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Best coffee grinder 2023: Our favourite manual and automatic grinders

A trio of coffee grinders

Take your next step towards coffee nirvana by grinding your own beans

Finding the best coffee grinder for your artisan beans can be a bit of a revelation. Much as we like the convenience of pods or the ease of using pre-ground coffee, nothing beats freshly-ground beans when it comes to a great-tasting cup. The best coffee grinders bring out all the right flavors and aromas in your coffee beans and are easy to use too.

While some ground coffee can be very good, once it’s roasted and ground it inevitably goes stale, the oil in the beans evaporating as the coffee is packed and stored. Vacuum-packing helps preserve the taste and aroma, but pre-ground coffee will never match the smell and flavour of coffee you grind, minutes before brewing, for yourself.

You get a richer, stronger-flavoured brew that reflects the subtle differences between different origins, blends and roasts. Moreover, you can control the grind, enabling you to mill coarse grinds for a filter machine or press, or finer grinds for an espresso machine or stove-top espresso maker.

While it’s a bit more effort than just scooping grounds out of a tin or bag, grinding beans doesn’t have to be a hassle; our recommended coffee grinders give you great, predictable results in minutes – and once you’ve tried the grind, you won’t go back.

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Best coffee grinder: At a glance

  • Best manual handheld grinder: Hario Skerton Pro | Buy now
  • Best budget automatic grinder: Krups Expert GVX231 | Buy now
  • Best grinder for versatility: Sage Dose Control Pro | Buy now
  • Best grinder for precision: Baratza Sette 270 | Buy now
  • Best grinder for cold brew: Cuisinart DBM8U Burr Mill | Buy now
  • A sleek and stylish electric burr grinder: Barista & Co Core | Buy now

How to choose the best coffee grinder for you

What should I look for in a coffee grinder?

Some automatic grinders are pretty simple: you add beans to a hopper, set the coarseness of the grind and hit a button. Others, however, will have a dial for setting how many cups you want to make, or smart, digital controls that allow you to select number of cups, strength or dosage per-cup, and the size of the grind, before dispensing the freshly-ground coffee into the filter or espresso machine handle of your choice.

More expensive grinders will give you finer control over the grind, higher capacities and sometimes larger burrs, which are supposed to produce even less heat than normal burrs, minimising the impact of the milling process on the taste of the final coffee.

If you’re grinding for espresso and want to get the best possible quality and consistency from your coffee, then it goes without saying that opting for a budget grinder is not going to be your best option. Even many good burr grinders are not designed to grind coffee fine enough for a manual espresso machine, so look out particularly for ones that are. After all, if you’ve invested in a decent coffee machine, then it makes sense to do the same for your grinder.

However, as always with such things, you have to balance the costs against your desire for ultimate flavour and – frankly – whether you’ll be able to tell the difference on the average day. While well-heeled connoisseurs can afford to spend big, most of us have to be a little more realistic.

How much do I need to spend?

Automatic burr grinders begin at around £35 and the prices rise up beyond £500 to £900 for the most deluxe models. At the top of the range, you’re paying for style, consistency, excellent build quality and smart grinding features, but if you just want a great-tasting coffee you don’t have to pay anywhere near so much.

If budget is your absolute top priority, you might choose to opt for a blade grinder, and we’ve made it a point to include one in our roundup below. However, if you care about the consistency and quality of your coffee, and particularly if you’re already spending a lot of money on the beans themselves, you should ultimately choose a burr grinder for the best result.

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What other features should I look for?

Some automatic grinders are pretty simple: you add beans to a hopper, set the coarseness of the grind and hit a button. Others, however, will have a dial for setting how many cups you want to make or smart, digital controls that allow you to select number of cups, strength or dosage per-cup and the size of the grind, before dispensing the freshly-ground coffee into the filter or espresso machine handle of your choice.

More expensive grinders will give you finer control over the grind, higher capacities and sometimes larger burrs, which are supposed to produce even less heat than normal burrs, minimising the impact of the milling process on the taste of the final coffee.

As always with such things, you have to balance the costs against your desire for ultimate flavour and – frankly – whether you’ll be able to tell the difference on the average day. While well-heeled connoisseurs can afford to spend big, most of us have to be a little more realistic.


How we test coffee grinders

To test coffee grinders, we start with a large bag of good quality, freshly roasted coffee beans. We then take the time to adjust each grinder’s grind settings to suit a variety of different brewing methods. Whether we’re after a coarse grind for cafetieres, a medium grind for filter coffee, or a fine grind for manual espresso, we look to see if a grinder can produce the kind of consistency which is essential for great-tasting coffee. We also take into account ease of use and cleaning, hopper capacity and any other extra features such as preset dosage sizes or portafilter attachments.

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The best coffee grinders to buy

1. Hario Skerton Pro Coffee Grinder: The best manual handheld coffee grinder

Price: £49 | Buy now from Amazon

The obvious downside to this is that you’ll need to grind your coffee by hand, which can either be a frustratingly arduous task or a great wrist workout to accompany your morning routine, depending on how you look at it.

Either way, the Hario Skerton Pro is perhaps the best hand grinder around. Although it’s compact, the hopper can hold up to 60g of coffee beans, which the ceramic burrs grind into the glass container beneath. The grind container can then be unscrewed and even sealed with the included lid.

Compared to the Skerton Plus that we previously featured in our roundup, the Pro offers improved grind adjustment (this is done by tightening or loosening the nut underneath the spring-loaded burrs themselves), as well as a thicker handle and an anti-slip rubber grip for ease of grinding. And at under £50, it’s an affordable alternative to some of the many electric grinders available. Although, if you wanted something cheaper, there’s a slimmer version of the Skerton currently available for £25.

Key specs – Type: Hand coffee grinder; Burrs: Ceramic; Controls: Adjustable grind; Capacity: 60g; Dimensions (LWH): 10.4 x 9.9 x 20.6cm

2. Lavazza Coffee Grinder: Best manual grinder for easy adjustment

Price: £59 | Buy now from Lavazza

This sleek and slim hand grinder from Lavazza can’t hold quite as many beans as the Hario Skerton featured above (we managed to comfortably fit about 18g into the small hopper), but it’s a neat little tool for your kitchen, with one notable advantage over the Skerton: its ease of adjustment.

On the Lavazza griner, you can switch between six grind size levels via a simple dial. This process is remarkably easier than with the Skerton, which requires you to unscrew the handle and loosen/tighten a screw in order to change the grind size. Thanks to its preset grind levels, it’s also easier to judge how fine or coarse you’re grinding (although the Skerton does perhaps allow for more minute adjustments to be made).

Beyond this, the two grinders are similar, with a glass container that can be unscrewed from the grinder itself. However, here the handle is attached to a lid, which will need to be slotted on top of the hopper. This prevents any bean fragments from escaping mid-grind. It’s pretty secure, but it’s important to take care when grinding (this means keeping it upright in your hands, unless you want coffee beans all over the floor).

At £59, it’s certainly not the cheapest manual coffee grinder, and the Hario Skerton fairly trumps it on bean capacity for less than this. But, if you’re after a neat, compact hand grinder that can be easily adjusted to suit your grind preferences, this is a great option.

Key specs – Type: Hand coffee grinder; Burrs: TBC; Controls: Adjustable grind dial; Capacity: Around 18g; Dimensions (HWD): 20 x 12 x 12cm

Buy now from Lavazza


3. Krups Expert GVX231 Burr Coffee Grinder: The best budget automatic grinder

Price: £42 | Buy now from Amazon

The Krups Expert Burr Coffee Grinder is about as affordable as a decent burr grinder gets. It’s compact, quick and very easy to use, with one dial selecting between 17 levels of grind and another allowing you to grind enough beans for between two and twelve cups. The good-sized hopper has an airtight lid and the grounds emerge into a plastic container at the bottom. Afterward, the upper burr can be removed for easy cleaning.

The Krups doesn’t suffer from the problem of many budget grinders – an inability to deliver a fine espresso grind – but it struggles at the other end, with some users complaining that they can’t get a coarse grind. Still, if you want great, fresh espresso on a limited budget, you won’t get better than this.

Key specs – Type: Automatic coffee grinder; Burrs: Stainless steel; Controls: 17-position grind, 1 to 12 cups; Capacity: 225g; Dimensions (WDH): 125 x 160 x 260mm

Also consider: Krups Everyday Coffee and Spice Mill

As we’ve already touched on, a blade grinder isn’t a good option if you’re after a consistent grind. What’s more, they produce more heat than burr grinders, which can risk ruining your coffee before you start brewing it. However, they’re an acceptable budget buy if you want something to grind your supermarket beans and your budget just won’t stretch to even the most affordable of burr grinders.

The Everyday Coffee and Spice Mill from Krups is easy to use: a button on the lid is held down for the length of time you want to grind for. The longer you hold it down, the finer the grind, though we ultimately recommend using it for a coarser filter grind, rather than espresso. And, as the name suggests, you can use it for spices too (we found it was great for cardamom seeds). Bear in mind, though, that it’s not the easiest thing to clean, as you aren’t able to remove the blades (and, for obvious reasons, you can’t submerge it in water).

Buy now from Amazon


4. Sage Dose Control Pro: The best grinder for versatility

Price: £110 | Buy now from Amazon

Want more control over your coffee? The Sage Dose Control Pro is the way to go. This one gives you 60 grind settings, from a coarse French press to an ultra-fine espresso. Just twist the hopper to change the setting, dial in the grind time then press to go.

Sage claims that the high-torque motor and heavy burrs give you a lot of grinding power with less heat, delivering a great, consistent grind direct to your porta filter, with two sizes of cradle provided to hold it in place. It’s easy to use and clean, and whether you want coarse or fine grinds, the Dose Control Pro serves them up. It’s a versatile coffee-drinker’s dream machine, incredibly good value and the best-bang-per-buck coffee grinder we’ve used.

Key specs – Type: Automatic coffee grinder; Burrs: Stainless steel conical; Controls: 60 position grind, grind time; Capacity: 340g; Dimensions (WDH): 200 x 160 x 340mm

5. Baratza Sette 270: The best coffee grinder for precision

Price: £325 | Buy now from Coffee Omega

Baratza makes some of the best grinders in the business, but the Sette 270 hits the sweet spot between price and performance. It uses what Baratza calls a revolutionary grinding technology, where the stainless-steel cone burr grinds against a fixed ring burr, with coffee passing through vertically into a filter handle or bin.

It’s a sleek looking machine, albeit a very noisy one, but it’s fast, easy-to-use and delivers nearly flawless, uniform grounds. Plus, if you’re obsessed with getting an accurate dosage, the Baratza always gets it right to within 0.5g. It’s a fairly pricey grinder and not for everyone, but a it’s real coffee connoisseur’s machine.

Key specs – Type: Automatic coffee grinder; Burrs: Stainless-steel cone and ring; Controls: 30 position macro grind, 9 position micro adjust, three-button timer, LCD display; Capacity: 275g; Dimensions (WDH): 130 x 240 x 400mm

6. Barista & Co. Core Electric Grinder: A sleek and stylish electric burr grinder

Price: £125 | Buy now from Barista & Co.

This slim and attractive electric burr grinder from Barista & Co. has an impressive 40 grind settings and produces a consistent grind for both basic espresso (settings 0-5) and filter coffee (around 25). It’s also very easy to use and maintain. The grinder itself can be detached from the main body for cleaning and a small cleaning brush is provided – though for prolonged use, we’d suggest investing in your own. What’s more, the removable bean hopper has a shutoff opening, which allows you to weigh out your beans in the hopper before attaching it to the machine without any spillage.

During testing, we did notice a couple of issues. One is that the grind size dial would sometimes shift slightly during finer grinding, though this didn’t appear to affect the end result. Another is that the optional portafilter attachment, while a very nice touch, proved messier than it was worth. Barista & Co. admits that the Core is not an espresso specific grinder. So espresso aficionados after the finest of grinds may want to splash out on a more precise machine (such as the Baratza above).

However, for the features it offers, £110 is not a bad price. The Core is a slim, good-looking and easy-to-operate electric burr grinder, It’s not quite a budget option, but not something that’ll break the bank either.

Key specs – Type: Automatic coffee grinder; Burrs: Stainless steel; Controls: 40-position grind, grind by manual on/off button or by 10 second increments (up to 50 seconds); Capacity: Approx 240g; Dimensions (WDH): 119 x 230 x 345mm

7. Cuisinart DBM8U Burr Mill: The best coffee grinder for cold brew

Price: £64 | Buy now from AO

If a summer filled with the satisfying kick of caffeine, minus the hot water, has left you a firm cold brew fan, you’ll need a workhorse of a grinder to help with your habit. Great cold brew demands a coarse grind for an easier filtration, sweetness and a less bitter flavour overall, so fine grounds (which can also be heated during the extra grinding) are out.

Fortunately, this is what the durable Cuisinart Burr Mill excels at, churning out a consistently even coarse grind with its plates, which is also ideal for a percolator, French press or cafetière. As well as 18 grind settings, four to 18 cup selector and auto shut-off when it’s done, all its removable parts are dishwasher-safe so making delicious cold brew comes with minimal clean-up. There’s also a reassuring five-year guarantee.

Where it does less well is the finer espresso, so you might want to investigate buying a pricier machine if your morning isn’t complete with a perfect shot. But for full, flavoursome coffee that’s as refreshing as an ice pop, this grinder is good to go.

Key specs – Type: Automatic coffee grinder; Burrs: Stainless steel; Controls: 18 position grind; Capacity: 250g; Dimensions (WDH): 150 x 160 x 280mm

Buy now from AO

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