Best Coffee Grinder for Cold Brew: Review and Buying Guide 2020

Do you like your coffee fresh and full of aroma? If yes, then pre-ground coffee will hardly do any justice to your taste buds. Getting a coffee grinder and grinding your coffee right before your cold brew it will give you an aroma and freshness that can never be found in pre-ground coffees.

A good coffee grinder with the settings to grind the coffee beans to the right consistency will give you the perfect amount of low-acidity and chocolaty flavor. This ultimate list of the best coffee grinders for cold brew will help you find the best one for your home.

Top 7 Best Coffee Grinder for Cold Brew 2020

This coffee grinder is the best of all worlds which is why it is the editor’s choice in the list. It is not only reasonable but also has good quality and is durable. The burrs inside the coffee grinder are conical. They are durable and provide the most accurately and uniformly ground coffee. It has precise grinding sizes options for different type of coffees. Whether you want a cold brew, espresso or coarse ground coffee for French press, it has all the options and will give you the best results.

The grinder is a one-touch start system and saves your previous settings as well, hence all you need to do is press the button and based on your settings the grinding will stop with the time is up. With different grinding speeds, a timer and one-touch start, this coffee grinder features top of the line specifications and quality.

The hopper of the machine is very spacious and can hold up to 0.75 pounds of coffee and the grinding area can grind 110 grams of coffee at a time which is enough for at least 12 cups of coffee. The hopper is mess free and has a UV blocking tint which makes sure that the coffee beans do not lose their flavor and aroma due to the sunlight. All these features make this particular grinder stand out which is why it is the editor’s pick.

In case, the OXO Brew Grinder is a bit too bulky or too expensive for you, then the Capresso Infinity Grinder might be the perfect fit for you. Under the $100 price range, the Capresso covers an area of only 5 x 7.5 inches whereas the Oxo covers 7.5 x 11.3 inches. This helps free up a lot of counter space, which is great for smaller kitchens.

For precise grinding, the device includes sturdy steel burrs that feature an advanced cutting design. This ensures the most perfectly ground coffee each time. Also, the cutting design means you can grind in a wide variety of styles, from Turkish fine to coarsely grounded coffee and even cold brew.

Although the Capresso is a bit smaller, it can still hold large quantities of coffee. This includes 4 ounces of ground coffee as well as 8.8 ounces of coffee beans. Furthermore, the motor is extremely efficient. It grinds the coffee slowly which helps reduce friction and heat. Eventually, it also means that the motor is extremely quiet and vibration-free.

The vibration-free design not only reduces spills but also increases the longevity and durability of the product. The grinder is quite easy to maintain and clean as well. The package includes a cleaning brush to help you in the cleaning process. All in all, the Capresso is a great alternative pick if you want a more affordable yet high-quality setup.

3. The Highest Quality - Baratza Virtuoso - Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

This top of the line coffee grinder by Baratza is an award-winning coffee grinder that has been constructed with the help of coffee professionals from all around the world. If you want something has the best quality and you don’t have a budget problem, then this is the right machine for you. This coffee grinder has 40 different grinding settings which are higher than most of the others on the market. Apart from this, it has an advanced burr set that gives the best and most uniform ground coffee. Also, it has a higher speed than its competitors which allows exploring a different type of coffee brews.

Furthermore, the grinder includes a pulse button that is conveniently located at the front for easier access. It allows you to grind the coffee directly into the filter basket. A 60 second timer ensures it’s easier to replicate the grinding time for more efficient results.

The top part and the base of the grinder are made of metal, at first, it looks like the metal has been added for aesthetics but actually the top and the bottom of the grinder face a lot of vibrations and metals are most resistant to such breakages. The best part about this product is that it comes with repair parts, which means in case of small problems, you don’t have to dump the whole machine rather you can get the specific part repaired

4. Budget Pick - Chefman Coffee Grinder Electric Burr

This coffee grinder made it to the budget pick due to its high-quality and up to the mark features. It features much more customization options as compared to coffee grinders that are more than double its price. With 17 different grinding options that you can choose using the dial, it has a 110 watts motor that provides a uniform and consistent grinding operation. It has a large hopper that can hold up to 8 ounces of coffee beans. Moreover, at a time, it can provide enough ground coffee to make 12 cups which is ideal for a family. 

The coffee grinder comes with its own set of instructions, one of which says that there should be a gap of at least 2 minutes between brewing cycles. This is important so that the coffee beans and ground coffee does not overheat. This way the chefman coffee grinder ensures the best flavor and the perfect taste in your coffee. This machine keeps working people in mind who usually don’t have time. Which is why it is very user-friendly and you can start it with a push of a button. The best part is the easy maintenance. The burrs and all the containers are easily detachable and can be cleaned without any hassle. moreover, it comes with a cleaning brush for the burrs.

The machine is cETL approved and comes with a warranty of 1-year. Moreover, it also gives its buyer’s the access to the chefman club that has exclusive coffee recipes.

5. The Smart Grinder - Breville BCG820BSSXL The Smart Coffee Grinder

This coffee grinder is unlike all the grinders we mentioned above. Breville is popular for its innovative machinery in the world of food, and this coffee grinder is no less than an innovation. It has 60 different settings for grinding your coffee beans and guess what? All these 60 settings are unique. These settings help in maximizing the flavor of your brew. All you have to do is select the type of brew and the number of cups. It comes with a small LCD screen that helps you program the burrs according to your preference. The LCD shows the number of cups you have selected, the grind time and the grind setting you have chosen.

The machine gives you complete control over the dosing of the ground coffee by allowing you to increment the time by 0.2 seconds per increment. Moreover, the large number of grinding settings available lets you master the art of brew coffee from espresso to cold brew, everything tastes divine. The coffee grinder comes with two types of cradles, one is small and the other one is large, then it comes with a grinding container and its lid. Last but not least, it also includes a conical burr cleaning brush for better maintenance. The hopper of this machine can store as much as 18 ounces of coffee beans which is the largest of all the coffee grinders we mentioned until now.

If you want to have the maximum control over how fine or coarse your coffee is and for how long the grinding takes place for then this manual coffee grinder is the one for you. It has 18 different click settings that allow you to grind coffee for a different type of brews. From pour over to drip to percolator to spice grind, there is nothing that cannot be done using this manual coffee grinder and does you know what the best part is? it is extremely reasonable. If you are a traveler but like to grind your coffee on your own, then I must say this coffee grinder will be your new best friend. It does not require any batteries or power cords rather is extremely compact and portable which allows you to easily take this coffee grinder along on your traveling adventures.

The hand crank mechanism that the machines uses is removable, which means cleaning and maintaining it is considerably easy. Moreover, this way the aroma and freshness of the ground coffee stay intact as the heat due to friction and eliminates the static due to burrs. So, the essential oils of coffee are not destroyed. The manual coffee grinder effectively eliminates 90 percent of the noise due to electric motors in electric coffee grinders. The burrs in this manual coffee grinder are a combination of two types of burrs which grinds coffee to the perfection.

This manual coffee grinder is from a Japanese brand that has tried to bring innovation even to manual coffee grinders. Just like electric grinders, it has a hopper at the top and a container for ground coffee at the bottom. The grinder uses ceramic burrs which provide better precision and results. A uniform grinding is provided with the help of these burrs as compared to the metal or plastic burrs used in manual grinders usually. The base of the grinder is made of rubber, this prevents the grinder from slipping when the user is working with it. It has an ergonomic design that is made to endure rough usage, hence, cracking and breaking is not easy. Moreover, it is portable and compact, so it can be used during traveling.

It uses a heat and breakage resistance glass to keep the coffee beans essential oils safe and also makes the coffee grinder more durable and sturdier. It is ideal for both traveling and home use. This coffee grinder is dishwasher safe and does not have any risk of rust and degradation. It provides good uniformly ground coffee with fresh aroma and texture. However, before buying a manual grinder you should know that grinding coffee by hand takes time and effort.

What is cold brew?

There is a common misconception that cold brewed coffee is just hot coffee cooled down and poured over ice, where actually cold brew coffee is coffee that has been brewed using cold water. This requires the ground coffee to be kept in cold water for more than 12 hours. In normal coffee, the flavor is extracted via heat, which cannot be done in cold brew, so it is steeped in cold water for all those hours to extract the flavor and aroma of coffee.

What is unique about it?

Due to the no heat method of cold brew, the acidity and bitterness of this coffee are lower than the coffee brewed with hot water. This is the best part of cold brewed coffee. It naturally extracts the flavor of the coffee and is not hard on the stomach which is why it is ideal for people with sensitive stomachs and hyperacidity. Moreover, since the coffee flavor and essential oils are extracted naturally, it is loaded with anti-oxidants and also has fat reducing abilities.

Is There any Difference in Preparation of Cold Brew?

Yes! You make the cold coffee brew by letting the coffee soak in cold water for more than 12 hours. You don’t utilize any heat treatment of whatsoever to extract the coffee essential oils and flavors. This makes the coffee taste more chocolaty and less bitter. Moreover, the acidity is lesser than all other kinds of coffee. The process for the preparation of this coffee is oxidation degradation. In cold brew coffee, the rate of oxidation-reduction is slow as compared to all other coffees where the oxidation-reduction is faster.

What is the Appropriate Grind Size for the Cold Brew?

The only key to the perfectly brewed cold brew coffee is the uniformly ground coffee. The grain size can either be small or medium, but the grain size should not be inconsistent.

Which means it should not be a mixture of small and medium-sized grains. This will lower the quality of your cold brewed coffee. There are two steps to cold brew coffee. The first is extraction and the second if filtering. Medium grain size takes less time in extraction but more time in filtering, on the other hand, a small grain size takes longer in the extraction of oils and flavors but lesser time in filtering.

Factors to Consider before Buying

Type of coffee grinders

There are a number of a different type of coffee grinders. The most common ones are:

• Blade grinders: these grinders are quite inexpensive but many folks hardly use them due to the inconsistent particle size they produce. They are just coffee blenders, they break the coffee beans apart and produce non-uniform particle size. The worst part of these grinders is that due to higher RPM, they can cause great friction and burn the beans.
• Burr grinders: these are the kind of grinders that have been chosen for this article. They use burrs that are somewhat similar to the gears used in different mechanical machines. These grinders are the most common despite the fact that they are expensive and slightly. This is because the product provides a uniform and consistent particle size.
• Disc and conical: these grinders are mostly popular due to the speed, precision, accuracy and consistency they provide. The grinders are more like discs that have grooves and cuts made into them. The beans fall between two discs and the grinding result in most consistent particle sizes.

The Material of Coffee Grinders

The most common coffee grinders include a combination of stainless steel and plastic. Some of them have hoppers and ground coffee containers made of heat and breakage resistant glass. However, manufacturers are introducing new and innovative materials on the market, day by day. There are two different categories of materials for coffee grinders. One is the type of material specifically for the burrs or the discs and conics and the other category is the material for the body of the grinder. The material usually used for the burrs or discs is either ceramic or stainless steel. The materials used for the body of the grinder, however, keep changing with the company. Some use stainless steel, some use plastic while some use zinc casting. Stainless steel is generally the most durable.

Cleaning of Coffee Grinder

Cleaning of the coffee grinder is part of its maintenance. You can easily clean the outer body no matter what type of coffee grinder you are using, the real problem is cleaning the insides of the grinder. Some grinders come with parts that you can dismantle. Cleaning grinders like that are way easier. If proper cleaning is not done, the burrs, discs, and conics can get clogged and cause heating of the motor. In most cases, the grinder comes with its own cleaning brush that has a long handle that you can use to easily clean the burrs and discs inside the grinder.

Selection of Cup

Some coffee grinders include this feature while the others miss out on it. Cup selection means that you can select the number of cups of coffee you want to brew so the grinder gives you only enough ground coffee for the specific number of cups. This not only makes your task easier but also prevents you from grinding extra coffee which is not fit for use the next morning. Hence, it is better to select a coffee grinder that has cup size selection included as a feature.

Conclusion

Nothing can change how good and fresh a freshly ground coffee can taste. Pre-grinded coffee cannot reach that level of tastiness and aroma. If you want your coffee experience to alleviate, the coffee grinders we mentioned in the article are the best options for you. I have mentioned a low budget as well as high-quality coffee grinders and you can easily choose the one that suits you best. All the grinders provide top of the line features and do not compromise on your coffee experience every morning. However, we advise that you put in extra attention to the value section so that you can choose the perfect coffee grinder.