What are blade coffee grinders?

They are the most common coffee grinder since they can be easily found in your local supermarket, grocery and shops. What adds to their popularity is that they're better than store bought coffee grounds.

My first coffee grinder was also a blade one since it was given to me by my dad a few years back and it really served me well. I still have it since I use it for some of my grinds and through the years of using it I've realized some things about it.

So here we take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of blade coffee grinders.

Advantages

• Easy to operate
• Less expensive compared with burr coffee grinders

• Uneven grind (incosistency)
• Burnt taste due to heat

Why is having an uneven grind a problem?

With this you won't be able to maximize the flavors of the coffee grounds. The small grains will over extract and the large ones will under extract.

When grinding your coffee beans using a blade grinder, you'll notice that the coffee grounds on the edges or the outer part are finer and more powdery-like compared with the ones near the blade, which are of different sizes.

This becomes a problem when you are using a French press or an espresso machine, as they usually allow finer coffee grounds through, which affects the overall coffee drink.

What I suggest is for you to use blade coffee grinders when you have a drip coffee maker since they have coffee filters that catch the smaller grounds. Try avoiding this grinder when you have an espresso machine, you'll have a hard time pulling a great shot.

Why is there a burnt taste when using blade coffee grinders?

Yes, it's from the heat when grinding the coffee beans. The blade of this type of grinder tend to heat up when long spurts of grinding is done. Try it for yourself but I suggest using an old batch of coffee beans as you will smell burnt coffee. Yuck! I am not having any of those and hopefully you too.

The bad taste might be minimal but it will still ruin your coffee. Some blade coffee grinders have cooling systems to help minimize the heating up of the grinder.

Despite some drawback from the blade coffee grinder, they're still better than coffee grounds bought in your local supermarkets or the ones that are prepackaged.

This is simply because those coffee grounds could be sitting on the store shelves for quite a long time and as a result it loses its freshness even before you open it. Some grinders don't even look clean and those can accumulate dust as it is very much exposed.

Freshly ground coffee beans, however, provide you the freshness that you are looking for to make an excellent cup of coffee. It's richer, stronger and has great aroma and flavor.

Coffee grinder reviews such as this one recommends you getting burr coffee grinders for you kitchen but if you are budget conscious, I will have to suggest you just get a blade coffee grinder.

Grind and shake

As much as possible you'd like to have coffee grounds that have even and consistent sizes. Unfortunately, blade coffee grinders don't really give you this so what you can do is to grind and shake or tap the coffee grinder.

By doing this method, you make sure that the coffee grounds that are not hit by the blade get chopped in the next round of grinding.

*Tip* Make sure you don't turn your blade coffee grinder upside down as the lid might fall off. Don't worry it has happened to a lot of people...and that includes me!

Make short bursts

So as not to heat the blades too quickly, you can try and shorten the bursts. By doing this, you won't reach the point where the coffee grinder is overworked and you can avoid the burnt smell and taste.

How long should you press the button? Try going for 2-5 seconds while feeling if the motion of the blades are still fluid. If it isn't, stop and shake the grinder.

It's as easy as press, shake then repeat...press, shake then repeat. Before you know you'll get the hang of it and you'll produce ground coffee that suits the coffee maker you have.

Where can you buy blade coffee grinders?
There are a lot of websites that sell Krups blade grinders and we would like to suggest Buy.com where you can earn points while you shop.

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