I don't drink coffee, but my dad does and he grinds his own but uses one of things I use for spice grinding. He drinks coffee in the morning only so a cup or two and when my brother is there they might go through 1 pot. Is there a good burr grinder that just does a small amount of beans at a time? He is not willing to store his beans outside the freezer so a storage bin on top is not necessary and only grinds what he wants to use.
Burr grinder for small amounts of beans
- Thread starter natenaaron
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Depending on his budget and needs.
Baratza Encore or Virtuoso are both great grinders, both with storage on the top, fine adjustments, and not too loud.
I own Virtuoso and could not be happier. Since you said 1-2 cups, I'm assuming he's making some sort of filter coffee. Neither of these two are ideal for espresso (or Turkish) but "could" work, for everything else, they are great grinders.
Baratza Encore or Virtuoso are both great grinders, both with storage on the top, fine adjustments, and not too loud.
I own Virtuoso and could not be happier. Since you said 1-2 cups, I'm assuming he's making some sort of filter coffee. Neither of these two are ideal for espresso (or Turkish) but "could" work, for everything else, they are great grinders.
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I really should have said hand grinding was out. Shoulder, arm, and stroke issues make manual not happen. Yes french press and filter coffee
If you have some extra cash, look up Niche Zero grinder.
A budget model made by Krups is available online. Seems to do a fine job with multiple settings, but loud. Very loud.
What is your realistic budget? That can really help narrow down options/suggestions.
I own both a Virtuoso and a Niche Zero. Both are great machines at their price points and machines I can highly recommend. The former is in the $200 range and is great for pour over and coarser grind brew methods. It has a small hopper to hold beans but you can leave it empty and add just what you need for brewing. It's a very good mid range, consumer grinder. Its main weaknesses are being a bit loud and it had grind consistency issues like all grinders in its price point. That is not a huge issue for the brew methods you mentioned. I have not used the encore but it is very similar to the Virtuoso and $60 cheaper.
The Niche is a single dose grinder that can only handle about 50g of beans at a time. It's great for all brewing methods including espresso and Turkish coffee. It is quite expensive at $650 though. It is fast, quiet, and extremely consistent in grind.
I would also strongly recommend not storing beans in the fridge or freezer. A cool, dark place will suffice. The fridge and freezer is going to produce moisture on the beans and will degrade the quality faster. If the freezer storage is a solution to storing large amounts of beans I would also suggest buying smaller amounts and from a local roaster. You will get the freshest and best tasting coffee that way. I typically try to consume coffee within 4-6 weeks of its roast date.
If you have the time check out Seattle Coffee Gear's YouTube page. They have a massive library of video reviews on all types of coffee equipment.
I own both a Virtuoso and a Niche Zero. Both are great machines at their price points and machines I can highly recommend. The former is in the $200 range and is great for pour over and coarser grind brew methods. It has a small hopper to hold beans but you can leave it empty and add just what you need for brewing. It's a very good mid range, consumer grinder. Its main weaknesses are being a bit loud and it had grind consistency issues like all grinders in its price point. That is not a huge issue for the brew methods you mentioned. I have not used the encore but it is very similar to the Virtuoso and $60 cheaper.
The Niche is a single dose grinder that can only handle about 50g of beans at a time. It's great for all brewing methods including espresso and Turkish coffee. It is quite expensive at $650 though. It is fast, quiet, and extremely consistent in grind.
I would also strongly recommend not storing beans in the fridge or freezer. A cool, dark place will suffice. The fridge and freezer is going to produce moisture on the beans and will degrade the quality faster. If the freezer storage is a solution to storing large amounts of beans I would also suggest buying smaller amounts and from a local roaster. You will get the freshest and best tasting coffee that way. I typically try to consume coffee within 4-6 weeks of its roast date.
If you have the time check out Seattle Coffee Gear's YouTube page. They have a massive library of video reviews on all types of coffee equipment.
Niche Zero is a great single dose grinder for espresso or Turkish, but for French press or filter it's a huge overkill. Baratza Encore - which I used to have - is at perfect price/performance point for it. Do your dad a favor and, unless he's planning to buy an espresso machine, save him $500 on the grinder.
EclipseRedRing
I smell like a Christmas pudding
I have a small Krups grinder which was about £15 and it works well. The model is F20342.
Completely agree but forgot to say it. Any motorozed grinder of that caliber and price is best suited for espresso/Turkish or hardcore coffee nerds.
If a manual burr grinder is alright, I recommend the Java Presse manual grinder sold on Amazon. It has ceramic burrs and is the perfect size for anything less than ~3-4 cups.
I'm a little late to the party but +1 for Hario grinders. I went with this and it's about 9 years old now and still going. We have an electric burr grinder now since there's two of us in the house, but we still use the manual for camping.
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I absolutely challenge your baratza encore to a grind off.
For Turkish coffee, I too use manual grinders, and they are very, very good indeed, exceptional grind really.
These are not mass produced, they are manufactured on high precision commercial machines and manually assembled and adjusted by skilled machinists. These are the kind of product where "production cost" is not an issue, made for personal use and meant to last "forever" (photo attached).
And they are great, absolutely great, but Baratza makes very good grinders too, quite impressive actually.
I have a Cuisinart, which is pretty good. It is electric with a pretty quite motor. Think I paid $29. Will do a small amount and comes with a plastic lid to seal the coffee that is not used.
I second the Virtuoso recommendation. I also have one and I drink two cups a day in the morning. I store my coffee beansin a separate sealed container (Coffee Gator) and only grind what I need for the two cups I'm brewing that morning. The price is reasonable and if it ever needs service, which it most likely will as most grinders need service from time to time, Baratza is fantastic in supporting either you doing the service yourself or sending it in for service.
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