Did you know that more than 60% of the coffee’s aroma gets lost to the air through the surface of the coffee powder within the first 15 minutes after grinding? Therefore, always grinding your coffee beans freshly is absolutely essential for the perfect coffee enjoyment. Not only professionals can sense the difference in taste between a pre-ground or freshly ground coffee. Therefore, the grinder is a key piece of equipment when it comes to delighting your guests with coffee specialties at your home coffee bar.
The coffee grinder has as much influence on the taste inside the cup as the selected coffee variety, the roast and the brewing method. Besides the grinder’s technical construction and its burr material and size, the type of drive of the coffee grinder also plays a major role in terms of taste. Here you have the choice between an electric coffee grinder or a manual grinder with a manual crank drive.
In this article, we have put together the most important advantages and disadvantages of both grinder drive variants, to help you to find out whether a manual grinder or an electric coffee grinder would be the perfect fit for your household.
Being a manufacturer of high-quality coffee grinders with almost 100 years of company tradition in Hamburg / Germany, we are happy to share our grinding expertise with you. We are dedicated to the development of electric coffee grinders that support customers in meeting their highest demands towards quality, performance and taste.
Manual grinders however, do have their individual advantages, too.
Let us start with them:
Pricing
When it comes to starting with fresh coffee grinding at a reasonable price point, a manual grinder is a good choice. Electric grinders are usually a bit more expensive than manual grinders, since the design and production of electrical devices simply require more resources.
Power consumption
While an electric coffee grinder consumes electricity for a few seconds during grinding - a manual grinder does not need a socket at all and therefore wins when it comes to energy consumption.
Mobility
Unfortunately, the electric coffee grinder is no particularly good travel companion. Due to the weight of the electric motor, the more compact dimensions of the manual grinder and also because of power supply requirements, the electric coffee grinder has to admit defeat to the manual grinder in terms of mobility.
Perfect taste
Thanks to constant grinding speed, uniform grain sizes and shapes and because of consistent timer-controlled dosing, the electric coffee grinder ensures a perfect coffee enjoyment, time and time again. Manual grinders usually cause deviations in all taste-relevant parameters, which is why an electric coffee grinder is unbeatable when it comes to perfect and reliable taste experiences.
Convenient handling
With grinding on demand at the push of a button and with its timer function, the electric coffee grinder clearly wins in terms of user-friendliness. Cranking the manual grinder may have its charm, but it probably turns into an unpopular task as soon as you want to prepare coffee several times a day or for many guests at the same time.
Speed
Even if you enjoy taking time for your beloved coffee ceremony every now and then, grinding by hand at your home coffee bar can feel like an unpleasant waste of time. The electric coffee grinder lets you grind within seconds, so that you and your guests do not have to wait long for your aromatic cup of freshly brewed coffee.
Manual grinders are perfect for fresh coffee grinding on travels. If you are an outdoor barista that wants to grind your coffee while being on an adventure, a manual grinder is the perfect match for your set of travel coffee equipment.
For home baristas with high demands towards quality, convenience and speed, the investment in a premium electric coffee grinder can turn every cup into an unforgettable taste experience. If you do not want to make any compromises when it comes to preparing coffee at your home coffee bar, the Mahlkönig X54 Allround Home Grinder is the ultimate choice.
After all, whether you brew your coffee outdoors or at your home coffee bar, what matters most is to “be your own barista!” - because your perfect cup of coffee is just as unique as you are!
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