Coffee Makers and Coffee Grinders

From the regular drip coffee maker to the old fashioned coffee perker, and even the gourmet espresso machine, coffee makers and grinders are a common kitchen gadget. Many people around the world love a fresh cup of home brewed coffee, and they like to make it for their company or in the morning to go with breakfast. There are many ways to get the job done, and here are some of the most common.

In the majority of coffee makers, automatic drip machines, pre-ground coffee is placed in a paper or metal filter, which is over top a glass coffee pot . Cold water is poured in, the machine heats it up to boiling and it trickles through the coffee grounds, then into the pot. There are also single cup drip coffee makers which don't use electricity, and you just pour boiling water into the top. These coffee makers are pretty easy to find in any department store, and can make from four to ten cups at once depending on the model.

There are single serving coffee makers that use a measured packet of coffee grounds like a tea bag. These are purchased in different flavors and varieties, ready to use. These are popular gadgets for houses that only need one cup of coffee made at once.

The coffee plunger, or French press, is another popular tool for making small amounts of coffee. It works by placing the coffee and hot water together, leaving it to brew for a few minutes, then pushing the plunger to the bottom to separate the grounds from the coffee. Since French presses don't use paper filters that would remove the oils and sediment with the grounds, French pressed coffee can be stronger and thicker than drip-brewed coffee.

Finally, there are espresso machines which produce a concentrated coffee 'shot' using hot water forced under high pressure through very fine grounds. A shot of espresso is thicker than regular coffee and has more sediment in it. Espresso is used in many other coffee drinks, such as lattes, cappuccini, and mochas. This is a much stronger drink than many are accustomed to, although some would say it is the only 'real' coffee.

If you want the full flavor and aroma from fresh ground coffee beans, you need a way to grind them at home. There are many different coffee grinders on the market, most having steel blades. As with many things, a little more money gets you a product that will perform better. For the real gourmet, a burr grinder is a step up from the steel bladed variety.

My favorite coffee maker came with a timer and a coffee grinder built into it. Every morning the preloaded coffee beans go into the grinder and grounds pour down into the filter. By the time I get up, coffee is ready. What a way to start the day. Bottoms up!

Understanding The Types Of Coffee Grinders

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The first step in creating incomparable coffee in your home of office is to grind the coffee beans yourself. Freshly ground coffee has had less of a chance to oxidize, and thus the flavor is preserved. If you've walked past a busy coffee shop, you'll notice the strong aroma of freshly ground and prepared coffee. Nothing beats it, and this freshness contributes to the flavor of the final cup.

Finding a coffee grinder that will prepare the quality beverage you're after is another matter though. It helps to understand the different types of grinders available, as they produce quite varying qualities of brewed coffee.

There are three ways to grind coffee. Blade grinders, which chop up the coffee beans, are the most common in home coffee grinders. They have advantages in that they are longer lasting, and quite cheap to buy compared with other grinder methods. But this trade-off is apparent in the type of ground coffee they produce.

One of the key principles in producing quality coffee grinds is that the size of the grind is even. Unfortunately, blade grinders don't perform well here. They produce both large and small particles of coffee, as well as a type of 'coffee dust' that can clog up sieves in French presses and espresso machines. The coffee they produce is generally poorer in quality because the lack of uniform particle size means that the brewing method selected is unable to work optimally. Some of the coffee beans will be perfect for it, and thus the full flavor will be extracted, but a lot of it won't, as the beans are too large or small.

Whilst the effect of coffee grind particles that are too large may seem obvious, in that flavor is left in the ground, a grind that is too fine will also contribute to poor coffee. Bitter coffee results when the surface area has been exposed to hot water for too long.

By far the best method for most types of coffee is the burr grinder. These grinders are used in coffee shops, and they produce a very even grind. There is a range of settings that can be used, so that espresso, French press, drip coffee, and percolators can be used to make the final cup. Burr grinders have another advantage in that there is less heat to change the taste of the coffee bean. Blade grinders tend to produce more heat.

The third way of grinding coffee is particular to making Turkish coffee. A very finely ground coffee is needed, and only very good quality burr grinders are able to do this. The alternative is the old fashioned mortar and pestle!

The best type of coffee grinder is the conical burr grinder, but these are also the most expensive. What is best for an individual's needs will depend on how much they love their coffee, and their budget.