Compare Our Top 6 Grinders
Grinder Wired Tired Type Grind Settings Espresso-capable? Warranty Baratza Encore ESP Innovative dial offers fine adjustments for espresso. Precise grinds, with clarity of flavor. Built like a tank. Admirable versatility for all coffee types. Best value proposition overall. Not a looker, really. Neither loud nor quiet. Conical burr 40 Y 1 year Fellow Opus Quietest grinder we've tested. Minimalist-pretty. Coaxes out wonderful sweetness, especially on drip and pour-over. Finicky espresso adjustments. Precise, but not as precise as the ESP. Conical burr 41+ Y 2 years Oxo Brew Conical Burr Lowest-cost burr grinder that still offers a good grind. Slim, sturdy build. Good for drip, Aeropress, French press. Few espresso adjustments. Not as precise as top picks. A little loud. Conical burr 30 Y, but few adjustments 2 years Fellow Ode Gen 2 Tuning-fork precision on drip and pour-over. Minimalist-pretty design. Low static. Auto-shutoff when hopper is empty. Helpful grind size guide. No espresso. Odd haptics on power switch. Grind cup is weird Flat burr 30 N 2 years Kingrinder K6 Hand Grinder Wild precision, at a low price. Sturdy, wholly analog machining and engineering. 180 fine adjustments. Compact. Hand grinding is a process. Instructions are few. Best for single-serve, not batch Manual 180 Y 1 year KitchenAid Blade Grinder Very small. Very cheap. Simple and durable. Choppy grind. Too many boulders. Only marginal improvement over preground coffee. Blade 1 N 2 years
More Excellent Grinders
Conical-burr all-rounders:
Baratza Encore for $150: Baratza's original Encore is the Honda of the conical burr grinder world: easy to maintain, runs great, easy to use, lasts forever, replacement parts are easy to find. It's been on the market largely unchanged for more than a decade. For not much more, the ESP offers beautiful adjustment on espresso settings, so I tend to recommend the added versatility. But the original Encore remains a solid entry-level choice.
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Oxo Compact Burr Grinder for $75: Just when you thought Oxo had already cornered the market on affordable conical burr coffee grinders, they came in at an even lower price with this year's model. This lower-cost compact Oxo Brew is stacked like a wee layer cake. And so the grind cup is housed within the column of the device itself, and can be pulled out when you're done grinding. But while this is quite clever, neither consistency of grind nor ease of use is quite on par with Oxo's $100 basic conical burr, which remains my pick for an entry-level coffee grinder. But if the cupboard space, or the $30, is a strong incentive, this compact grinder is still a good pick at $75.
Baratza Virtuoso+ for $250: The Virtuoso+ uses the same burr set as the ESP, but is not quite as optimized for espresso. The biggest upgrade against the Encore ESP is a timer. Both have similar rock-solid but compact builds (although the Virtuoso is a little more stylish with its fitted grounds bin), 40 grind settings, and burr grinders for consistent grounds. The Virtuoso’s digital timer, however, is great for those wanting consistent coffee ground dosings each morning. You’ll have to dial in on your grind time versus coffee grounds output, but once you figure that out, you can walk away from the grinder and multitask if you please. —Tyler Shane
Oxo Brew Conical Burr Grinder With Scale for $300: Making great coffee consistently is all about measuring your variables, and this Oxo model comes with a built-in scale. Set your grind size, select the weight you want, hit Start, and walk away; it shuts itself off when it's done. This is a great way to streamline your morning ritual, but the device does spray off a few grounds—and at its price range, we tend to prefer the Fellow Opus or Baratza ESP as an all-rounder, or the bare-bones Oxo as a budget pick.
KitchenAid Burr Grinder for $200: This KitchenAid is stylish and easy to clean, and former WIRED reviewer Jaina Grey likes that the burrs are accessible thanks to their placement directly beneath the hopper. It also features precise dose control, with grind size controlled by a dial. For espresso lovers, one excellent feature is that you can swap the little container that catches the grounds with a holder for a portafilter.
Flat burrs for drip and pour-over:
Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Technivorm Moccamaster KM5 Flat Burr Grinder for $329: OK, so this two-year-old Moccamaster sneaked up on me, in part because reviewers for other outlets have assumed that this Moccamaster is a rebuild of a Eureka grinder, based on somewhat similar looks. Moccamaster reps assure me this is not the case. And it turns out the performance on this stepless (read: infinite adjustment) grinder is somewhere between good and damn good. The razor-thin grind size distribution in early testing makes the KM5 a credible rival to the similarly priced Fellow Ode, in fact. And like the Ode, this Moccamaster is made especially for bringing out precise flavors on drip and pour-over. And early particle analysis shows this Moccamaster to potentially offer even more precise grinds than the Ode. It's not as user-friendly, mind you: It cranks at 90 decibels, you have to hold down its switch to grind, and its aesthetics are the same sturdy industrial chic as all Moccamasters. Indeed, it's designed to sit alongside the classic drip coffee maker that's been on our buy-it-for-life guide since we've had one. I plan to keep on testing this flat burr against the Ode, to see how each brings out the flavors of different beans.
Eureka Mignon Filtro for $269: The precision on flat burrs is unparalleled. But usually, so is the price. This no-frills Filtro from beloved Italian coffee brand Eureka costs $80 less than our top-pick flat-burr, and it's an absolute metal-clad tank of a machine, says former WIRED reviewer Jaina Grey. It's as robust as the higher-end models and offers excellent consistency of grind size. Sure, it's a little loud, and you have to hold the button down when you grind. But life is full of trade-offs.
Wilfa Uniform for $349: This Wilfa has long been on our list as a great flat-burr grinder for pour-overs and drip. It remains such, though the Ode springboarded it as the top pick with its Gen 2 burr update, at about the same price. Like its name suggests, the Wilfa offers a beautifully consistent grind size and will make you a lovely pour-over. That said, it's a little fussier to adjust and louder than the Ode.
Photograph: Breville
Breville Smart Grinder Pro for $200: WIRED has recommended this Breville in the past for its accessible burrs that make it easy to clean. But it's not really optimized for lighter-roast espresso, and ever since Breville bought Baratza, they've slowly been swapping out the grinders in their top-line semi-automatic espresso machines with those excellent Baratza burrs. For a stand-alone grinder at the same price, we give the same advice to you.
Baratza Vario W+ for $600: The Encore has a bigger, beefier, flat burr cousin, the Baratza Vario-W+ (7/10, WIRED Recommends) with a built-in scale and ridiculously granular adjustment (230 settings!). But like a lot of flat burrs, it struggles on finer grinds, according to WIRED contributor Joe Ray. And static is an issue. With price in play, the Ode Gen 2 comes out on top, but Ray was still a big fan of the Vario.
For travel and camping:
Photograph: VSSL
VSSL Java manual grinder for $170: VSSL specializes in ultra-durable camping tools, and it applied this same durable construction to this hardy campsite-ready hand grinder that WIRED reviewer Scott Gilbertson attests to be rugged enough to survive the zombie apocalypse. The handle folds out to provide a lot of leverage while you grind, and you can use it as a hook to hang the device up when you're done.
DmofwHi Cordless Grinder for $40: Going camping in the actual woods but don't feel like working too hard by hand-grinding to get a cup? Here you go. The DmofwHi grinder is a solid little blade grinder that's wireless and rechargeable (via USB-C), and you can grind enough coffee for about 15 to 18 pots of coffee on a single charge. It's a blade grinder, so don't expect espresso. But for some roadside French press, Turkish, or cowboy? Have fun.
Also Tested
Aarke flat-burr grinder Photograph: Matthew Korfhage
Aarke Flat-Burr Grinder for $400: This pretty, shiny, stainless steel Aarke grinder contains a unique feature when paired with Aarke's coffee brewer, detecting the water in the brewer's tank and grinding the appropriate amount of beans. But this feature wasn't as calibrated as we'd like, and there have been a lot of online reports of grinder jams. I didn't have the same problem, but at more than $300 for a grinder that hasn't been long on the market, prudence is often rewarded.
Hario Skerton Pro for $52: The Hario Skerton was the gateway hand grinder for many a coffee nerd, but it has since given ground to newer entrants. It's fast and cheap, but it'll give you a heck of a workout and isn't as consistent for coarse grinds, plus the silicone handle has a habit of falling off.
Photograph: Amazon
Hario Mini-Slim Plus for $39: This smaller Hario manual grinder is slower than the Skerton, but its plastic construction makes it good to throw in a travel bag. Tthe low price is its main advertisement.
Cuisinart Burr Grinder for $99: At first, it seems like a good deal. It's Cuisinart, a known brand, and a conical burr grinder for less than $100! But former WIRED reviewer Jaina Grey found that the low price came with a cost: These things apparently burn out faster than a rock star in the late '60s.
Bodum Bistro Electric Blade Grinder for $20: This little blade grinder is quite cheap, and the model has served WIRED contributing reviewer Tyler Shane for years. That said, after some inconsistent reports on reliability, we favor the KitchenAid as our ultra-budget pick.