How To Use A Coffee Bean Grinder

The main decision to think about before purchasing a coffee bean grinder is whether to buy the less expensive blade grinder or a more expensive burr plate grinder. Blade grinders are most popular for first time users, are less expensive than burr plate grinders and can be found at most stores. Burr plate grinders are usually sold at specialty stores, cost a bit more but produce a finer, more consistent ground of coffee. In order to purchase the correct one, check with your coffee maker to see what type of coffee ground it uses.

The blade grinder quickly cuts away at the coffee beans. There will be times when the blade may miss a few of the beans, or not cut them down to the grind size preferred, but this can be fixed my shaking the grinder to move around those larger beans. Because burr grinders have two plates, the beans will be ground together at one time producing a powdery, more uniformed ground. A burr plate grinder also comes with different settings, taking some of the guess work out of the whole grinding process and are sometimes a bit easier to use.

Burr grinders are easy to use with just the press of a button. The button on the blade grinder needs to be depressed intermittently in order to get the beans moving around inside the container. If a coarse grind is preferred, then the button should be pressed up to ten seconds at two second intervals. A medium grind would be ten to fourteen seconds with a two to three second interval and for a medium grind, and keeping the intervals at two to three seconds for up to twenty seconds for a smaller, finer grind. The amounts can be adjusted for personal taste.

A coarse grind is usually the desired consistency called for when using a classic pot, drip and plunger types of coffee makers. A fine grind is what would be used in the making of a cup of espresso. After the coffee is ground, you can usually measure out the scoops of coffee and then put them into the coffee filter. The ratio is usually two to one, one tablespoon of coffee to two cups of water. If making six cups of coffee, then three tablespoons of coffee would be placed into the coffee filter and six cups of water would be poured into the water chamber. If using a burr plate grinder, many come with measurements, and there is no need to use a tablespoon prior to pouring the coffee into the coffee maker.

When purchasing whole beans to grind at home, it is important to only grind the amount that will be used. Coffee starts to lose most of its flavor and freshness almost as soon as it is ground. Ground coffee purchased at the local grocery store has usually been left on the shelf for several days prior to purchase, making the coffee lose moisture and flavor. If time is a consideration when deciding to grind beans at home or not, only a couple of additional minutes are added to the coffee making process when grinding fresh beans.

Grinding beans at home is really the only way to guarantee the freshest cup of coffee. After using a coffee bean grinder to grind fresh coffee beans at home, and tasting how much better fresh ground coffee is it will be difficult to go back to purchasing all ready ground coffee again. And while a blade grinder is a good initial investment, easy to use and portable, a burr plate grinder may be something to consider in the next future. A burr plate grinder can take the freshly ground coffee consumer to the next level of coffee enjoyment.

More Information:

Find a coffee bean grinder at www.coffeebeangrinderplus.com.