I am after a coffee grinder so any advice will be welcome.

What do you use and is it any good?

I got one of these Krups grinders about a year ago.

Really nice solid thing, grinds enough coffee for a few days in one go so OK as long as you don’t plan to start a coffee shop. It’s pretty straightforward, you make it course or fine depending how long you hold it down. Makes a lot of noise though. The girlfriend has an almost idendtical Bosch one which she’s had for years and is also good.

A burr grinder is supposed to be a better choice, why? I have no idea but no doubt someone will be along to tell you. I have used mine daily for 18 months without problem and you can select the type of grind you want as well.

Burr gives you consistant grind rather than the ‘chopper’ type that just smashes the beans into random sized bits.

Burr grinders don’t generate heat. So, you don’t lose all those lovely volatile aromas.
IMO you should spend more on the grinder than on the coffee machine, it makes more difference to the flavour. A cheap 15 bar machine makes as good coffee as an expensive one.

I have an Ascaso. Messy, and took ages to set up, but now delivers the perfect grind.

i too have an ascaso but would get the the iberital from happy donkey as its a bargain price
http://www.happydonkey.co.uk/hd0866-iberital-mc2-auto.html

would only get the cheaper krups/dualit/cuisineart grinders if it was for filter/cafetiere, proper espresso machines need a consistent even grind that you get with a good burr grinder.

Would it make any difference if I only really used a stove top coffee maker? Sometimes I use one of those filters as well whee you just pour boiling water over the coffee and wait a few minutes.

Would it make any difference if I only really used a stove top coffee maker?

if you are buying cheap beans from the supermarket then the money is better spent on pre-ground from a good local merchant or the usual online hasbean/coffee circle etc.

good beans + good grinder = good coffee

stove top coffee helped me have a lovely poo this morning, all made with a blade grinder 😆

😯

Ascaso i Steel here – works well and gives a very consistent grind.

One word of warning: start off with the grind set quite coarse and gradually set it finer little by little until you get it fine enough . . . the adjuster on this type of grinder doesn’t have a “finest setting” stop and it is possible to mesh the grinding discs together and damage the motor/grind mechanism if you set it too fine.

stove top coffee helped me have a lovely poo this morning, all made with a blade grinder

that kind of grinder produces irregular sized lumps 😯

Agree with the facts that blade grinders chop rather than grind, therefore a burr grinder is best.
Just had lovely smells and nice coffee on my first use of our little Tiamo hand grinder, bought from Origin coffee, the Cornish coffee company:

Tiamo Coffee Hand Grinder from Origin Coffee

I’ve got a porlex hand grinder, quite nice and cheap (compared to electric burr grinders), the main advantage for me being that it doesn’t take up much space in our cramped kitchen, and isn’t noisy as hell. It feels well made with a stainless body and solid metal parts. Still, needs a couple of minutes of hand pumping action to get going. 😛

I have Anfim Best bought at discount but if your budget is tight then go for Ascaso i Steel as mentioned by tonyplym above. I would have this as my backup as I like the steel look … and it works.

no! the isteel is £200 the iberital MC2 is the one to go for at £140 if you are on a budget.
i paid £140 for an isteel last year but they have gone up a lot in price.

MrSmith – Member

i paid £140 for an isteel last year but they have gone up a lot in price.

That’s a steal! 😆

or get an Anfim Haus Self for around £252.

I use one of these.. she’s very reasonable and economical and lasted nearly all of her first two years employment with only a couple of services..

I bought one of those Iberital grinders a few months back, to replace the Krups mentioned earlier. The coffee I get from it is much better than the Krups, with the following downsides:

It fires coffee everywhere.
It can’t grind elephant beans because they are too large.
It can’t be adjusted quickly, so I’ve given up on the french press coffee as an alternative to the espresso.
If you change beans regularly, you will have to adjust the grind each time.

Once you’ve spent your 30 minutes of faffing though, the coffee is consistently great 🙂

My Anfim House is a stepped grinder so no problem adjusting … elephant beans (too much hype on this beans) whatever beans it grinds them to dust if I want.

Go for Anfim Haus Self if you need quick grind adjustment as it is also stepped grinder.

UPDATE

I bought a £40 Krups Pro burr grinder.

WOW is all I can say after THE best coffee I have ever had. Money well spent IMO.

Made with Starbucks Pike Place beans.

Next phase, try different beans. Any recommendations chaps?

Try the Café Nero beans – good value and great taste. Just ask in any branch of Neros.

I have a Kitchen Aid one which is great and gets fine enough for a machine with decent pressure.

Any recommendations chaps?

anything not sold by starbucks/supermarkets.
beans from a good local roaster or the good mail order roasters like hasbean.

Grayn, you missed this coffee thread to rejuvenate with your advert. Muppet

I have just bought a Gaggia MDF burr grinder £133 off Amazon . It’s grind is consistent everytime. The doser is something that gets some criticism from reviews and does take a little practice to master but for the money I’m more than happy with the purchase. There are about a gazillion settings and it goes down really fine for espresso which is the criticism of the cheaper grinder. I now get fresh tasting espresso.

Not sure why you’d want to buy coffee beans from Costa SB’s Nero etc when there are so many local roasters on line that offer so much more in quality and choice and more importantly freshness.