coffee grinder

Crank coffee grinder (cone grinder)

Noise of the coffee grinder

A coffee grinder is a grinder that can be used to make coffee powder from roasted coffee beans . The grinding strength or fineness of the powder depends on its use. Coffee powder for filter coffee is ground more coarsely than powder for an espresso machine that works with pressure or Turkish coffee (mocha). The degree of grinding can be adjusted continuously in some mills.

Before the household was electrified, the beans were ground by hand. Crank-driven cone mills were used for this, which were held on the lap or screwed to the table with a bracket or attached to the wall.

Designs according to the type of shredding tools used

Filter coffee grinders

Electric coffee grinder (hammer mill).
With the wigoplus model from Wigomat , the powder is pressed through the sieve to the edge by means of centrifugal action .

Propeller mills: Propeller mills (beater mills) have a rapidly rotating beater knife .

Disc mill from the Italian manufacturer La Cimbali

Disk or flat mills: They consist of two identical grinding disks with a diameter of about 40 mm with teeth that rotate against each other. They wear out relatively quickly and are therefore only suitable for small quantities.
Cone mills: They consist of a frustoconical grinder into which the beans fall from a storage container located above. The ground coffee then falls into a collecting container. Thanks to the way they work, they get by with far lower speeds (in the range of 400 / min for an electric drive, around 60 / min for a hand crank drive) and therefore heat up less. This type of mill is therefore better suited for larger quantities and works more gently. They also ensure a uniform grain size. Hand-operated coffee grinders with wooden housings also work according to this principle.

Coffee grinder with conical grinder

Roller mills: They are used in the industry to grind the coffee for vacuum packs. You can process very large quantities and hardly generate any heat.

Espresso grinders

Cone mills: With small household models they form the entry point and with large gastronomic versions the top class of espresso grinders. They are characterized by their low rotation speed and the resulting low level of grinding stock heating. The catering facilities are also designed for high throughput.
Disk mills: The upscale home espresso grinders as well as the standard catering grinders have a disc grinder between 50 and 85 mm in diameter. You need a higher speed in order to be able to transport the powder by the centrifugal force and to achieve sufficient grinding speeds. Some inexpensive models are available with speeds of around 700 rpm, almost all others work with 1300–1400 rpm.

With espresso grinders, special attention must be paid to the grinding degree setting, because even small changes have a major impact on the taste and the crema - at least on machines without a built-in crema aid.

Collections

Coffee mill museum Wiernsheim
Bramstedt Coffee Mill Museum

Coffee mill museum Röttingen

literature

Hannelore Dittmar-Ilgen: How the cork crumbs get to the wine glass. P. 9 ff: From the bean to enjoyment (physics around coffee) . Hirzel-Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 978-3-7776-1440-3 .

Web links

Commons : Coffee Grinder - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Andrea Grotheer: From the bean to the powder. Retrieved March 22, 2020 .
↑ Old mills grind slowly. May 10, 2005, accessed March 22, 2020 .

[1] Andrea Grotheer: From the bean to the powder. Retrieved March 22, 2020 .

[2] Old mills grind slowly. May 10, 2005, accessed March 22, 2020 .