If you're a lifelong coffee drinker, you probably have your routine down, and your small collection of tools for brewing drip, espresso or pour-over. While the brewer is a key component in making consistently good coffee, it's one of many factors that affect what ends up in your mug.
Getting the coffee-to-water ratio right is essential, and experts suggest the golden ratio to do so. Beyond weight and measurements, the fineness or coarseness of the grind is just as important, and it's often overlooked in coffee brewing.
Grinding freshly roasted beans at home is what most experts recommend, but reaching for whatever grinder is in your kitchen could compromise the outcome.
The best coffee grinders produce evenly ground beans, giving you greater control and a more balanced brew. And when we talk about the best, we're referring to burr grinders.
What is a burr grinder, and how does it work?
A burr grinder gives you maximum control over the beans you use to make a cup of coffee -- it's one of the most important coffee tools you can own. Patrick Holland/CNET
Unlike a blade grinder, which grinds coffee beans by slicing them, burr coffee grinders crush them. Burr grinders use two abrasive or notched discs or plates, known as burrs, that rotate either parallel to one another or concentrically.
"A burr grinder gives you maximum control," Kaleena Teoh stresses. Teoh is co-founder and director of education for Coffee Project New York, and praises burr grinders for "giving you the power to brew the coffee exactly the way you want it to be."
Burr grinders are able to grind beans evenly and to a precise coarseness. Kuzmik_A/Getty
As the coffee beans are squeezed between them, they're crushed to a preset size determined by the distance between the two burrs, which is adjustable to suit both the type of coffee being made and personal preference.
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