The 10 Best Coffee Grinders - May 2017
Every week we analyse the technical specs, reviews and prices of every coffee grinder on the market in the UK to determine our top 10 list.
In total we compared over 81 coffee grinders, 8 reviews and 802 prices. Last updated 19 May 2017.
DeLonghi KG79 Electric Coffee Grinder
- Has an adjustable grinder settings
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£49.99eBayView Details
- More shops: 1
- £49.99 Currys
KitchenAid KCG0702
- Only released a month ago
- Has an adjustable grinder settings
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£168.05eBaySave £80.16 (32%)View Details
Melitta Molino
- A best selling product
- Running costs are low
- Has an adjustable grinder settings
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£42.99Amazon UKView Details
Cuisinart DBM18E
- Inexpensive
- Has an adjustable grinder settings
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£91.78Amazon UKSave £60.22 (40%)View Details
Sencor SCG 3050SS
- Running costs are low
- Has a fine grinding setting
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£44.77Amazon UKView Details
Graef CM 702
- Has an adjustable grinder settings
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£103.28Amazon UKView Details
Rommelsbacher EGK 200
- Competitively priced
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£57.24Amazon UKView Details
Rommelsbacher EKM 300
- Has an adjustable grinder settings
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£108.31Amazon UKView Details
Breville BCG600SIL
- Has an adjustable grinder settings
-
£145.84eBaySave £27.92 (16%)View Details
DeLonghi KG49 Electric Coffee Grinder
- Cheap
- Has an adjustable grinder settings
-
£29.98PC World BusinessView Details
- More shops: 5
- £29.99 Currys
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Buying a Coffee Grinder
At its core, a coffee grinder is a small machine that take whole coffee beans and runs them through a grinder, providing fresh ground coffee for an excellent brew. While it’s definitely fine to use pre-ground coffee, coffee snobs generally agree that coffee tastes better when you use freshly-ground beans rather than pre-packaged grounds.
Blade grinders
These grinders use sharp blades powered by an electric motor to chop the beans into very fine pieces. These machines are generally the cheapest type of coffee grinder, but they do not produce a particularly even grind - some ground may be significantly different sizes than others, leading to a less-efficient brewing, and less tasty coffee. More troubling, the high RPM of the blades on these type of grinders generates quite a lot of heat, which can lead to actually burning the grounds, making coffee brewed from them taste far more bitter.
Burr grinders
This method of grinding is the traditional way of grinding coffee, and has changed very little since the manual grinders that used to be used. The ‘burrs’ in question are toothed or notched gears, which crush and grind the beans into a uniform manner. They give a far more consistent grind than blade grinders, but tend to be slightly more expensive. Burr grinders also improve on blade grinders by being able to vary the size of the grind, allowing them to be effectively used for a wide variety of coffee brewing methods.
There are two main types of burr grinder: conical and wheel. Conical grinders are quieter but also slighly more expensive than wheel grinders.
Capacity
Coffee grinders all have a different capacity, measuring that amount of ground coffee the machine can hold. Some grinders contain a big hopper that can hold enough grounds for several cafetieres, others will only product enough grounds for a single cup - these usually have inbuilt ‘dose controls’ to make sure only the right amount of grounds are produced at once.
Which capacity is best for you depends on what kind of coffee you mot regularly make - families and companies may prefer a bigger capacity, while solo coffee drinkers may only need a grinder that dispenses a single dose at a time.
Timer
More advanced coffee grinders will allow you to set a timer for how long the grinder will run - this allows you to create the precise grind quantity for the amount of coffee you want to make, especially when using bladed grinders. Some coffee makers will measure out in seconds of grinding, others will measure in cups. In both cases, you will need to experiment to find the right amount of coffee grinds for your chosen method of brewing.
Grind Settings
Burr and disc coffee grinders have settings to change the size of the coffee grounds produced by the machine. This is important because different types of brewing methods favour different sizes of grinds - an espresso machine requires an extremely fine blend, whereas using a cafetiere requires far coarser grounds. Many will have pre-programmed settings to allow for easy selection, but will also allow manual adjustment.
For bladed grinders, it is more difficult to adjust the side of the grind, since the blades cannot be modified to cut coarser or finer. However you can gain an approximation of different grind sizes by grinding the beans for longer. As a good rule of thumb 8-10 seconds will give you a coarse grind, with 12-15 seconds giving a medium grind, and 15-20 for a fine grind.
With all types of grinder, you have to experiment a bit to find the perfect grind setting for the coffee you want to make. If you find too many ground leaking into the coffee, try a coarser grind. If you want a more intense flavour, try finer grounds.
Coffee Grinder Retailers, Prices and Features
Coffee Grinder Prices
In total we found 41 coffee grinders ranging from £0 to £257. The average price of a new coffee grinder is £53 and 80% of coffee grinders are priced between £0 and £160. The DeLonghi KG 520M is the most expensive coffee grinder that we found at £256, and the ProfiCook PC-KSW 1093 is the cheapest at only £0.
Coffee Grinder Brands - Price Range
Peugeot coffee grinders start at £212 and the most expensive Peugeot coffee grinder costs £212. The highest average coffee grinder price out of all brands is Peugeot coffee grinders with an average price of £212.
KitchenAid coffee grinders range in price from £168 to £168, and the average price of KitchenAid coffee grinders is £168 which is the second highest average price of all coffee grinder brands.
Breville coffee grinders start at £146 and the most expensive Breville coffee grinder costs £146. The third highest average coffee grinder price out of all brands is Breville coffee grinders with an average price of £146.
Coffee Grinder Brands - Average Ratings
We couldn't find any reviews for coffee grinders.The top three coffee grinder brands are Sencor, OBH Nordica and Adler. Sencor has an average rating of 0%, OBH Nordica has an average rating of 0% and Adler has an average rating of 0%.
Biggest Coffee Grinder Retailers
We found 14 current offers for coffee grinders from Amazon UK making it the biggest coffee grinder retailer. That is slightly bigger than the second biggest retailer, eBay for whom we found 12 current offers for coffee grinders. The third biggest retailer is Sabalex with 4 current coffee grinder offers.
When Are Most New Coffee Grinders Released?
July to August is the most common period for new coffee grinders to be released in. If you want the latest coffee grinder features you may be best waiting until July 2017. Alternatively you might be able to buy one of the current coffee grinders cheaper in July once the latest models have been released. August was the biggest month last year for new coffee grinders, with six new coffee grinders released that month. The biggest month in 2015 for new coffee grinder releases was January, with seven new coffee grinders released that month. 13 new coffee grinders were released in July 2014 making it the biggest month that year for new coffee grinder releases.
How Fast Do Coffee Grinder Prices Drop After Release?
On average, in the first 6 months after release, coffee grinders drop in price by 21%. That means that on a typical coffee grinder costing £50 you could save on average £10 by waiting 6 months before buying.
Coffee Beans Capacity
The coffee beans capacity of coffee grinders range from 30g to 700g. The coffee beans capacity of most coffee grinders range from 30g to 97g. The SwanSF16020N has the biggest coffee beans capacity. This coffee grinder is a 700g capacity coffee grinder and is priced at £9.99. The SwanSF16020N has the smallest coffee beans capacity. This coffee grinder is a 30g capacity coffee grinder and is on sale for £77.18.
Adjustable Grinder Settings
The number of new coffee grinders that do and are coffee grinders without an adjustable grinder settings is roughly the same. 22 coffee grinders (50%) do are coffee grinders with an adjustable grinder settings.
Biggest Coffee Grinder Retailers
The biggest coffee grinder retailer by number of products currently for sale is Amazon UK. We found 14 current coffee grinder offers from Amazon UK. The second biggest coffee grinder retailer is eBay with 12 offers. That means Amazon UK is slightly bigger than eBay when it comes to coffee grinders. Sabalex is the third biggest retailer with 4 current offers.
Which Are the Cheapest Retailers for Coffee Grinders?
The retailer that most frequently offered the cheapest price on coffee grinders is Amazon UK and offers the cheapest price on 13 coffee grinders.
Proportion of Coffee Grinders for Which Each Retailer is Cheapest?
The shop that most frequently offered the cheapest price on coffee grinders is Amazon UK and offers the cheapest price on 92.9% of its coffee grinders.