A Beginner's Guide to Coffee Grinders

Some grinder-related videos I've made in the past:

Links:


My Books:

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Things I use and like:
Neewer Products I Use:

[efa]

I just put the beans in a ziplock bag and smash them to bits with a heavy saucepan. Coffee so good it wakes up everyone in the house.

[MedievalFolkDance]

In France as a kid, I remember grinding beans being almost a community activity. My dad used to sit in the garden with a few neighbours, they'd each have a wooden box hand cranker. They'd be out there for hours, drinking wine, smoking ciggies and generally having a good old time of it. It may or may not have been entirely about grinding beans, but, we always had fresh coffee.

[mortviolette]

As someone who accidentally purchased whole bean coffee last week, doesn’t own a grinder, and resorted to using a mortar and pestle this morning to grind my beans, I found this extremely helpful!

[hschwartz]

If I saw that last grinder in someone's kitchen my first thought would be "that's a cool telescope"

[enesjei]

I've been binge watching this channel for few hours already, I don't even drink coffee...
It's fascinating that there's so many tools to just create a cup of coffee.

[dportass]

James Hoffmann: Here's another 20+ minute video about something about coffee...
Me: You had me at James Hoffmann

[dugldoo]

I have a 40 + year old Krups 203 blade grinder (serial number 410) that I could barely afford to buy as a poor college student. I learned to rapidly pulse, rotate and shake the little Krups as I ground the beans to get a surprisingly uniform grind. I also learned never to overload it so the ground coffee wouldn't heat up or get compacted on the bottom and sides. I lived in a little house in the hills outside of town and made my coffee from a mountain spring. Fellow students and professors who came out to the house for extended discussions under the trees, including seasoned and prideful coffee aficionados, said I made the best coffee around. The Krups 203 is still going strong, now mostly as a spice grinder.

[FriedNugget]

In the Netherlands, we don't really value coffee for its quality but more for the caffeine. It was beyond eye opening when I went to Indonesia and had amazing quality coffee. Ever since then, to keep things simple, I have owned a blade coffee grinder and a French Press. Up until I discovered your channel I hadn't considered the grind uniformity at all and just thought that the finer the grind, the better the coffee. I'll be looking for a hand grinder to give me a much better grind uniformity.

[seanbaron]

I am someone that becomes very easily overwhelmed with the many choices I have as a (coffee) consumer. I appreciate how relaxing, informative and balanced your walkthrough is here, so thank you for that!!

[Electrastar]

I never considered buying a grinder until I started following this channel so that has been very informative.

[IvoPavlik]

= Theory =
01:23 Why do we grind?
03:24 Quality pre-grind vs. cheap fresh grind
04:08 Grinding uniformity
05:15 Grind size control

05:59 Skillshare ad.
06:44 Blade grinder
08:00 Burr grinders

= Hand Grinders =
08:19 £40
09:27 £100
10:47 Expensive

= 11:25 Electric Burr Grinders =
11:39 £125
12:47 £250
13:52 £350 Classic espresso grinder
15:24 £400–£500 Modern universal grinders
16:13 Retention
17:56 Conical vs. flat burrs
18:37 Replaceable burrs
19:26 An expensive grinder

[Talsbynians]

My favorite aspect of James Hoffmann’s videos is that he never sounds condescending to people like me who’re just getting started. Even in videos that aren’t just getting started guides, I don’t feel like he’s letting snobbiness overtake educating

[fargoflagrant]

James: the joy of grinding coffee
me: * carefully spinning the handle of my fragile cheap hand grinder for several minutes * haha... yes... the joy :')

[yetanotherstronk]

You have a talent for going into a lot of technical detail while keeping the content entirely accessible and interesting. Clearly a lot of thought goes into exactly how things are explained. Bravo!

[kevindaley]

James has a way of pulling you in to his videos. I can spend hours watching his videos and nobody comes close to him with his depth of knowledge, research and presentation manner and delivery. A real pleasure to listen, watch and learn. Thank you!

[adamrenissance]

At 75 I am enjoying learning about coffee with your video's. Thank you. Over the years I have owned two coffee grinders. A Breville Smart Grinder which failed after several years due to it's electronic. I currently have a Capresso Infinity and enjoy it's simplicity. I make single serve by weighing my beans. Thank you for helping me understand dosing. The Capresso is simple to just turn the switch to 9 and let it grind until it clears. I can hear when it is finished. I tap the catch cup with my knuckles to clear the grounds. Otherwise the left over grounds wind up on my counter.

[waynekapukare]

I discovered James Hoffmann 4 weeks ago and yesterday, I bought my French Press. I want a hand grinder next.
Here in Namibia, it's next to impossible to get one

[Lance]

I stumbled on a Japanese-market hand grinder at a thrift store, and it turns out I really enjoy the process of hand grinding. It also slows me down, each cup I make takes longer, each cup is an event. Helps me keep my consumption down to two cups a day.

[spicytuna]

James, I want to thank you for helping me get into making better coffee. I never knew how much of a difference grinding my own coffee at home from whole beans instead of using pre-ground coffee would make. I got a Hario Skerton Pro on sale and brewed a small pot after running through a few grinds to find the size I wanted to use, and I think for the first time since I started drinking coffee about 10 years ago, I'm drinking a cup of black coffee that I can honestly call delicious.

I'm not using the fanciest equipment money can buy. I'll probably step up to a metal grinder one day, but good lord, I never realized that coffee could actually be so good. For all of my coffee-drinking life, it's been either horridly bitter or about 30% cream and sugar by weight.

I'll probably stick to manual grinders since there's just something primordial about doing something manually. Turning a screw, opening a can...that kind of thing. Plus, they're smaller, and my coffee station needs to take up less room in the kitchen or my wife might be a little unhappy about it lol

[Mazeboxx]

I just love youtube. I don't drink coffee, never cared for it. But I find the window into other communities absolutely facinating.