Best coffee grinder 2024: Our tried and tested picks of the best manual and automatic grinders

Finding the best coffee grinder for your artisan beans can be a bit of a revelation. Much as we like the convenience of pods or the ease of using pre-ground coffee, nothing beats freshly-ground beans when it comes to a great-tasting cup. The best coffee grinders bring out all the right flavors and aromas in your coffee beans and are easy to use too.

While some ground coffee can be very good, once it’s roasted and ground it inevitably goes stale, the oil in the beans evaporating as the coffee is packed and stored. Vacuum-packing helps preserve the taste and aroma, but pre-ground coffee will never match the smell and flavour of coffee you grind, minutes before brewing, for yourself.

You get a richer, stronger-flavoured brew that reflects the subtle differences between different origins, blends and roasts. Moreover, you can control the grind, enabling you to mill coarse grinds for a filter machine or press, or finer grinds for an espresso machine or stove-top espresso maker.

While it’s a bit more effort than just scooping grounds out of a tin or bag, grinding beans doesn’t have to be a hassle; our recommended coffee grinders give you great, predictable results in minutes – and once you’ve tried the grind, you won’t go back. Read on for my pick of the best coffee grinders on the market or, if you’ve got any questions, you can jump to our buying guide at the bottom of the page.

Best coffee grinde: At a glance

How we test coffee grinders

To test coffee grinders, we start with a large bag of good quality, freshly roasted coffee beans. We then take the time to adjust each grinder’s grind settings to suit a variety of different brewing methods. Whether we’re after a coarse grind for cafetieres, a medium grind for filter coffee, or a fine grind for manual espresso, we look to see if a grinder can produce the kind of consistency which is essential for great-tasting coffee. We also take into account ease of use and cleaning, hopper capacity and any other extra features such as preset dosage sizes or portafilter attachments.

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The best coffee grinders to buy

1. Hario Skerton Pro Coffee Grinder: Best manual handheld coffee grinder

Price when reviewed: £66 | Check price at Amazon

• Great for… ease of grinding, compact size
• Not so great for… having to grind by hand

The obvious downside we found with the Hario is that you’ll need to grind your coffee by hand, which can either be a frustratingly arduous task or a great wrist workout to accompany your morning routine, depending on how you look at it.

Either way, we think the Hario Skerton Pro is perhaps the best hand grinder around. Despite its compact size, the hopper can hold up to 60g of coffee beans, which the ceramic burrs grind into the glass container beneath. The grind container can then be unscrewed and even sealed with the included lid.

Compared to the Skerton Plus that we previously featured in our roundup, the Pro offers improved grind adjustment (this is done by tightening or loosening the nut underneath the spring-loaded burrs themselves), as well as a thicker handle and an anti-slip rubber grip for ease of grinding. And at under £50, it’s an affordable alternative to some of the many electric grinders available. Although, if you wanted something cheaper, there’s a slimmer version of the Skerton currently available for £25.

Key specs – Type: Hand coffee grinder; Burrs: Ceramic; Controls: Adjustable grind; Capacity: 60g; Dimensions (WDH): 9.9 x 10.4 x 20.6cm

2. Lavazza Coffee Grinder: Best manual grinder for easy adjustment

Price when reviewed: £59 | Check price at Lavazza

• Great for… switching easily between grind sizes
• Not so great for… holding a larger number of beans

This sleek and slim hand grinder from Lavazza can’t hold quite as many beans as the Hario Skerton featured above (we managed to comfortably fit about 18g into the small hopper), but it’s a neat little tool for your kitchen, with one notable advantage over the Skerton: its ease of adjustment.

On the Lavazza grinder, you can switch between six grind size levels via a simple dial. This process is much easier than it is with the Skerton, which requires you to unscrew the handle and loosen/tighten a screw in order to change the grind size. Thanks to its preset grind levels, it’s also easier to judge how fine or coarse you’re grinding (the Skerton does, however, allow for more minute adjustments to be made).

Beyond this, the two grinders are similar, with a glass container that can be unscrewed from the grinder itself. However, here the handle is attached to a lid, which will need to be slotted on top of the hopper. This prevents any bean fragments from escaping mid-grind. It’s pretty secure, but it’s important to take care when grinding. We noticed that you have to keep it upright in your hands or you run the risk of spilling coffee beans all over the floor.

At £59 it’s certainly not the cheapest manual coffee grinder, and the Hario Skerton fairly trumps it on bean capacity for less than this. But if you’re after a neat, compact hand grinder that can be easily adjusted to suit your grind preferences, this is a great option.

Key specs – Type: Hand coffee grinder; Burrs: TBC; Controls: Adjustable grind dial; Capacity: Around 18g; Dimensions (WDH): 12 x 12 x 20cm

Check price at Lavazza

3. Krups Expert GVX231 Burr Coffee Grinder: Best budget automatic grinder

Price when reviewed: £53 | Check price at Amazon

• Great for… fine espresso grind
• Not so great for… coarse grind

The Krups Expert Burr Coffee Grinder is about as affordable as a decent burr grinder gets. It’s compact, quick and very easy to use, with one dial selecting between 17 levels of grind and another allowing you to grind enough beans for between two and 12 cups. The good-sized hopper has an airtight lid, and the grounds emerge into a plastic container at the bottom. Afterwards, the upper burr can be removed for easy cleaning.

The Krups doesn’t suffer from the problem of many budget grinders – an inability to deliver a fine espresso grind – but it struggles at the other end, with some users complaining that they can’t get a coarse grind. Still, if you want great, fresh espresso on a limited budget, you won’t get better than this.

Key specs – Type: Automatic coffee grinder; Burrs: Stainless steel; Controls: 17-position grind, 1 to 12 cups; Capacity: 225g; Dimensions (WDH): 125 x 160 x 260mm

4. Sage Dose Control Pro: Best grinder for versatility

Price when reviewed: £169 | Check price at Currys

• Great for… 60 grind settings, ease of use
• Not so great for… leaving old grounds in the grind chamber

Want more control over your coffee? The Sage Dose Control Pro is the way to go. This one gives you 60 grind settings, from a coarse French press to an ultra-fine espresso. Just twist the hopper to change the setting, dial in the grind time, then press to go.

Sage claims that the high-torque motor and heavy burrs give you a lot of grinding power with less heat, delivering a great, consistent grind direct to your portafilter, with two sizes of cradle provided to hold it in place. We found it easy to use and clean, and whether we wanted coarse or fine grinds, the Dose Control Pro had no problem serving them up. We did find that with single cups the grinder left some old grounds in the grind chamber, but otherwise this is a versatile coffee-drinker’s dream machine, incredibly good value and the best-bang-per-buck coffee grinder we’ve used.

Key specs – Type: Automatic coffee grinder; Burrs: Stainless steel conical; Controls: 60 position grind, grind time; Capacity: 340g; Dimensions (WDH): 200 x 160 x 340mm

5. Baratza Sette 270: Best coffee grinder for precision

Price when reviewed: £300 | Check price at Baratza

• Great for… uniform grounds
• Not so great for… noise levels

Baratza makes some of the best grinders in the business, but the Sette 270 hits the sweet spot between price and performance. It uses what Baratza calls a revolutionary grinding technology, where the stainless-steel cone burr grinds against a fixed ring burr, with coffee passing through vertically into a filter handle or bin.

It’s a sleek-looking machine, although we found it a very noisy one, but it’s fast, easy to use and delivers nearly flawless, uniform grounds. And if you’re obsessed with getting an accurate dosage, the Baratza always gets it right to within 0.5g. It’s a fairly pricey grinder and not for everyone, but it’s a real coffee connoisseur’s machine.

Key specs – Type: Automatic coffee grinder; Burrs: Stainless-steel cone and ring; Controls: 30 position macro grind, 9 position micro adjust, three-button timer, LCD display; Capacity: 275g; Dimensions (WDH): 130 x 240 x 400mm

6. Cuisinart DBM8U Burr Mill: Best coffee grinder for cold brew

Price when reviewed: £59 | Check price at AO

• Great for… cold brew, even grinds
• Not so great for… fine grounds

If a summer filled with the satisfying kick of caffeine, minus the hot water, has left you a firm cold brew fan, you’ll need a workhorse of a grinder to help with your habit. Great cold brew demands a coarse grind for an easier filtration, sweetness and a less bitter flavour overall, so fine grounds (which can also be heated during the extra grinding) are out.

Fortunately, this is what the durable Cuisinart Burr Mill excels at, churning out a consistently even coarse grind with its plates, which is also ideal for a percolator, French press or cafetière. We were impressed with the fact that as well as 18 grind settings, four- to 18-cup selector and auto shut-off when it’s done, all its removable parts are dishwasher-safe, so making delicious cold brew comes with minimal cleaning up. There’s also a reassuring five-year guarantee.

Where it does less well is the finer espresso, so you might want to investigate buying a pricier machine if your morning isn’t complete without a perfect shot. But for full, flavoursome coffee that’s as refreshing as an ice pop, this grinder is good to go.

Key specs – Type: Automatic coffee grinder; Burrs: Stainless steel; Controls: 18 position grind; Capacity: 250g; Dimensions (WDH): 150 x 160 x 280mm

How to choose the best coffee grinder for you

What should I look for in a coffee grinder?

Some automatic grinders are pretty simple: you add beans to a hopper, set the coarseness of the grind and hit a button. Others, however, will have a dial for setting how many cups you want to make, or smart, digital controls that allow you to select number of cups, strength or dosage per-cup, and the size of the grind, before dispensing the freshly-ground coffee into the filter or espresso machine handle of your choice.

More expensive grinders will give you finer control over the grind, higher capacities and sometimes larger burrs, which are supposed to produce even less heat than normal burrs, minimising the impact of the milling process on the taste of the final coffee.

If you’re grinding for espresso and want to get the best possible quality and consistency from your coffee, then it goes without saying that opting for a budget grinder is not going to be your best option. Even many good burr grinders are not designed to grind coffee fine enough for a manual espresso machine, so look out particularly for ones that are. After all, if you’ve invested in a decent coffee machine, then it makes sense to do the same for your grinder.

However, as always with such things, you have to balance the costs against your desire for ultimate flavour and – frankly – whether you’ll be able to tell the difference on the average day. While well-heeled connoisseurs can afford to spend big, most of us have to be a little more realistic.

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How much do I need to spend?

Automatic burr grinders begin at around £35 and the prices rise up beyond £500 to £900 for the most deluxe models. At the top of the range, you’re paying for style, consistency, excellent build quality and smart grinding features, but if you just want a great-tasting coffee you don’t have to pay anywhere near so much.

If budget is your absolute top priority, you might choose to opt for a blade grinder, and we’ve made it a point to include one in our roundup below. However, if you care about the consistency and quality of your coffee, and particularly if you’re already spending a lot of money on the beans themselves, you should ultimately choose a burr grinder for the best result.

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