Grinding is one of the more important processes in coffee making. Ground coffee starts to lose it flavors and aromatics immediately after it is ground, so most coffee lovers opt to grind their roasted beans themselves. A manual coffee grinder has the advantage of adding very little heat to the beans while grinding which means that more of the aromatics stay trapped in the grounds and in your finished cup.

These classic contraptions, also known as box grinders, can grind a pot’s worth of coffee beans at a time although not without a little effort. They come in two kinds, the traditional hand grinders with propeller blades, and the burr grinders, which are popular in electric grinders but no longer common in manual grinders. They are also relatively easy to use; however, grinding time depends largely on how fine you need the coffee beans to be.

In addition to providing you with nice, fresh coffee grounds, a manual coffee grinder is also a decorative, conversation piece for your kitchen. It adds a vintage look and may be enough of a curiosity that you could convince your guests to try it our on the next fresh pot.

The downside is that you have to work to grind a pot’s worth of beans or more than a couple espresso shots. Inexpensive manual coffee grinders are lightweight too so you have to hold down the grinder with one hand while turning the handle. The payoff is that everybody drinking the coffee will guarantee it tastes better as a result of your effort.

Another charm of these old school coffee grinders that some user reviews have pointed out is that they can be a way to prevent you from downing cup after cup of coffee. With the work that is required from you to produce a couple of shots, surely, you won’t be taking too much caffeine with these babies.

Just remember, though, that unless you’re using it as a workout machine to buff your arms, a manual coffee grinder is not really intended for producing large amounts of ground coffee. If you need more than a couple cups worth of grounds, an electric grinder is a better choice.

Related posts:

1. Get Yourself A Better Coffee Grinder For The Best Taste
2. Finding the Right Coffee Bean Grinder
3. Perks of Using a Coffee Bean Grinder for Excellent Tasting Java