Using the Aeropress grinders is one of the most popular ways to brew coffee at home. Its simplicity and ease of use making it accessible for all kinds of coffee lovers, no matter how learned they are at the art of making coffee: you don’t have to be a barista to make great coffee with an Aeropress!
In this article, we will go over why freshly grinding coffee is essential for our press coffee. We think that owning a coffee grinder exponentially increases the quality of your coffee.
What is a Coffee Grinder?
A coffee grinder is a tool to grind whole coffee beans. You can also be called a coffee mill – although “grinder” is more accurate. You might at times see certain products advertised as “blade grinders”: grinding, by definition, involves friction. A blade grinder chops coffee beans endlessly until the pieces are too small to be chopped any further— the result looks the same, yet it isn’t. We strongly advise against using blade grinder for coffee; they do work fine for other purposes!
Owning a coffee grinder helps you make fresher coffee with a superior taste and aroma. And whole bean coffee is cheaper, so you’ll end up saving money. It’s what the kids call a “win-win.”
Best coffee grinders for Aeropress
Porlex Mini
Barely 6 inches in height, the Porlex looks more like a precision tool than a fancy coffee grinder, and that’s a good thing. Made in Japan, the quality of the materials and this grinder’s craftsmanship is definitely above most other manual grinders.
In terms of consistency and use, the Porlex is incredibly easy to master and will produce great, consistent results from the first use.
1Zpresso Q2
This grinder has a much more modern look. The triaxial design makes for a much more control grind size, giving you over 60 different grind settings that you can choose from.
In their words, it’s smaller than a can of soft drink. It has a very sophisticated look, with its wooden handle being the most salient feature of the design.
Baratza Encore
The Baratz encore has for years being the best choice as a first grinder. It looks and works much like a commercial coffee grinder, but just on a very small scale. Like most other items on this list, this is an electrical grinder, which means it’ll be more expensive, bigger, and significantly noisier, which can deter some people.
In most cases, however, the Baratza Encore will be an optimal choice. It grinds smoothly, consistently, and quickly. An all-rounder and therefore an excellent choice for beginners of any kind.
JavaPresse Manual Coffee Grinder
This is an Aeropress coffee grinder with many buzzes, the Java press has been featured in many mainstream news outlets. It was one of the first manual grinders to make it big, thanks to its excellent functionality and flawless, stunning design.
The Java press works seamlessly to create any grind size you want. It is the kind of a grinder that lasts a long time and never stops grinding as good as the first day: a great buy no matter how you look at it.
Bellemain Burr Coffee Grinder
The only other electrical coffee grinder on this list deserves a spot because of its incredibly convenient design. Unlike virtually all other electrical coffee grinders, which copy the appearance of all other commercial coffee grinders, this one achieves a unique look while being very ergonomic and, therefore, perfect for home use.
The Bellemain has up to 14 grind settings, a meat Bean Hopper to put all your beans in, and a spacious receptacle for ground coffee. It’s easy to use, it’s relatively cheap compared to other electrical grinders, and it is perfect for home use.
Buyer’s Guide
Now that we’ve gone over what our options are, we need to establish what exactly it is that we need most from a coffee grinder. The Wii in this sentence refers to you! Because this is a very personal thing, every one of us has a very different concept of the ideal coffee grinder.
This is why we will be talking about the four universal, most essential characteristics of every Aeropress coffee grinder.
Consistency
Consistency means how good a particular grinder is and replicating the same grind size each time. Older models don’t have a way to record or mark the setting you are using. Newer models, however, using the triaxial system have set in stone grind settings which you can pick and will, making consistency very easy. Electrical grinders also have set in stone grind settings, which you can choose from, although these are not as consistent as manual grinders.
Settings
This part is quite self-explanatory: the more settings your grinder has, the more variety of brand sizes you can choose from for your coffee, the better! We see each additional grind setting as an additional value for an Aeropress coffee grinder. Although Grand sizes are usually separated between fine medium and coarse, there’s a world inside each of these, and the more you can play with the grinder, the more you can narrow down your preference and achieve a unique coffee.
Size
The size of the grinder matters for reasons that don’t have to do with the taste of our coffee. Instead, it matters because of convenience – a big electrical grinder has no place in a studio apartment or a kitchen shared by several roommates because they are very big, messy, and noisy. Although this might not be an issue for people that can afford to use a lot of space for their Aeropress coffee grinder, for those of us who can’t easily find space in our kitchen for new things, a manual grinder is usually the ideal choice as they are very small and cheap.
Quality
The quality of the product is, obviously, essential. Every product on this list has been carefully selected and sure to be of high quality. If you decide to stray from this list, we recommend you either stick to similar brands (like Baratza, for example) or take your time to research the brand and product you’re about to purchase. Knockoffs and imitation and grinders are not all that rare. They can be almost indistinguishable from the original product – be careful, and the product you’re purchasing is high quality and authentic.
