My Krups has died after a year and a half, which is more than a little annoying, but it does mean I can buy a new coffee grinder!

I’m after something to use normally once or twice a day that can fine and coarse grind, and don’t want to pay a lot more than £50 – less would be nice.

With that in mind, are there any standouts that come highly recommended?

I refuse to believe that no-one on STW wants to recommend me a bean grinder. This would make no sense in the world!

Or maybe it’s a sign that the day of reckoning is approaching? 😯

If it’s only you and only once or twice a day you may as well stick to a manual burr grinder rather than a cheap electric blade one:-

http://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/porlex-tall

As above – hard to get a burr grinder for 50 quid. Blade griders are useless, they smash the beans into irregular sized bits which ruins your extraction. How are you making the coffee?

Otherwise, look around for second hand. I found an Rossi RR45 (commercial grinder for cafes etc) on ebay a while back, the cafe was closing down. Paid 80 quid for it but these things take up quite a lot of room on the countertop and might not fit under cupboards.

Oh go on then, I’ll obviously recommend the one I have (as it’s the only one I have experience of!) but I did do quite a bit of research before I got it. And obviously it’s a tiny bit outside of your budget. The Iberital MC2.

Krups burr grinder

For the record, making coffee using either an Aeropress or cafétiere, depending on number drinking it.

Hmm – the manual grinder looks interesting… We have an older manual emergency grinder, but it’s not too hot, hence not really exploring that route.

Good call bob – will check ebay.

Thanks mrblobby – that may require some persuasion on the home front. 🙂 Sounds ideal tho.

It’s a Krups Expert burr grinder that’s just died andyfia, so not too keen on a direct replacement!

After a bit of research I went for a Hario hand grinder for espresso, though apparently it’s good for other grind sizes too. I use a hand drill on it if I’m in a rush, only takes 3 or 4 minutes to grind by hand for a couple of double espressos though. 20 quid posted on amazon.

I got the Dualit 75015 for Xmas, though in typical STW style its a little over your budget. No complaints from me yet, seems to do a good grind for my handpresso, cafétiere and my stovetop expresso maker.

however, my previous grinder was the blade type, so maybe I’m not the best judge. I guess any burr grinder is better than that. Found it online for £65 just before xmas.

I have the older Dualit burr grinder, and it isn’t quite fine enough for my Gaggia classic. It also seems to be very sensitive to the brand of coffee.

It also seems to be very sensitive to the brand of coffee.

They all are, you have to adjust the settings according to the beans or even between the beginning and end of a 500g bag of beans as they ‘age’. Though you notice it more in a pump espresso machine where you want the same extraction time – probably not so much with a French press or aeropress.

They all are, you have to adjust the settings according to the beans or even between the beginning and end of a 500g bag of beans as they ‘age’.

I’ve noticed this (purely in taste – the first grind is always the most rounded, for lack of a better expression) – should the grind get finer as the beans age, or coarser? Or is it just a matter or experimenting?

The bodum bean grinders work well, less than £20

What has broken and where did you get it from? If somewhere like John Lewis you might have a 2 year warranty.

If not check this for potential causes/fixes? http://onthebackside.blogspot.co.uk/2008/05/krups-gvx2-coffee-grinder.html

It was a gift and my folks don’t have the receipt anymore, so I don’t think I can get it replaced under warranty.

I’ll check the link tho – cheers andyl.

Just received my Hario Slim hand grinder (they come from Japan so didn’t make it for Christmas). I’ve not used it yet so most of this post is useless information….. but I’ve gone with one as it’s apparently better than any electric grinder sub £50. I use an Aeropress too

http://www.happydonkey.co.uk/hd0866-iberital-mc2-auto.html

You won’t get anything remotely decent under £100 for a grinder. I had a Krups die on me and something like this would last you way more than twice as long. Anything cheaper is, well, cheaper.

ransos if the dualit is the same as mine then you can do this hack to make it grind fine enough. http://www.ineedcoffee.com/07/hack-starbucks-grinder/

I have a Krupps spinny blade grinder for using with a cafetiere.
It’s OK but too coarse for putting in a machine and even for a cafetiere it doesn’t get all the flavour out of a bean. Even with good beans it doesn’t match stuff you can buy in the supermarket already ground which is surely the point?

Hario Slim hand grinder

I recently got myself one of these. It absolutely smashes the Krupps grinder I have (same as the one on the fix site above). I can actually get a decent espresso out of my Gaggia, where as with the Krupps, as you try to adjust the grind to an acceptable fineness, it just creates dust which chokes the machine.

The only problem with the hand grinder is it does take a while to get your beans ground. More than once I have been tempted to get the cordless drill on it.

I’ve noticed this (purely in taste – the first grind is always the most rounded, for lack of a better expression) – should the grind get finer as the beans age, or coarser? Or is it just a matter or experimenting?

I find that I have to grind a little finer as I get to the end of a bag, not sure if it’s ‘age’ as such, probably something to do with humidity. But I only pull espressos from a machine, where the shot should be about 28 secs, so I notice the difference immediately, whereas if I was grinding for a press I wouldn’t be able to tell.

Ceramic burr grinder s mentioned above, have a look on hasbean.co.uk at the porlex.

I feel more educated now – thanks all.

It seems I may be able to save the Krups, looking at the fix-it.

But it also seems like I should invest in a ceramic hand grinder too…

I also have the Krups, I know yours broke but I am a big fan and think its perfect for non espresso grinding tasks, which are arguably less sensitive than esspresso machines but still require top quality fresh beans.

I’ve just got an Iberital MC2 for use with an espresso machine. Totally unsuitable for anything else IMO – the grind adjustment is so fine that it’d take about 50 turns to appropriately adjust between a grind suitable aeropress and a french press. Nightmare of a thing burned through a whole pack of beans before getting to the right point for espresso, I’m happy now it’s there but it’s definitely a one trick pony and not for someone wanting to change settings regularly.

Anyway, porlex hand one is a ball ache for anything more than one coffee a day. I was previously using a ‘Solis’ branded one (have seen them branded as baratza too) before the burrs stopped adjusting – wasn’t much cop for espresso but brilliant at quickly changing setting for different manual brew methods.