How to Use a Coffee Grinder: Complete Guide for 2023

If you’re wondering how to use a coffee grinder to improve the coffee that’s in your cup each morning, then you’re in the right place! First off, I want to say that you’re taking a big step toward better coffee if you’ve invested in a coffee grinder. I’ll explain why in a bit, but know that you’re already in for tastier and more complex coffee. And with our guide on how to use your coffee grinder, you’ll be drinking barista-grade coffee in no time at all.

Below, I’ll explain why coffee grinders are super important for making better coffee each morning. Then, I’ll dive into how to use your grinder, whether you have an electric blade grinder, an electric burr grinder, or a manual coffee grinder. Let’s get started!

Why You Should Be Using a Coffee Grinder Every Morning

One of the things I tell readers like you all the time is that the easiest and fastest way to step up your coffee game is to invest in a grinder. Once roasted, coffee beans lose freshness over a few weeks if left in their whole-bean form. As soon as they are ground, though, they’ll start to go stale immediately, and the flavor will drastically change for the worse within just a few hours.

So now imagine: if freshly ground coffee loses flavor, complexity, and caffeine in just a few hours, what does that mean for the pre-ground coffee that sits on grocery store shelves for months before you buy it? Oh, but the package is vacuum sealed, right?

Doesn’t matter. Vacuum-sealed or not, that coffee is going to taste stale and flavorless. And since a lot of the flavorful compounds that get lost almost immediately — like the natural sugars in the beans — serve to balance acidity and bitterness, pre-ground coffee often tastes…you guessed it…acidic and bitter.

Using a coffee grinder to grind your beans fresh right before you brew is the easiest way to solve this issue and start making better coffee at home. Whole bean coffee will still lose freshness over time, but not nearly as quickly, leading to a better overall coffee experience in just about every case.

Alright…now that we got that little rant out of the way, we can get into how to use coffee grinders. Let’s start with an electric blade coffee grinder.

How to Use an Electric Blade Coffee Grinder

An electric blade coffee grinder is super simple to use. These usually have a few pieces:

• A large base where the motor is housed
• A power cord, which usually neatly winds around the base or retracts inside of it
• A cup attached to the top where the coffee beans go
• A blade mechanism inside the cup
• A clear plastic top, often with a mechanism for turning the grinder on once the top is in place

You can follow the steps below to use your blade grinder to grind your coffee.

• Step 1: Load your desired amount of coffee beans into the grinding cup.
• Step 2: Place the top on your grinder and plug the electrical cord into a nearby outlet.
• Step 3: Push down the mechanism on the top to begin grinding. This is usually a spring-loaded button that will only activate the grinder when the top is in place correctly.
• Step 4: I recommend timing the grind carefully. This will give you some element of repeatable results. The longer you grind, the finer your grounds will be. I’ll discuss this in greater depth later, but know that finer grounds mean faster and more abundant extraction, while coarser grounds will yield slower extraction and a faster brew overall if you’re brewing via percolation.
• Step 5: Unplug the grinder and remove the lid. You can now check the grounds to see if it’s close to the size you were expecting. If not, grind a bit longer.
• Step 6: Finally, dump the grounds into whatever vessel you’re using to brew.

A Note on Using Electric Blade Coffee Grinders

Electric blade coffee grinders are, in my opinion, the worst of the bunch. If you have one of these, you can still use it to make better coffee, but you won’t have too much control over how your coffee tastes and how much you can change the flavors.

This is because the blades cut the beans into smaller and smaller pieces the longer you grind, and you can’t control the final grind size. Since grind size changes extraction, flavor, and mouthfeel, this type of grinder leaves you in the dark if you need to change things up.

I recommend buying even a cheap manual burr grinder instead if you don’t already have one.

How to Use an Electric Burr Coffee Grinder

Electric burr grinders also make the coffee grinding process simple and straightforward. They have more components than a blade grinder, as their operation is a bit more complicated. The components are as follows:

• A hopper to hold whole beans prior to grinding
• Burrs, which are the metal or ceramic parts that fit against each other to grind coffee beans
• A powerful motor to turn the burrs, usually housed below the burrs in the base
• A grind-size selection mechanism. This can be a small dial or ring that turns to control the distance between the burrs. The setting can also be chosen using physical or electric grind-size buttons
• A grounds cup for catching the grounds as the grinder works through the beans in the hopper
• A grounds knocker to bang on the machine. This isn’t always included, although it’s a nice feature to reduce the amount of grind retention in your grinder

Although there are more components to these machines, they’re still easy to use. Below are the steps you can follow for using an electric burr grinder.

• Step 1: Load your desired quantity of whole coffee beans into the hopper. If your grinder lets you dial in the weight of the coffee you’ll be grinding, you can overfill the hopper without having to worry about grinding too much.
• Step 2: Dial in your preferred grind size. I recommend you first tune to the style of brewing you’re doing and then to your personal preference. I’ll include some information in a later section on how to tune your coffee in both instances using a coffee grinder.
• Step 3: Turn the grinder on. The mechanism for doing this will vary from grinder to grinder, so you’ll have to follow the instructions for your grinder to check where the ON/OFF switch is. Or…you know…just look at the machine. It’s usually pretty obvious.
• Step 4: Once you hear the motor turning and no more grinding noises, you can switch your grinder off. Your grounds will now be in your ground collection cup.
• Step 5: Use the grounds knocker if your machine has one. Give it two to three whacks before removing the collection cup.
• Step 6: Finally, dump the grounds from the cup into your brewing vessel.

How to Use a Manual Burr Coffee Grinder

Manual burr coffee grinders work the same way as electric burr grinders, but you’re the motor. They’re made up of the below parts:

• A crank to turn the burrs; the crank often folds or detaches for easy storage
• A small hopper to hold the beans you intend on grinding
• A cap or lid to prevent the beans from popping out of the hopper as you’re grinding
• Burrs that fit against each other to grind the coffee beans. Nearly every manual grinder you’ll find uses conical burrs, although I’ve seen some with flat burrs that are set to release in the future
• A mechanism for adjusting the distance between the burrs, which directly affects the size and consistency of the grounds that the grinder produces
• A collection cup that collects the grounds after grinding

Manual coffee grinders are super simple to use. You can follow the steps below to make sure you’re using yours properly:

• Step 1: Remove the cap or lid and place the desired amount of coffee beans into the hopper. Replace the lid.
• Step 2: PRO TIP: Make sure the collection cup is screwed into place or attached properly before you start grinding. I typically use the collection cup to weigh my beans, which means I start every brewing session with the cup detached. It’s easy to forget to reattach it, which means you’ll end up with coffee grounds all over your feet (totally not speaking from personal experience…).
• Step 3: Set your desired grind size. The mechanism for doing this varies quite a lot from grinder to grinder. You can check the instructions that came with yours to see how this is done. In this case, I actually do suggest reading the instructions, as you’ll want to know how to make adjustments and how much difference each adjustment makes.
• Step 4: Attach the crank arm or fold it out. Begin cranking in a clockwise direction and continue until you hear that the grinding is completed.
• Step 5: Fold the crank arm back in or detach it for storage.
• Step 6: Unscrew or detach the collection cup. I recommend giving the grinder a few good bumps with the heel of your hand before doing this to reduce grind retention.
• Step 7: Pour the grounds into your brewing vessel.

How to Use Your Coffee Grinder Like a Pro: Tuning to Taste

Now that you know the basics of how to use a grinder, you should actually learn how to USE it. It’s important to note that your coffee grinder will play a huge role in how your coffee turns out each morning, so you should know how to tune things based on how your first cup with your new grinder tastes.

First, I recommend you grind based on your preferred method of brewing. Below are some general guidelines you can use with some specific grind size ranges that are usually appropriate:

• Cold Brew: Extra coarse (1,200 to 1,400 microns)
• French Press or Percolator: Coarse (1,000 to 1,200 microns)
• Chemex or Clever Dripper: Medium-Coarse (900 to 1,100 microns)
• Drip Coffee Maker: Medium (600 to 800 microns)
• Kalita Wave, Pour Over, Keurig Coffee Maker, or Aeropress: Medium-Fine (400 to 600 microns)
• Espresso: Fine (200 to 400 microns)

Once you start within the range for your brewing method, you can start tweaking based on how the coffee tastes.

Grind finer if your coffee tastes:

• Sour
• Acidic
• Salty

Grind coarser if your coffee tastes:

• Bitter
• Dusty
• Dry

We have a complete guide on how to tune your grinder if you need more guidance and information.

Wrapping Up: How to Use a Coffee Grinder and Why It Matters

The method for using your coffee grinder will depend on the type of grinder you’re using. You can follow the guides above for electric blade grinders, electric burr grinders, and manual grinders.

Regardless of which you choose to buy, grinding your coffee fresh is one of the best ways to improve the taste of your morning cup. However, You’ll get the best results from a burr grinder, so I recommend either a manual or electric grinder that uses burrs rather than blades.

I recommend starting your coffee grinder journey by grinding to the designated grind size for your brewing method. Then, you can grind a bit finer or coarser based on how your coffee tastes. Finer grinds tend to bring out acidity and brightness, while coarser grinds tend to up the bitterness.