How to choose a coffee bean grinder? Comparison of advantages and disadvantages of manual VS electric bean grinder

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How to judge and set the grinding degree of espresso

Friends who make coffee at home in their spare time should have a manual coffee grinder. If you are a barista, a coffee expert, or a coffee enthusiast, there may be an electric coffee grinder at home. There are many kinds of coffee grinders, including manual ones, electric ones, stainless steel ones and wooden box ones, and even the blades of electric coffee grinders have flattening knives, conical knives or ghost teeth. Brands such as Hario, Kalita, Pegasus, Eagle, DeLonghi, more professional Mazzer, Mahlkonig, etc., are familiar to some and unfamiliar to others. From the point of view of home brewing users, we will briefly compare manual and electric coffee grinders in the hope that you will be more aware of your needs when buying coffee grinders.

Manual VS electric

Manual

Electric

Lightweight, large and small

Win

Speed

Win

Unity

Win

Aesthetic

Win

In terms of lightness and size, manual grinders are certainly better than electric ones. At present, the Mini Mill, a manual coffee grinder produced by HARIO, is only 18 cm in height, which is only 3 cm higher than a ruler, and the width of the middle funnel and powder position is only 5 cm, which is really Mini. Compared with the electric coffee grinder, the household coffee grinder weighs only about 1 kilogram, and it will occupy a certain position, so although many friends like to make coffee, they may not really buy an electrical appliance to go home. On the contrary, they will first buy a tool-a portable manual coffee grinder.

Speed

In terms of speed, the electric grinder should be a complete victory! Manual coffee grinder has a disadvantage, that is, the operation will be very tiring! Ha ha! Especially for those who like to drink lightly fried coffee and play hand-made coffee, have you found that it takes a lot of effort and time to use a manual grinder and find the coffee beans very hard and difficult to grind? The lighter the roasting, the higher the hardness of the coffee bean, which makes it more difficult to grind and takes more time to grind. The electric coffee grinder rarely has this problem, because it is powered by electricity, not by hand, and the blade is easy to grind coffee beans. There is no hardness problem, and the speed is much faster than manual work. But of course, the blades in the grinder will wear away if they are used, which can happen either manually or electrically.

Unity

With regard to the unity of coffee powder, do you think manual or electric grinder is better? First of all, I would like to ask you a question: can a manual grinder grind coffee powder as fine as espresso? Many people have an idea that the powder from a manual grinder will be thicker and less fine. Actually, this is not the right idea. Just think, we often use pepper when cooking, so we should also have hand-ground pepper grinders? The operation of that kind of grinder is somewhat similar to that of a manual coffee grinder, and everyone has a rough grinding adjustment, so it is possible to grind a fine powder. But then there is a question: the area of coffee beans is far from that of pepper. How can coffee beans be ground into a powder as small as pepper? This involves the unity that we are going to discuss.

Manual grinder, the name implies, in the process of grinding beans, the first energy comes from a pair of hands. If you want to grind the fine coffee powder, the less the distance between the grinding cutters, the greater the resistance we encounter when grinding. If you want to grind evenly and uniformly, strength is not the most important, but the intensity and frequency used must be consistent, so that the average degree will be high. However, in the face of great resistance, the above situation will be more difficult to achieve. In contrast, the electric grinder, in the process of grinding beans, the first energy comes from electricity, the power is relatively stable, the strength and frequency can be the same, the coffee powder will be more unified and average.

Aesthetic

Whether it is beautiful or not is always subjective. To me, both manual and electric grinders have beauty: the size, shape and materials of the manual grinder are varied, even if they are used only once for a long time, and when they are not in use, put it in a corner of the cupboard, it also looks like a living, self-luminous; while the electric grinder, excellent functionality coupled with stylish, linear design, even the layman can not help but be attracted by its specialty and appearance.

However, if, from the point of view of the user who cooks at home, I have to choose either, I would still choose a manual grinder. The reason is simple: it has a kind of slow-living beauty and a sense of harmony with home life. I believe the attraction of coffee is not simply because of caffeine. A good cup of coffee can bring joy and happiness in taste, and it is also a reflection of life in the production process. You can get something from pound beans to grinding, preparing and cooking, but does it take a long time or a short time? All you can say is whether you are willing to manage with your heart. In addition, the unique appearance of the manual grinder, embellished in a corner of the home, also adds a sense of comfort, which has overshadowed the electric grinder in terms of home use. This coincides with my philosophy of life: it doesn't need to be perfect, but it's what I love.

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