5 Things to Look for When Comparing The Best Coffee Grinders for French Press

by The Coffee Guy

Consider This When Choosing The Best Coffee Grinder For French Press Brewing

With so many coffee grinders on the market these days, choosing the right one can be a daunting task. We've been in the coffee grinder and espresso machine market since 2015 and would like to help make this process easier!

Here's 5 things you need to heavily consider when choosing the best coffee grinder for french press brewing!

1. Burr Type - Conical vs. Flat vs. Blade

First things first - if you're looking at any blade grinder, stop now.

Blade grinders chop your beans up instead of actually grinding them leaving so much to be desired and so much flavor lost in the process. Just avoid them all together and you're on the right track.

Conical vs. flat burrs has been long debated for so long and honestly, there's still no definitive proof that one is better than the other. Here's what we do know:

Flat burrs tend to be more consistent than conical yet more expensive
Conical burrs won't be as noisy
Conical burrs transfer less heat - this is an excellent thing

So, what you're trading off is consistency for less heat transfer and a quieter operation. We tend to sway towards the conical side for coarse grinding but honestly, it's a close race and changing almost daily.

conical vs flat grinding burrs

2. Burr Size

Burr size is a massive factor when talking about consistency and speed. Typically, large means better but this isn't always true.

The larger the burr, the more consistent your grind will be
The larger the burr, the faster your grinder will be
Larger burrs translate to less heat transfer - again, a good thing

For optimal results, we recommend anything with at least a 40mm set of burrs however this isn't a necessity.

3. Burr Adjustment Method - Stepped or Stepless

The process of adjusting your burrs is inevitably going to come into play at some point. Maybe you don't just drink french press coffee and occasionally enjoy a nice espresso from time to time.

While we always recommend having a grinder for each brewing method (to avoid constantly adjusting your burrs) we realize how unreasonable that is. I know my wife you kill me if we had 5 grinders in our kitchen. Seriously - it would be the end. So, being able to easily adjust your burrs on the fly is more important than you might think.

Stepped Adjustment - the grinder has set "steps" where you need to set your burrs to.

Stepless Adjustment - the grinder essentially has unlimited grind settings as you can micro-adjust your burrs ever so slightly at any time.

Which is best for french press grinding?

If you plan on using your grinder for more than french press, we highly recommend investing in a stepless grinder.

If not, stepped will work just fine and will be easier to use.

4. Will you be single dosing?

Single dosing is the increasingly popular grinding method in which you only grinder the exact amount of beans you need for that exact brewing session. This process eliminates waste and results in super precise brewing.

For this method, look for a grinder that doesn't have electronic dosing and, in a perfect world, has a bellows system. This one is incredibly popular and yield great results for french press however is a bit pricey.

5. Price, Price, Price

No, you don't need to spend $1,000 to get a high quality grinder as some other companies would have you believe.

There are plenty in the $100 to $300 range and below.

When it comes to the best coffee grinders for french press, more money does not always mean a better grind. What you get with more expensive grinders is, yes, larger burrs however the rest is just unnecessary bells & whistles you don't need to care about.