ceramic disc. The closer the discs are together the finer the final grind.

PROS: Consistent particle size, means more consistent results, You can set the grind and you’ll get the same result each time, Reasonable price if you shop around

CONS: Noisy, Can get hot if used for large volumes of bean

I definitely think it is worth spending the extra to get something that does what the cheaper versions like to say theirs does, grind. I bought a Krups GVX2 about 2 years ago and it has served brilliantly.

Reasonably priced grinders

Prices are what I found at the time of writing, find a better deal let me know and I’ll add it.

Gater Manual Burr Grinder – R349

Great but they can be a workout the more cups you plan to do.

Hario Skerton Ceramic Burr Manual Coffee Grinder – R569

Porlex Mini Hand Mill – R795

Tiny but packs a punch, fits into an aeropress for travelling and grinds about twice as quick as the Hario Skerton at the same fineness.

Krups GVX242 – Burr Coffee Grinder – R599

Make sure you give your machine a break if you are grinding a lot of beans otherwise you’ll warp the plastic and you’ll have a costly door stop.

Melitta Molino Grinder – R679

Severin Conical Burr Grinder – R1339

Graef CM 702 Coffee Grinder – R1850

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