Best Burr Grinder Under $100

Are you looking for an affordable burr grinder without compromising on the quality? If so, you are in luck. We went down the coffee grinder rabbit hole to find the best burr grinder under $100. Making great coffee does not always have to be expensive. Grinding fresh beans is an essential part of a good cup, but most grinders are hard on the wallet. Below, you will our list of the best affordable grinders that do not compromise on quality. We’ve done our best to find the perfect balance between budget and reliability.

Should you get a burr grinder or blade grinder?

Before we get to the grinders themselves, it’s really important to understand the distinction between burr and blade grinders. Since we’re in the budget range, a quick search for cheap coffee grinders will definitely turn up some blade grinders as well as burr grinders. Burr grinders use two ceramic or metal gear-like parts called burrs to crush coffee beans. Burr grinders are great because they produce the most uniform grind. You can adjust the distance between the two burrs to set fineness or coarseness, and all the grounds will come out with nearly the exact same consistency. Blade grinders use spinning blades to chop up coffee beans. There is no option to adjust the grind size here. The only way you can control the grind size is by timing how long you spin the blades. Brief pulses will result in a coarse grind and grinding for an extended time will result in a fine grind. Even then, the grounds will not be uniform: some particles may still be coarser and others finer. Learn more about grind sizes here. [toc]

Best Coffee Grinder Under $100

1. Oxo Brew Conical Burr Grinder

Grinder Type: Stainless steel conical burrs Capacity: 12 ounces Grind settings: 15 If you prefer a conical burr to grind your coffee, then you should definitely consider the Oxo Brew Conical Burr Grinder. Since this is one of the most popular burr grinders around the world, let us evaluate its features and tell you why this could be the best burr grinder out there. Some of the other models mentioned in this overview only provide you with a couple of grind settings. This is different for the Oxo Brew Conical Burr Grinder, which enables you to create a very precise grind with more detailed grind settings. Simply turn the wheel in the middle of the burr grinder to find your perfect grind. The Oxo Brew Burr Coffee Grinder also comes with good capacity, as it can deliver you with twelve cups of coffee. Therefore, this burr grinder is good for even the biggest coffee addicts. Please bear in mind that the price can fluctuate by a few dollars up or down, but since it’s within the $100 range, we’ve included it in this list.

Pros

• Lots of grind settings
• Huge capacity

Cons

• Not very effective for dark roast, oily beans

2. Capresso Infinity Plus(best coffee grinder for espresso under $100)

Grinder Type: Stainless steel conical burrs Capacity: 11 ounces Grind settings: 16 Looking for great capacity and lots of diverse settings for your valuable coffee beans? If so, have a look at the Capresso Infinity Plus! The Capresso is one of the best appliances if you are looking for the ability to create an ultra-fine grind, since most options under a $100 only provide fine. Since there are 16 settings, there is plenty of room for experimentation. The large range of brewing settings caters to espresso lovers and Turkish coffee lovers. The overall construction of this appliance is also impressive. The durability stands out immediately, but so does its ability to retain aroma and flavor in even the most valuable coffee beans. One final benefit you might be interested in is that this particular grinder is a whole lot quieter than some of the other options out there. So, if you like grinding your coffee early in the morning, the Capresso should be on top of your list.

Pros

• Can grind fine enough for Turkish coffee
• Very little static build up
• Quieter than most grinders

Cons

• Difficult to clean

3. Timemore Chestnut C2

Grinder Type: Stainless steel conical burrs Capacity: 20 grams Grind settings: Multiple The Timemore Chestnut C2 is the grinder I currently use. I am only listing it at number 4 because there were electric grinders that came before it. Otherwise, the Chestnut C2 is hands-down the best manual coffee grinder I have ever used. The handle design is really brilliant and it takes a lot of the effort out of the grinding process. What used to take me 2 to 3 minutes and over 150 turns to grind I can now do in less than a minute with just 50 to 60 turns. The stainless steel burrs are super sharp and the adjustment knob is also really precise. You can adjust for over 20 clicks between fineness and coarseness. The outside has a knurled finish which means you can get a really good grip on it. I just have one issue with it, which is that the top gets a little loose if you don’t push it in all the way, so you may end up spilling a few loose grounds here or there if you’re not careful. Considering how fast this thing can grind, it’s forgivable 🙂 It also comes with a really neat carry case. If you choose to grind for espresso, remember to start at 9 clicks – anything less and the burrs will be too close to one another and can get damaged.

Pros

• Super sharp burrs
• Great design makes it easy to manually grind
• Easy to clean

Cons

• Very expensive for a manual grinder

4. JavaPresse Manual Coffee Grinder(best burr grinder under $50)

Grinder Type: Ceramic burrs Capacity: 25 grams Grind settings: Multiple The JavaPresse manual coffee grinder is probably the most budget-friendly coffee grinder under $100 on this list. In fact, if we made a list of coffee grinders under $50, it would make it on that, too! This grinder is the grinder that all Chinese knockoffs are modeled after, so that really goes to show something! The JavaPresse is really easy to use. You can adjust the grind size with 18 levels of precision using the click thumbscrew. It’s super slim, so the most you’ll be able to grind at once is enough coffee for two people, but considering the size and portability, that’s ok. Unlike the other grinders on our list, the JavaPresse has ceramic burrs. Ceramic burrs don’t quite have the accuracy of stainless steel burrs, but the difference is so minute that you’re not really going to notice unless you’re a sommeliere. Also, ceramic burrs last much longer than steel burrs. As far as drawbacks go, the surface is very shiny and smooth so you may have a hard time gripping it and keeping it upright as you turn the crank to grind. You may think that the knockoff grinders look exactly like this one so you should get those, but the biggest difference you’ll notice is in the alignment of the burrs and the click adjustments for grind size.

Pros

• Very budget friendly

Cons

• Requires significant effort to turn
• Can get better grinders for just a few dollars more

5. Bodum Bistro Burr Grinder

Grinder Type: Stainless Steel Conical Burr Capacity: 200 gram hopper Grind settings: 12 Bodum is a very well-known name in the coffee industry and for good reason. They consistently produce really high-quality equipment and this grinder is no different. You have 14 grind settings to choose from, which is more than enough to dial in a brew whether you’re making french press or espresso. However, you may not be able to grind beans coarse enough for cold brew. The largest grind setting only produces a size suitable for french press at best. If you are a cold brew lover, one workaround here can be to brew for less time(10 hours instead of 12) to get a balanced flavor. However, it does all the other grind sizes very well: espresso, pour over, moka pot, Aeropress, and drip will all be a cinch to grind for with the Bodum. On the whole, the grinder feels very solid in your hands: the body is made of plastic and the grounds container is made of borosilicate glass. Using glass was a brilliant design touch on the part of Bodum because it does a great job of eliminating any static buildup from the grinding process. To grind the coffee, you turn a knob that sets how much time you want to grind for in seconds. If you have a lot of beans in the hopper, you may end up with a few more grounds than you needed. You can just add exactly as many beans as you need for each grinding session.

Pros

• Static free
• Can’t grind for Turkish coffee or cold brew

Cons

• Plastic gears may wear out over time

Why you need a burr grinder

One of the most fundamental steps of making coffee is grinding coffee beans just before roasting. This ensures that the resulting cup of coffee is rich and flavorful. The drawback of buying pre-ground coffee is that the grounds go stale very quickly. Once you grind coffee beans, they only remain fresh for 30 minutes to an hour before losing most of their flavor. If you’ve only ever had pre-ground coffee, that’s probably why you were not able to swallow it without milk or sugar! Once you start grinding right before brewing, your whole world will change. You’ll actually be able to taste the coffee for what it truly is, and you’ll never touch pre-ground coffee again.

Electric or manual?

Since we’re on a tight budget and want to keep our coffee grinder under $100, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a good quality electric burr grinder. There are a couple that we’ve suggested, but they’re cheap for a reason! If you don’t mind putting in a bit of elbow grease, then you can find a really top-notch manual burr grinder for this price range. It may seem like quite a lot of effort at first, but you get used to it. I personally use a manual burr grinder, and grind for 3 cups of coffee every day! If you’re brewing for many people, a manual grinder will become tedious very quickly, so in that case, stick to an electrical grinder. Electrical grinders are obviously going to be much quicker and more convenient. The price will determine how fine the adjustments are and how good the build quality is. Burrs are rated for a limited number of grinds before they start losing their sharpness. That’s not any reason to worry though as any grinder will easily last you a couple of years for home use.

How big should your grinder be?

The answer to which size grinder you need depends on how many cups of coffee you make in a single go. If you just brew a single cup for yourself, a small grinder will do the job just fine. Most manual grinders can handle up to 30ish grams of coffee beans, which you can use for 2 cups of coffee or 2 shots of espresso. If you plan on making a large batch of cold brew or plan on brewing for many people, a small grinder will be inconvenient. A small manual grinder will be terribly inconvenient, and a small electric grinder will only be mildly inconvenient :).

Balancing price and quality of grinders

Since we’re sticking to really budget-friendly choices here, it’s a tough decision to balance price and quality. This will be very evident in electric grinders, since most high quality electric grinders are well above $100. But if you’re getting a manual grinder? $100 can get you the Ferrari of manual grinders! Again, you’ll have to consider how much coffee you grind in a single go!

Number of grind settings

Another feature you want to look out for is grind settings. This is the levels of adjustment that you have for coarseness and fineness. Most cheap manual grinders don’t have proper grind settings. Instead, you just have to tighten or loosen a screw and eyeball the grind size by looking at the gap between the two burrs. Better quality grinders often have a clicking thumbscrew where you can count clicks as you turn it to keep track of grind size. Electric grinders will have a wheel that you rotate to adjust grind size. The wheel typically has markings that show you what grind size you are at. Higher end electric grinders have very sensitive grind size adjustments – these allow you to really dial in a coffee to an exact science. Cheaper grinders will have less grind settings, but they’ll still do the trick for a wide variety of brews.

Is a cheap burr grinder worth it?

Now that you have read through our overview of grinding appliances, you may wonder: are cheap burr grinders worth it? Cheap burr grinders are indeed worth it simply because the worst burr grinder will still do a better job than the best blade grinder. Using a burr grinder to grind coffee beans right before brewing will make such a huge difference in your coffee that you’ll never be able to go back to anything else. If you’ve got the cash, a higher end burr grinder will make life much easier. On a tighter budget, go for a manual burr grinder or one of the cheaper electrical burr grinders we’ve listed here. More expensive burr grinders will definitely grind faster, more evenly, and will offer many more grind settings. We’ve also curated a list of grinders for french press coffee.