However, you can still get consistent results from a grinder that doses by time. Just do a test grind on the desired setting, weigh the results, and calculate what to set the timer to (make sure to weigh the final results to make sure your math works out). To estimate consistency with each of the time dosing grinders we tested, we ground for four seconds, multiplied to get an estimate for a full brew, and then cross-checked to see how close the grinder came. If you don’t have one, you will need to get a scale to effectively use a coffee grinder that doses by time, but frankly, you should have a scale anyway to measure your water (also to measure ingredients for baking). This scale from Escali is a workhorse and a bargain to boot. If you want a professional scale, look to the brand Acaia.
How we tested
Upon unboxing the grinders, we made note of their build quality, size, ease of assembly, and features. We then processed 30 grams of coffee beans in each machine at three different settings—coarse grind size and medium/fine grind size, and fine grind for espresso—and closely inspected the results from each for consistency. We made exceptions to this process for grinders that did not claim they could be used for all brew methods, like the Fellow Ode or the Eureka Mignon Notte. Finally, we used beans from each to brew coffee—French press, pour-over, and espresso for most grinders, Aeropress for manual grinders. We then tasted the brews and evaluated them in terms of flavor, balance, and bitterness.
What we looked for
How does the grinder feel? Is it easy to set up?
It goes without saying that a $75 coffee grinder will likely be less substantial than a $750 one, but because these machines are likely to get a daily workout, it pays to seek one out that feels built to last, even at the budget end of the spectrum. During setup and testing, we paid attention to the weight of the coffee grinders, their sturdiness on the counter, and the apparent durability of the components. We also considered how easy they were to set up and if their controls were intuitive to use. We don’t mind skimming an instruction manual, but we didn’t want to put in hours of study before brewing our first cup.
Does it offer a range of grinding options?
One of the advantages of grinding your own beans is a greater choice of brewing styles, so we looked for machines that offered a wide array of grinding options, from superfine to coarse.
Does it offer any noteworthy additional features?
For example, is the hopper for the beans large and easy to pour into? Does it come with a container to collect the grinds? Or attachments that allow you to grind directly into a portafilter (translation: that handled basket you use to pull an espresso) or cone filter? Is there a built-in scale or timer?
Is the grinder loud? Is it messy?
Coffee grinders are never going to be whisper-quiet, but no one wants to be assaulted with unnecessary noise first thing in the morning. Same goes for clean up: some flyaway grinds are a fact of life, but having to break out the dustbuster is a deal-breaker.
How is the grind consistency?
No matter if you’re going for a fine grind or a coarse one, having a machine that delivers consistent results will make the difference between a properly balanced cup of coffee and a poor one. After processing each machine on multiple settings, we poured the grinds into shallow bowls and examined them for irregular particles.
Is the coffee grinder simple to clean?
After processing, we considered how neatly and easily the grinds could be transferred from the grind catcher to a brewing container, and whether it was simple to access the burrs for occasional maintenance and cleaning.
How does the coffee taste?
Finally, we asked the million-dollar question: After grinding fresh beans and brewing them according to identical methods, did the model produce good coffee?
Other grinders we tested
Baratza Virtuoso+
Baratza made a name for itself with coffee-shop-level burr grinders (see the Baratza Forte AP), but its smaller, less expensive grinders can deliver the same quality. The Virtuoso+ is one step up from the entry-level Encore, but that level up makes a world of difference when it comes to using the machine. The Virtuoso+ uses time dosing down to the tenth of a second, which means you’ll need to spend a little bit of time dialing in your preferred settings. We did some of that dialing in: On setting 18, a middle-of-the-road grind that Baratza suggests for an automatic brewer, we got nine grams of coffee in four seconds. This can vary depending on what type of beans you use, but you can use this as a baseline. While not designed specifically for it, we found the Virtuoso+ to be versatile enough to use with an espresso machine (we’d recommend a setting somewhere between a six and a 10), but the design of the grounds container, with sharp edges, allows for easy transfer to a portafilter.
Eureka Mignon Filtro
Italian brand Eureka makes a range of higher-end grinders, some that specialize in espresso (see the Mignon Notte below) and some for other brewing methods. The Mignon Filtro is their entry level grinder, but it still comes with a much more substantial build than anything else we tested in this price range (it’s $209 at the time of writing). It’s 50mm flat stainless steel burrs are something you’d expect in a grinder that costs 50% more. It also offers a stepless adjustment, which means it doesn’t have any settings for the fineness or coarseness of the grind. A wheel freely adjusts the burrs. The good part about this is that it allows you to make the tiniest adjustments, the bad part is that you can’t tell just by looking what the grinder is set to (the wheel has numbers 1-5 on it, but it can make 4 full rotations, those numbers don’t really mean much if you don’t remember how many times you’ve turned the wheel already). We’ve found those sorts of super micro adjustments very important brewing espresso, but less so for filter brewing. Even on the finest setting we struggled to brew good espresso using the Mignon Filtro, so while it gave a perfectly even grind across all our tests, we don’t really think the stepless adjustment is all that much of a value add in this case, since it’s best for brewing styles like pour-over or drip. It also doesn’t have any way to measure a coffee dose—no timer, no scale. You simply hold a button down through the entire grinding process; as soon as you release it the grinder stops. Compared with appliances with timers or scales this is an annoying way to grind.
Technivorm Moccamaster Burr Grinder
From the makers of the excellent Moccamaster drip coffee maker, the Moccamaster grinder is similar in lots of ways to the Mignon Filtro, although it’s more than $100 more expensive. It also has 50mm flat burrs, also offers a stepless adjustment dial, requires holding down a switch through the entirety of the grinding process, and could not grind for a good espresso shot even on the finest setting. It also didn’t have the grind retention that the grinders from Fellow had, losing about 12% of the beans during the process (we ground 30 grams of beans and got about 26 grams back). We did actually prefer the pour-over and French press coffee we made with this grinder though. The catch cup is also made of glass, which offers a very sophisticated look. If you’re brewing mostly pour-over or drip coffee we still prefer the Fellow Ode, but this is a good grinder for those methods.
Zwilling Enfinigy Grinder
The Zwilling Enfinigy Grinder looks more heavy-duty than it actually is, but given the reasonable price, it meets expectations just fine. It’s a versatile grinder that made quality cups with all the brew methods we tried—and it was surprisingly easy to grind beans for a good espresso shot (we set the grind to 20 and the timer to 3). Like the Oxo and the Solis, it uses a manual dial for its timed dosing and it performs on par with both of them for all brew methods, although it costs a little more. Aesthetically it’s a choice. It’s got an Art Deco look to it, which may or may not be your thing. You can get a matching set if you pair it with the Enfigy drip coffee maker, which brews to the Specialty Coffee Association Gold Cup Standard.
Wilfa Uniform Coffee Grinder
Brought to the United States for the first time by New Jersey coffee roaster and importer Lardera, the Norwegian Wilfa Uniform offers the kind of consistent grind and quality build you’d expect from a Scandinavian home product. It ground well for all methods, and could even grind fine enough for Turkish coffee—quite a bit finer than you need for espresso. The two issues with the Wilfa are, the adjustment knob is huge—it’s the entire lid, and it’s a wide lid. Unless you have enormous hands, adjusting the grinder requires holding it down with one hand while cranking with the other. The other is the there were some flyaway grind issues. We got a bit of ground coffee splatter on the counter when we pulled the catch cup out. Still, this is a high-quality, versatile grinder.
The Eureka Mignon Notte is really just an espresso grinder, so we only judged it on that (we guess you could put a bowl under it to catch beans for another brew method, but honestly that seems like a waste). Weighing in at 25 pounds, it’s a solid piece of equipment. Like the Mignon Filtro it offers a stepless adjustment of its steel burrs, which, again, almost no other grinder in this price range has. Also like the Filtro, the Mignon Notte can offer stepless adjustments at a lower price, by having entirely manual dosing—you hold a button down to turn it on and release that button to turn it off. That means you also need to use a scale every time you brew, which isn’t a total deal-breaker—it is, in fact, the way you brew the best espresso—but it is an extra step. Ultimately, the extra effort required keeps the Mignon Notte from being a top pick here, since we tried to think about what will be most practical for the largest number of coffee drinkers. But if the manual dosing and weighing doesn’t bother you, this will be one of the best espresso grinders for the money.
Baratza Sette 30
We so wanted to like the Baratza Sette 30. It’s from the same company as our current top pick, the Virtuoso+. It is clearly made with quality materials, and comes with the capability to grind directly into a portafilter for espresso. Unfortunately it falls short in several respects. First, it was very difficult to dial in for espresso. Ultimately we were satisfied with a shot using setting 14 on the grinder and a time of 5.38 seconds. That setting is around the middle of the grinder settings, which is probably why we were unable to get a satisfactory French press even at the coarsest setting. Truth be told, we couldn’t even get a satisfactory pour-over cup from the Sette 30 (the Sette is designed as an espresso grinder, but we write this just to make that clear). The other problem is that it’s incredibly messy to use when grinding into a portafilter, which would be the best use for it given the fact that it likes to grind extra fine coffee. Grinds spilled out everywhere when using a 54-mm portafilter (the size found on most espresso machines under $1,000) and it’s impossible to use with a large dosing funnel that might prevent that. A 58-mm portafilter, typically only available on much more expensive espresso machines, is somewhat less messy, but the only reliable solution to avoid so many flyaway grinds is to use lower profile dosing rings. Taken together there were just too many little problems to recommend it.
Oxo Brew Conical Burr Grinder
The budget version of the Oxo Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder is an excellent value. In previous iterations of this review it was our top pick for an inexpensive grinder because of the quality and consistency of its grind, which was on par with the much pricier Oxo that comes with an integrated scale. Like the winning Baratza and KitchenAid grinders, this one uses time dosing, but unlike either, the timer isn’t digital, which means you have to eyeball it a bit when setting. But if you’re trying to save money you’ll have to make a compromise somewhere and a manual dial is a minimal one to make. Again, we did a little tinkering to give you a baseline to start dialing in your grind: On “medium,” right in the center of the grind settings, we got nine grams of coffee with a five second grind time. While we prefer the Solis Scala to this Oxo, it’s still a good choice for someone looking to spend $100 or less.
Hamilton Beach Burr Grinder
As budget as a burr grinder can get, the Hamilton Beach only cost $40 at the time of writing. And it performs about like you’d expect for something in this price range. It struggled to grind fine enough for espresso and the grind for pour-over was slightly uneven. The bigger issue was with the dosing settings. They don’t seem to mean much. The 4 cup setting produced 13 grams of beans and the 2 cup setting produced 12. Even if you just wanted something basic for a drip machine you’d be better off spending a little more on a more consistent grinder.
Breville Smart Grinder Pro
With a sturdy and spiffy-looking stainless-steel housing, touchable dial-in controls, an easy-to-read digital interface, grind options and add-ons galore, there’s just so much to like about the Breville Smart Grinder Pro. Like our KitchenAid pick, this one allows you to grind directly into a portafilter for espresso, but doesn’t come with quite as many grind settings. And while the setup was simple and the instructional manual easy to read, the grinder definitely required more than a cursory glance to get acquainted.
DeLonghi Dedica Coffee Grinder
DeLonghi’s performed fine; the grind was consistent, across all brew methods. The adjustment here is a digital interface that sets a number of cups and it was nice to see that it ground consistently 6.0–6.5 grams for every cup across settings. The problems were with the espresso setting. First, the attachment for grinding into a portafilter will really only work with a DeLonghi espresso machine. A DeLonghi portafilter is juuuuust a little smaller than the 54-mm portafilters on machines like Breville’s. So other machines’ portafilters won’t fit. You also can’t change the number of shots. You can only grind one.
Baratza Encore Conical Burr Grinder
The Baratza Encore Conical Burr Grinder is universally adored, with top marks from the Wirecutter and CNET, so going into testing, we were prepared to be wowed. It has a manual on-off switch leaving it up to you to supervise the grinder the entire time. It was slow compared to the other machines, and the coarser French Press grind was visibly inconsistent, with too many fine particles.
Cuisinart Supreme Grind Automatic Burr Mill
The Cuisinart Supreme Grind Automatic Burr Mill produced solid results—it’s not in the Fellow category (or the Baratza Virtuoso category for that matter), but it also only costs sixty bucks. It has more grind settings than our Solis budget winner, but measuring the amount of coffee ground is a real issue. It has settings for four cups through 18, but from one grind setting to another the same cup setting would produce dramatically different weight measurements. This would be a fine choice if you use a drip coffee maker and measure your coffee by volume, but probably not for anything else.
Capresso Infinity Burr Grinder
The Capresso Infinity Burr Grinder was a bit of mess. The coarse grind was inconsistent and the medium/fine grind was too fine. There was also not a consistent way to measure how much coffee you’re grinding.
Bodum Bistro
We admired the Bodum Bistro’s compact design and easy-to-use interface but were disappointed by grind’s lack of consistency and its low marks in our blind-tasting and the Krups GVX2, while compact, inexpensive, and pleasant to use, scored the lowest on our blind taste test, yielding a brew that was darker and more bitter than its competitors. Finally, our other manual option from Mueller felt flimsier than the Kona and was much clumsier to fill, adjust, and operate.
For a look at all our choices for best coffee makers read our review here.