The most important kitchen gadget that you can invest in if you want to make high quality coffee at home is, without a doubt, a conical burr grinder.  Without one you’re forced either to buy pre-ground grocery store coffee that has already lost the bulk of its flavor or use a cheap, blade grinder to smash your whole bean coffee into little bits.  This is no good either.

However shopping for a burr coffee grinder isn’t difficult as long as you know a few important things.

Shopping Critera

• Does the grinder have conical burrs?  This should be the first thing that you ask when looking for one.  If it doesn’t, that means it is a blade grinder and is not worth your time or money.
• Does it have an automatic safety shutoff?  When I was younger I never thought twice about this and have purchased several grinders that did not have this function.  Having spilled literally pounds of whole bean coffee on my kitchen floor by now, simply because I turned the grinder on when the bean hopper was not in place, I now firmly recommend getting a grinder with this feature.  A lot of grinders (especially Baratza’s models) have this.  So make sure you buy that won’t send beans flying.
• Does it have a warranty?  I like to think that if you are buying a good product than you shouldn’t have to worry about whether or not it has a warranty – but it’s still a great criteria to look for.  Is the company willing to back their product with a warranty?  It definitely shows that they have faith in their product.  Which is why I like them.

If you just stick to these simple criteria, you will find a burr grinder that meets your needs.  I try to keep it simple and know that as long as it has conical burrs it is going to improve your coffee a lot and be a very worthwhile investment in your kitchen.  If you have any further questions you can check out www.vvlgar.com for more reviews and information.