While we can’t deny that picking up a pre-ground bag of coffee at the grocery store is a super-easy shortcut to getting your morning brew going, any barista will tell you that grinding your own beans at home is the way to go.
Just like using fresh-chopped herbs and hand-ground spices in your cooking, grinding your own coffee beans right before brewing your coffee releases natural oils and aromas that lend a richer, more complex flavor to the brew — and this is what you miss out on when you buy the pre-ground powder that’s been sitting on the shelf for who-knows-how-long.
The Best Coffee Grinders
- Reviewer Favorite: Cuisinart Supreme Grind Automatic Burr Mill Coffee Grinder
- Most Efficient: Baratza Encore Burr Coffee Grinder
- Best for Espresso: Breville The Smart Grinder Pro Burr Coffee Grinder
- Budget Pick: Mr. Coffee Electric Blade Coffee Grinder
- Best Manual Coffee Grinder: JavaPresse Manual Coffee Grinder
- Best for Large Quantities: OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder
- Best Combo Grinder: KitchenAid Blade Coffee Grinder
What to Consider
When it comes to the art of methodical coffee preparation, getting a coffee grinder is simply non-negotiable. And no matter how you take your coffee — be it machine-brewed drip coffee, espresso, pour-over, French-pressed, or anything else you can think of — the grinder plays an important part in getting the taste just right.
If you’re fairly new to this process, there are a few essential features and specs to keep in mind before you invest in your own coffee grinder.
- Grinder Type: In this guide, we’ve included both burr and blade coffee grinders, which produce slightly different textures. Burr coffee grinders essentially crush coffee grounds into a more uniform texture, while blade grinders use a small amount of heat to slice through coffee grounds, producing slightly less uniform grinds.
- Ease of Use: Coffee grinders range from simple push-button controls to programmable functionality to completely manual, wire-free cranking. Depending on how much you grind per day and how much work you’re willing to put in, choosing the right model will get you the grind you want in the time that you have.
- Yield: The size of the grinder and its coarseness settings affect the total yield of the device. This is definitely a consideration if you have a lot of coffee to grind each day. If you want a quick and painless grind, you’ll want to size up your coffee grinder and look at special programming features, too.
Finally, noise level and cleanup are two aspects of coffee grinding that may not affect the taste of your brew but will certainly impact your enjoyment of using the machine. We’ve referenced user reviews where applicable when calling out any of these devices' potential loudness and messiness.
Our guide to the best coffee grinders will help make your morning grind something to look forward to each day. Read on to learn more about our top seven picks.
Reviewer Favorite
For regular, everyday grinding, Cuisinart’s Supreme Grind Coffee Grinder is one of the user-friendliest out there. It’s Amazon’s current top-selling burr coffee grinder, and reviewers say that it’s both efficient and reliable as long as the unit is cleaned and used responsibly. The one critique is that it doesn’t grind fine enough for making espresso, so if that’s your main drink, keep reading for a better fit.
This coffee grinder is a versatile and intuitive device featuring a large dial on its front that allows you to rotate the hopper that holds the coffee beans to your desired coarseness. This affects both the amount of time the machine spends grinding and the speed at which it works — two things it does automatically. It also measures how many beans to grind according to the slider on the front that denotes the number of cups you plan to make. When the hopper is filled with beans, you can grind up to 18 (!) cups of coffee.
While this grinder is a cinch to use, it isn’t exactly quiet, but the bin into which the grounds collect is easy to pop out, pour into your desired coffee-making device, and cleanout.
Most Efficient
This coffee grinder from Baratza is simple enough for beginners to use, but longtime coffee pros will love its coarseness, consistency, and speed. Many reviewers have touted the brand for its excellent, sustainably-minded customer service, which allows users to send a unit in for repair instead of trashing it.
To use, just fill up the hopper with beans, make sure you have your grind setting where you want it (there are an impressive 40 different coarseness options available), turn the dial, and it grinds away. Espresso and drip coffee lovers alike tout that this unit gives them the grind they need. However, if you drink large batches, removing the bin will occasionally result in some lost grounds getting scattered on the countertop.
It’s not whisper-quiet, but it works very quickly, so you won’t have beans grinding all morning long. One more major plus: It’s a pretty slim machine, so it doesn’t take up too much counter space.
Best for Espresso
While versatility and options are great, if you are loyal to espresso as the only thing that’ll get you up in the morning (but you also live in a household full of drip-coffee drinkers), this is the coffee grinder you need.
This Breville coffee grinder lets you program your coarseness level, grind time, and the number of shots (or cups) you wish to make, and it does the rest. The espresso grind is reliably fine every time, but if others you live with prefer cold brew or French-press coffee, it has 60 different grind settings to accommodate every preference.
Though not cheap at nearly $200, every design feature of this investment-level coffee grinder is smart and intentional, from the backlit screen to the handy cord wrap that helps keep things organized. It automatically powers on when you insert the filtration basket into the holder and turns off on its own after sitting idly for a couple of minutes. Another great feature: The bean hopper has an airtight seal to keep your beans fresh for days at a time. It’s also a quieter machine that works quickly — a smart choice for early birds.
Budget Pick
The Mr. Coffee Blade Coffee Grinder is a totally different type of grinder, but a good one to consider if you’re on a tight budget, brew small batches, or don’t mind a little manual work to get your coffee grounds to the right consistency.
It plugs in and has just one button, and the coarseness of the grind all depends on how long you long down the button for. Since there are no custom settings, there might be a little bit of trial and error in buzzing the beans to get the consistency right. It’s also pretty small, only able to hold about 6 tablespoons of grounds for roughly 3 cups of pour-over coffee.
While this grinder does infuse a little bit of heat with each whir of the blade (which can result in a bitter brew if not done carefully), it grinds beans quickly and quietly. Dumping out the grounds into your filter of choice also takes a little extra patience to prevent excessive spilling. It’s an ideal small coffee grinder for travelers, minimalists, or those who don't want to commit to a large-scale device just yet.
Best Manual Coffee Grinder
If you’re going off the grid and you’ve got to have your fresh-ground beans, this manual coffee grinder from JavaPresse will allow you to grind anytime, anywhere, no outlet or on-button necessary!
This burr-style coffee grinder gives you 18 coarseness levels to choose from, and from there, you can pour in approximately 6 tablespoons of beans, seal the unit shut, and then crank the grinder until all of your beans are turned into grounds. It’s also a great grinder for Aeropress users, as it fits right into the hollow part of an Aeropress plunger for easy transport.
This coffee mill is best suited for small batches only because it makes you work for your brew. The grind is not fast — the finer the coarseness, the longer it’ll take to churn. However, it’s as quiet a coffee grinder as you’ll be able to find, having no loud, whirring parts to it. And there’s also no heat or excess force used in the burr-grinding process, so your grounds will maintain their oils and aroma, and the cup you brew will have incredible flavor.
It’s also worth noting that reviewers really seem to love JavaPresse’s customer service, as well. Those who wore down the unit’s burr grinder a little too quickly were shipped a replacement product without any hassle.
Best for Large Quantities
For those who brew multiple cups daily, size does matter — this coffee grinder from OXO has the capacity you seek. Its hopper holds 12 ounces of beans, and the entire unit is 13 inches tall and takes up a 5x8-inch footprint on a countertop. Although it looks daunting, its intuitive controls for grind coarseness and amount make it easy to use.
It’s slightly less expensive than some of the other top-of-the-line burr grinders on this list, and so it also has fewer bells and whistles. It has a total of 15 coarseness settings, and unfortunately, those who make coffee in a French press and need a gritty, coarse grind may actually find that this one, even on its coarsest setting, produces a too-fine result that’s better for pour-over or drip coffee.
The OXO coffee grinder’s loudness seems to be on par with other countertop burr grinders — it’s not ear-splittingly noisy, but it’ll certainly be noticeable in a sleeping household. Overall, its efficiency and size are what make it a great device.
Best Combo Grinder
When it comes to blade grinders, even if many aren’t advertised as being a spice grinder, you can certainly whiz up your peppercorns, whole coriander, or any other whole seasonings that taste better when fresh-ground. This sleek, plug-in KitchenAid grinder may be pretty simple, but its two included removable grinding pods let you swap out your coffee for spices without missing a beat (similar to this editor-favorite grinder).
There are no buttons on this coffee grinder — instead, it has a locking mechanism that turns the grinder on once the lid is locked and twisted. Precision is admittedly not this coffee grinder's strong suit. Since this blade grinder is time-based and only has one setting, you just hold down the lid in the locked position longer for fine grounds or in short bursts for coarse grounds.
When grinding beans for coffee, the unit’s handy, easy-to-read measurements on the inside of the stainless steel grinding bowl demarcate levels for 4, 8, 10, or 12 cups of coffee. The metal grinding bowl pops right out of the plastic grinder body, which makes cleaning out the grounds (or spices) incredibly easy.
Similar to other smaller coffee-grinding devices, it’ll be a little more manual work to get to your desired amount and level of coarseness, but this one is still a great option for those looking for an easy-to-use, compact grinder that can be easily stored away while not in use.
