I mainly want to get a coffee grinder because beans have a longer shelf life and are cheaper. If I also get better coffee, that’s a bonus! (Basically, I’m not looking for a premium option)
What is something I should pay attention to when buying a grinder. I see people mention “flat burr” grinders all the time. Is that something important?
A few years ago I bought a cheap terrible manual coffee grinder off Amazon. It took 5-10mins to grind my coffee. The grounds where too course and my hands hurt. Is the experience better with higher quality manual grinders? At the moment, I’m not a huge fan of manual grinders because of this experience and am leaning towards buying an electrical one.
What makes a coffee grinder better than others? What is the difference between premium and budget options?
You want to get a burr grinder, they’re a lot better than blade grinders, but a bit more expensive. I started off with the Barazza Encore, it’s a bit loud compared to others and it retains a bit of ground coffee (a few good smacks in the top after you’ve turned it off loosens it up) but in general it’s a great entry level burr grinder. Be aware that it, or a lot of entry level burr grinders, don’t have enough power to grind down to espresso level. I had to replace my Encore with a DF64 in order to make espresso.