Our list mainly consists of conical burr grinders. In a conical grinder, coffee beans are ground between two rings of burrs that crush and grind the beans. You get a finer and much more consistent grind than you would with a traditional blade grind, even the nicer ones.
Flat burr grinders they are similar, but tend to be more expensive. In these, the burrs are placed on top of each other and the beans pass through them as they are ground. The action of the grinder pushes the soil over one end, rather than relying on gravity like a conical burr grinder, and the beans spend more time in contact with the burrs. This results in a more consistent grind, but for homebrewers, conical burr grinders are just as good, even if they require more maintenance and don’t result in a consistent micron-scale ground.
Blade sharpeners have a chopper blade that spins like a food processor. But the leaves don’t even produce results. Some of your coffee will be a fine powder at the bottom, and at the top you’ll have chunks too large even for the French press. The result is an inconsistent and unpredictable elaboration. These grinders are cheap, and yes, using fresh beans in a leaf grinder is much better than buying ground coffee. (You can learn to shake the beans to even out your grind just a little. Watch World Champion Barista James Hoffmann’s video for more leaf grinder tricks.)
If you can afford it, we recommend going with one of the burr grinder options we’ve listed. There’s a reason they cost a bit more than a budget burr grinder. The machinery of a high-quality burr grinder is a bit more complicated and is built to withstand more wear and tear. Cheap burr grinders often have burrs that will fall off after regular use, or a motor that isn’t powerful enough to keep up with daily use and can burn out in a matter of months.