The Daily Grind
If you are currently buying your fresh coffee beans pre ground, you can elevate your entire coffee drinking experience by buying a coffee grinder and grinding your own. The difference in flavour will be unbelievable!
What's wrong with pre ground beans?
Air is the biggest enemy of fresh coffee beans, as the oxygen in the air reacts with the oils and organic substances in the coffee to oxidise it ie. make it go stale. And brewing with stale coffee tastes bad - très repugnant!
How much air gets to your coffee, and how quickly it looses its freshness, is dependant on the surface area of the coffee. Ground coffee has hundreds if not thousands of times more surface area than whole coffee beans. That's exactly why we grind coffee for brewing rather than using whole coffee beans. But for storing our coffee, it's a different story.
Because of its huge surface area, ground coffee can start to go stale within minutes. Even when kept in an airtight container, ground coffee will react with air that is in the container and go stale quickly.
Whole coffee beans stay fresher for longer because they have a much smaller surface area.
"Buying your coffee beans whole and grinding them just before you use them will result in an exponentially more satisfying cup of coffee"
Types of coffee grinders
Blade Grinders
These grinders have a rotating blade - similar to a small blender - which smash the coffee beans into smaller pieces.
Benefits
Disadvantages
Burr Grinders
Burrs are flat (or sometimes conical) rotating metal cutting plates between which the coffee beans are ground. The degree of grind can be set very precisely.
Benefits
Disadvantages
Burr grinders are essential in achieving the fineness, uniformity and consistency of grind required for espresso making. They are not limited to grinding coffee for espresso, but due to their expense are not usually the first choice for anyone except those making espresso based drinks.Â
It is worth noting if you are in the market for a home espresso machine, that some models come with an inbuilt burr grinder.
Cleaning your grinder
No matter which type of grinder you have, please remember to regularly clean out any old grinds. Old grinds that remain in your grinder will quickly go stale and most certainly affect the taste of your next brew. For a blade grinder using a small brush to clean out any old grinds is all that is required. A burr grinder can be kept clean by running some Urnex Grindz pellets through it once a month, and perhaps the occasional disassembly and vacuum out.
If you have any questions or comments about coffee grinders, please leave a comment and I will get back to you.