So you’re on your way to brewing artisanal coffee in the comfort of your home, right?
You’ve got almost every variable tested and perfected, but there’s still just one little “oomph” missing in your coffee. You need to find the best coffee grinder for some really fresh coffee.
You’re buying pre-ground coffee. It’s freshly roasted, but still pre-ground – and that’s the issue! You need to get yourself a burr coffee grinder in order to really start brewing amazing coffee.
We went through this same process when we were starting out with brewing coffee. When we stopped buying pre-ground beans and started buying coffee beans and grinding just before brewing, the difference was mind-blowing.
There was a time where I could not imagine ever having black coffee. After buying fresh beans and grinding in a burr grinder just before brewing, I’ve started almost exclusively drinking black coffee. I don’t want any additives to dampen the coffee flavor, of course!
That’s where we come in – we’ve simplified the buying process for you, choosing the best coffee grinder options and explaining what makes a grinder good or bad.
Let’s get this party started!
Burr Grinder Comparison Table
| IMAGE | PRODUCT | DETAILS | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Best for home useBest for home useBodum Bistro Burr Grinder |
| VIEW ON AMAZON → |
 | Best for the moneyBest for the moneyOXO Brew Coffee Grinder |
| VIEW ON AMAZON → |
 | Best overallBest overallBaratza Encore Coffee Grinder |
| VIEW ON AMAZON → |
 | Most high-techMost high-techBreville BCG820BSSXL The Smart Grinder |
| CHECK BEST PRICE → |
Best Coffee Grinders: Burr Grinder Reviews
1. Bodum Bistro Burr Grinder: best coffee grinder for home use
Burr Type: Conical
RPM: 720
Grind settings: 12
First up in our reviews of the best burr grinders is the Bodum Bistro. Bodum is a very well known name in the coffee world, most notably for their excellent-yet-simple-yet-elegant french presses. My first foray into proper coffee was with a Bodum french press.
The Bistro Burr Grinder by Bodum is no exception to the quality you’d expect from these guys. Most burr grinders are quite expensive but the Bistro is actually quite cheap at $79.95 as of today.
When you’re worried about breaking the bank in order to break open your coffee beans, the Bistro is a good start to get you converted to always grinding just before brewing.
Another huge advantage of the Bodum Bistro is that it is very low maintenance. The grinder is built with materials that are not susceptible to something called “coffee bean static” – the burrs will not themselves get affected when they’re grinding coffee beans and releasing all the compounds and oils.
It should be noted though that the Bodum Bistro is not really suited for grinding beans into Turkish coffee consistency.
For most other brews, like drip, french press, or cold brew, it absolutely shines.
The motors spin at 720 RPM, and conical burrs grind the beans into a consistently sized grain all the way down. One major gripe that I felt with this machine though is that the only way to initiate the grinding process is with a timer button – so you can only set to grind for a fixed time, push the button, and wait it out.
You can’t manually grind a little bit more to iron out inconsistencies, and you can’t automatically have the machine spit out a grind of a particular consistency. Instead, you’ll have to consult the manual and experiment a little bit to see how much time is required to get the grind size you need.
That being said, please bear in mind that this is a budget burr grinder and it is unreasonable to expect high-convenience features in it.
Verdict:
If you’re on a tight budget and are looking for a name-brand burr grinder that can cover the basics very well, the Bodum Bistro is a good choice. However, if you’re looking for more advanced features and more fine-tuning for your grind settings, you may find the Bistro a little underwhelming.
2. OXO Brew Coffee Grinder: best burr grinder for the money
Burr Type: Conical
RPM: 400
Grind settings: 15 (plus more micro-steps)
OXO Brew is a newer brand on the coffee scene but they’ve entered the playing field with a bang with their coffee makers, grinders, and other equipment.
The OXO Brew Conical burr grinder is inexpensive and very functional. With 15 major grind settings and lots of micro-steps in between, you have a lot of scope to adjust your grind and really dial it in.
To adjust the grind size, just turn the hopper until the marker reaches the desired number. 1 is the finest possible grind, and 15 is the coarsest.
The OXO has stainless steel burrs which are very sharp and produce very consistent grinds. The grinder works by time, which means it will run for a specific amount of time before automatically turning off.
In order to grind your beans correctly, you either store lots of coffee beans in the hopper, start the grind, and let the timer run its course, or you only add as many beans as you need and then manually stop once the beans have finished grinding.
The OXO grinder is also quite straightforward to clean, though the bottom burr does not come out. Removing the top burr is quite easy, though.
Verdict
Of all the coffee grinder reviews that we’ve done for this post, we really like the fact that the OXO has stainless steel burrs and an easy-to-use construction.
It would have been nice to be able to clean the bottom burr as well, but for this price level, we can’t really complain. Just remember to not use oily coffee beans as the residue becomes quite hard to wipe off.