The grinder is the most important part of every coffee. Without a good grinder, a consistent grinder, all your efforts to make coffee will be in vain.
If you’ve decided to purchase a grinder for yourself –or replace the one you might not be satisfied with-, we’ve compiled a list of grinders that we consider to be some of the best that we hope can be useful to you.
Overall Rating: 8/10
DeLonghi has been in the game for quite some time now. Their most known products are their good-looking stainless steel finish espresso machines. This grinder is a perfect match for that aesthetic, with a smooth stainless steel finish itself and a modern LCD display.
The Good:
- It comes with a surprisingly good air-tight container for ground coffee. We wish all containers were like this one!
- It has 18 grind settings plus 3 strength settings, so you can experiment around and see which combination you like the best.
- Very easy to use. The LCD display makes it easy to navigate the setting of your grind.
- The guys at DeLonghi have great step-by-step videos on youtube so you can see exactly how to set up your machine.
The Bad:
- The Hopper does not have any sort of lid below so there’s no way to unlatch it while it still has beans inside.
- The burr setting can only be adjusted while the machine is at work, which is a little inconvenient.
- It doesn’t take much advantage of its LCD display. It’s there to make things easier, but by no means necessary for you to adjust the settings on the grinder.
- It is a little more expensive than grinders of the same quality.
Overall Rating: 10/10
The Rancilio is a coffee lover’s dream. It is a simple machine that looks like it belongs in the last century yet it’s easy to use and it’s great for grinding coffee directly into a portafilter. It barely has anything more than an on/off switch. It is the long-time most used grinder in professional settings, and it’s easy to see why: the consistency of the grind with this machine is fantastic. Truly incomparable quality.
The Good:
- Grounds are not deposited anywhere but it is you who decides whether to have a container or have that space free and collect the grounds each time with a portafilter or something similar to hold the grounds.
- Great grinding consistency.
- Perfect for coffee shops.
- Sturdy; reported to last 10+ years without any change in performance.
The Bad:
- Very hard to clean. It was designed to take a heavy workload, but in-depth cleaning is very hard since you can’t take it apart.
- Quite expensive.
Make sure you also check out “How to Clean a Coffee Grinder With Ease” for a guide on cleaning your coffee grinder to get the most out of it.
Overall Rating: 8/10
The OXO team has put together a grinder that aims to give you the best possible grind for just a fraction of the price of most professional grinders, and a result is an effective machine that feels pro but it doesn’t leave you broke.
The Good:
- The burrs are stainless steel, so they’re made to last for a really long time. This means that you probably won’t ever need to buy replacement parts for this grinder, which is a huge plus.
- The design is great, and it doesn’t take up much space, so it’s easy to set up anywhere you want.
- The Hopper has a UV blocking tint to further protect coffee beans’ integrity which is just an admirable (and adorable) attention to detail on their part.
The Bad:
- It’s hard to clean. You can’t take apart the burrs completely so there’s always some space left that you can’t get to.
- It’s noisy, and the whole machine tends to vibrate, making even more noise.
- Some performance problems over time have been reported with this machine, which does not inspire confidence.
The high-performance burr set helps create cafe-quality coffee, making this grinder perfect for your coffee journey. The Virtuoso+ has an accurate fine to coarse grind for all popular brew methods and grinds at a speed of 2g/second.
Overall Rating: 8/10
The Baratza compensates for its chunky design with a very attractive, shiny finish that makes it stand out from the rest of the grinders. The design is a little bit traditional, although we rather like that part of it, although the digital display helps it look more modern.
The Good:
- It has 40+ settings, and, when it comes to grinders, the more the better!
- It’s designed to last for a long time, with its parts being built in Europe before assembling.
- Design to fit in whether you’re using it at your home or in your coffee shop.
The Bad:
- Space, where coffee grounds come from, is rather impractical if you don’t want to use the one that they provide.
- For a semi-professional grinder, it is very expensive.
Overall Rating: 9/10
This one’s packed with features that make this machine, in our opinion, the most convenient one to use. The digital display makes it easy to have the settings all in one place, and the design of the machine is the best one we’ve seen so far. Check out the smart grinder pro now.
The Good:
- Highly programmable and has 60+ grind settings.
- It has lots of space for you to grind your coffee into plus a cradle that lets you place a portafilter so you can grind right into it.
- You can program dosing time, which is a great plus for people who like to play a lot with grinding times.
The Bad:
- The grind settings, although many, are still very much on the finer side. You can still further change this by taking apart the burr and manually adjusting it, but it’s too much work and can’t really be done on-the-go.
- The material of the cradle, hopper, and container is rather cheap.
Be sure to check out “9 Best Cheap Coffee Grinders if You Are on a Budget” for coffee grinders that are more affordable.
Overall Rating: 7/10
While not nearly as good as some of the ones we’ve been seeing, this machine is definitely the best one you could ever find at this price.
The Good:
- Grinds extremely fine coffee despite being a cheap grinder, which makes it suitable for specialty coffee.
- Despite its simplicity, it does not look cheap at all, but rather professional: It fits in perfectly in a professional environment.
- Can’t beat that price.
The Bad:
- Too little settings. Grind customization is very restricted.
- The design is a little faulty, so it’s impossible not to spill ground coffee everywhere when trying to retrieve the container. This is a very annoying flaw.
- Grind consistency could be better.
Overall Rating: 7/10
We highly recommend this grinder for people who’ve never used a grinder before. It’s got all the basic settings, and it is very easy to use. The price is perfect for someone who is just getting into grinding their own coffee, and it will produce satisfying results.
The Good:
- It has a lot of grind settings despite being a cheap grinder, which is great.
- Very cheap!
- We like the hopper on this grinder. The lid is easy to remove, and it holds a good amount of beans.
The Bad:
- Very noisy.
- The plastic material feels fragile; low-quality material.
- Prone to overheating if used too much.
Overall Rating: 10/10
A true professional coffee grinder, the Vario is made to achieve extremely precise grinding, with ceramic, flat burrs that are guaranteed to get the most out of every bean you grind. The design is stunning, and it feels like you’re operating a fine machine.
Among the Baratza grinders, this one is the most suited for heavier workloads. Along with the Rancilio, the best choice for coffee shops.
The Good:
- It has 230 grind settings. Which is, well, a lot. The only problem here would be settling on one!
- The grind is perfect for higher quality coffee since it grinds as fine as can be.
- Ceramic burrs mean that they’ll go years without wearing out, very durable.
- Awesome design looks good anywhere you put it.
- Has a portafilter holder for grinding coffee directly into your portafilter.
The Bad:
- Expensive (but worth it)
- It’s quite loud, which might be a problem depending on where (and when) you’re using it.
Take your time to make a choice. The grinder is very important, as we said before: It is better to wait some time until you can save up for a better grinder than buy one just to get it out of the way. Price may not be the most important thing of all, but it does make a big difference.
Thank you for reading! Be sure to also check out “Best Coffee Grinders in 2019” to see our list of best possible grinders. Become a part of our exclusive Coffee Sesh Facebook Group, Daily Coffee Talk, and join our expanding coffee community. And don’t forget— we’re on Pinterest and Instagram! Check us out for daily coffee content.
We’ll brew ya later! ☕️
