Best (cheapest) coffee grinder for french press

Looking to buy a coffee grinder for use with a french press. anyone have any recommendations? The Krups grinder is pretty highly rated, but some people have said it's not good for coarse grind.

cheap = good, i don't drink or care enough to spend much money.

Thanks!

As you are aware, the key to a french press is in the grind. You want fairly large granules so they don't pass through the screen. A blade grinder can't do this.

You would want a conical burr grinder for a french press. The manual models are much cheaper than the motorized. Check out Zassenhaus.

You can sometimes find refurbished Baratza's on their website:

http://www.baratza.com/

Pfft. I use a coffee press at work since all they drink around here is Folger's. But I'm too cheap to spring for a grinder. I buy "auto-drip" ground Starbuck's and have figured out that I can use 4 heaping coffee scoops for "6" cups as marked on the press. Comes out fine.

I like my coffe the way i like my women. Hot and BITTER!

Then again, I also clean my teeth with brillo pads and gargle bettery acid. Your mileage may vary.

If you don't mind hand-grinding check out a Zassenhaus. It's on my short list of things to buy once my finances settle down.

-Joe

This is another good hand grinder based on all of the reviews that I have seen, it is a little more budget friendly too:

http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.hario_skerton.php

nealf said:

This is another good hand grinder based on all of the reviews that I have seen, it is a little more budget friendly too:

http://www.sweetmarias.com/prod.hario_skerton.php

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I've got this one and can recommend it. It should be ok for coarser grinds but it takes for damn ever to grind out an espresso grind. You'll get your workout for the day with finer grinds!

ah, thanks for the info arturo. If I do go blade, what is gonna be the main issues? a bit of grind in the cup?

nealf said:

You can sometimes find refurbished Baratza's on their website:

http://www.baratza.com/

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i ask for a cheap grinder, and you send me a link for a $150 REFURB'd unit??

absolutely useless.

sort of redeemed yourself with the Hario grinder. $40 is still high. this is gonna be used on average 1.3 times / week, and i'm not a coffee snob by any means. zassenhaus is also out of the question.

how many cranks of the handle am I looking at in the morning for a manual burr?

Not a bad price for the Skerton, about $30 less than the Zassenhaus.

Skerton has plastic body and ceramic burrs. I'm guessing it would last about a year or so with everyday use. Zassenhaus has maple body with stainless steel burrs. Comes with a 10 year warranty.

But hey, if it's just a gift...

it's not a gift, it's for my personal use.

only a year on the skerton? eh, i might just go with a blade.

moto, if you go with a blade you will have quite a bit of dust and fine particles. These will pass through the screen and make your coffee rather bitter. You will probably toss out the bottom 1/4 of your cup as well.

Just FYI, for the french press, a large cupa Joe takes about 40 cranks on the course setting. A double espresso takes about 120 cranks on fine.

motobrewer said:

cheap = good, i don't drink or care enough to spend much money.

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motobrewer said:

i'm not a coffee snob by any means.

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motobrewer said:

it's not a gift, it's for my personal use.

only a year on the skerton? eh, i might just go with a blade.

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Since you are not a coffee snob and it seems just want some "joe" then why not just use a drip machine? Then you don't have to worry about the size of the grind nearly as much.

motobrewer said:

it's not a gift, it's for my personal use.

only a year on the skerton? eh, i might just go with a blade.

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That's just a guess. KB1 can probably give a better estimate since he has one.

motobrewer said:

i ask for a cheap grinder, and you send me a link for a $150 REFURB'd unit??

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Actually, when the Baratza Maestro Refurbs are in stock they are only $67. I didn't realize you just wanted a cheapy cheap. I use a Krups whirly blade for my auto-drip and it is very easy to get dust if you grind too long, it sucks I wouldn't rebuy it. I wish I had spent that money on a decent burr grinder.

It definitely feels like it would last longer than a year to me. Especially if you're not using it every day. I think you would probably decide to upgrade to an electric grinder long before you wore it out.

dataz722 said:

Since you are not a coffee snob and it seems just want some "joe" then why not just use a drip machine? Then you don't have to worry about the size of the grind nearly as much.

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i've been using a drip for 2 years. I buy unground for shelf life and taste. i have one of those grind n brew (got it as a gift). complete PITA to clean, and its huge and takes up a lot of counter space.

i got a french press for christmas. i want to still use unground.

40 cranks is manageable. might have to check out the skerton, then.

thanks guys!

dataz722 said:

Since you are not a coffee snob and it seems just want some "joe" then why not just use a drip machine? Then you don't have to worry about the size of the grind nearly as much.

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For what it's worth, I use a French press because it's much easier to keep in my office cabinet than a drip machine.

Also, I use a blade grinder and end up with a little sludge at the bottom but it doesn't really bother me. Now the bitterness... I never really noticed it but I guess I'd have to do a side-by-side tasting with burr-ground coffee to determine how much of a difference it makes.

adding a touch of salt to combat bitterness?

For around $50, this looks like an awesome made-in-the-USA manual burr grinder: http://www.camanocoffeemills.com/blog
I just got a Zassenhaus last week (around $80). I only brew french press. I've found manually grinding to be easy, ritualistic, fun. I'd recommend getting a solid manual grinder (Camano, Zassenhaus, etc.). It will last a lifetime, probably longer.
The Bodum C-Mill (you can find it on the Sweet Maria's site, and elsewhere) is supposed to be a good whirley-blade electric grinder. Around $25, it has a better reputation than others for the price.
If you're looking at a cheap Black-and-Decker electric burr grinder, do some homework, because it might not last as long as you'd expect.
I'm becoming, not so much a coffee snob, but a coffee "adventurer": you might find that, as you learn more about coffee, your taste develops. It's an incredibly complex drink (i.e., hundreds of identified flavors). If you enjoy the complexity of good beer, you might find that tasting coffee with the same intensity is a nice way to start the morning. Sweet Maria's has some very interesting articles, if you're interested. Enjoy!

i ignored all your advice and bought a blade. i set it on the roughest grind.

i immediately regret my decision. there are coffee ground rings just like foam rings, lol. the amount of sludge was very surprising.

i will be buying a burr...

motobrewer said:

i will be buying a burr...

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Just be aware that just because something is advertised as a burr grinder doesn't make it good. Check out my Epinions review on a relatively expensive Cuisinart burr grinder.

It's incredibly loud and does a piss-poor job of grinding. Even at the coarsest settings, about 25% of the coffee in the hopper is ground into flour. Sludge city in a French press.

I believe this is because they wanted to get high grinding speed and keep the cost down, so they use small burrs and a high RPM. You want the opposite, big burrs and low RPM. Like my Macap M-4, a hand grinder, or some of the other grinders mentioned in this thread.

-Joe

i'll probaby be buying a cheap hand-crank.

because i'm cheap.

thanks for all the advice!

nostalgia said:

Just be aware that just because something is advertised as a burr grinder doesn't make it good. Check out my Epinions review on a relatively expensive Cuisinart burr grinder.

It's incredibly loud and does a piss-poor job of grinding. Even at the coarsest settings, about 25% of the coffee in the hopper is ground into flour. Sludge city in a French press.

I believe this is because they wanted to get high grinding speed and keep the cost down, so they use small burrs and a high RPM. You want the opposite, big burrs and low RPM. Like my Macap M-4, a hand grinder, or some of the other grinders mentioned in this thread.

-Joe

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I have one of the Cuisinart coffee mills. It's a flat burr mill and I agree with most of what you said. It is better than a blade mill, but nowhere near as good as a conical burr mill. I bought a refurbished one and it was relatively inexpensive at $39 and free shipping. I want to upgrade to the Baratza mill soon. Yes, the Cuisinart is loud. Very loud!

well screw it, i bought a refurb'd maestro. haven't got it yet.

thanks for your advice, lol.

Let me know how you like it... I have been pondering one since I posted the link in this thread.

JetSmooth said:

I like my coffe the way i like my women. Hot and BITTER!

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Funny you say that, 'cause I like my whiskey the same way I like my women. 12 years old and all mixed up with coke....

yeah, will do, thanks for the link nealf.

interesting tidbit:
so i ran out of filters in my grind n brew, and i only have whole beans. so i decided to grind in the grind in brew then dump into the french press and live with it for another week instead of buying 100 filters.

the grind is a perfect french press grind! i was really surprised. no sludge at all. i think it may be because the grinds can exit the grinder as soon as they're small enough to pass thru the screen into the filter holder, so they don't get smashed into dust.

well, i received it...haven't run any beans thru yet. turned it on, it runs, lol.

the front nameplate was off, but it was in the box.


the button behind the nameplate was pushed in and i can't get it out.


that button isn't functional anymore since they changed the design anyway. in the first model the side switch was a timer, and the button was if you wanted to just turn it on for a short period of time. the new model, the side switch just turns it on and you just turn it off. no timer. but still, kind of strange.

other that that I haven't looked at it or messed with it. I will tomorrow morning tho. i emailed baratza about it, we'll see what they say. otherwise i'll just epoxy that namplate over the "button"

sluuuuuuudge. that's all i have to say for now.

tried it on setting 35 and 37. next run i'll try it on its highest, 40...we'll see.

also note that my french press is a cheap one. my process is:

add beans. fill halfway with water, stir, fill remainder with water. add top, slowly plunge halfway, bring plunger to the top. steep 4 min, plunge all the way.

I have the Maestro Plus but I got it cheap, the new ones sell for $150. A friend of mine was involved in a bitter divorce and sold me his wife's grinder for $40. The only problem was they use flavored beans in it!!! But I invested a little in cleaning it and there is no smell.

They divorced, sold their house at the worst time and lost a ton, got back together and are buying a house.

I still have the grinder and am very happy with it.

fwiw I use a french press most days...I use a blade grinder as well. I put a small piece of cheese cloth in the opening of the french press, it filters out everything but the delicious coffee.

Are you trying to get a perfectly clean cup, without any sludge, when using a french press? You're pretty much guaranteed to have some fine grounds escape into the cup when brewing with a press. If you prefer a cup without the fine powder that is the norm for press brewing, maybe check out brewing with the aeropress, by the company that makes the aerobie frisbee. You can find it on amazon and the sweet marias website. I got one a few weeks ago, and it uses a disposable paper filter to create a very clean cup, without any of the extra bitterness you're probably getting from your press (as those fine grinds that escape into your cup are still adding bitterness to the taste). I got my aeropress for around $20, it's pretty cool, and might be an option for you to look into. But I'm a fan of brewing with a press, and it's what I use 90% of the time... it's simpler and I prefer the "mouthfeel" of pressed coffee.

i don't need a perfectly clean cup.

but so far i've been getting quite a bit of sludge. moreso than with my blade grinder.

Do you have the grinder on it's coarsest setting? You want the grind to be large and uniform for the press pot.

+1 arturo7....uniformity is the key. Sometimes you don't always need the coarsest grind, but it does need to be uniform. That's what you (typically) pay for in a more expensive grinder. I use a Capresso Infinity that I got for a song off of ebay. Works great for french press or drip (and in a pinch, espresso...but I loves my Rancilio Rocky too much).

tried it on the coarsest yesterday and there was still some sludge. i'm noticing a lot of smaller particulates in the grind basket. beans are a french roast.

i'm gonna clean it out good next weekend and try again on the coarsest.

You know, I've been using a cheap Krups whirly-blade with my french press for years. You can make a good cup of pressed coffee with a whirly blade, but you have to pulse the blades to keep from making too much dust. I still get a little mud in the bottom of my cup, but no more than from a press pot at a good cafe.

I am in the market for a new grinder, though, but it's for my new Gaggia espresso machine. Thanks to nealf for the tip on refurb Barzatas. Until I can get one, I'm relying on buying small quantities of beans from the roaster and having them grind for me.

Yes, I know purists are cringing, but I usually use the espresso machine to make americanos or iced coffee or latte for SWMBO. Once I get a decent grinder, there will be more espresso drinking on my part.

You will always get some sludge. Just leave it in the bottom of your cup.

Just think of the sludge as the last 1/4 inch of beer in your bottle. Sure, you could drink it, but you don't have to.

i keg

i don't mind a bit of sludge, but this is more than with my blade grinder.

why did I buy a burr?