A great way to elevate your home brew is by investing in one of the best coffee machines. The next step after this is to grind your beans fresh each time you go to make a coffee. This is because the all-important aroma and flavour of your coffee comes courtesy of the compounds locked inside each bean. As soon as you grind them, that flavour starts to deteriorate.
To grind those beans, coffee mills use either burrs – abrasive surfaces that rotate and grind the beans between them – or regular blades, not unlike those that you’d find on a hand blender or food processor.
“When you’re choosing a grinder, start by thinking about the brewing method you most often use, and also how much coffee you tend to make,” says a spokesperson from Extract Coffee Roasters. “Different grinders will use different burrs. Some that are suitable for filter won’t work as well on espresso and vice versa – look for one specific to your brew.
“Electric grinders are going to be faster and easier for making multiple cups at once. If you’re grinding for espresso, which is a fine grind, manual grinders will be pretty labour intensive,” they add. “However, manual grinders have the advantage of being more mobile, smaller and quieter.”
The use of burrs is generally considered best, as it gives you a more uniform, consistent grind, but I’ve included a variety of coffee grinders in my guide, to suit different needs and budgets.
How I tested
I tested a range of grinders and put the results to work using a chemex, which needs a medium-course grind. For each mill, I took into account the following factors:
- Range of grind sizes: I tested how versatile each grinder was, assessing how well it could produce everything from fine to coarse grinds.
- Ease of use: I tested how straightforward each grinder was to operate, including how comfortable it felt to handle and how simple it was to adjust settings.
- Consistency of grind: I tested how uniform the grind was, ensuring the coffee grounds were even enough for a smooth, balanced brew.
- Practicality: I tested factors such as how easy each grinder was to clean, store, and transport.
- Flavour results: I tested how the grind affected the final cup of coffee, noting aroma, flavour, and overall richness.
These are the ones that packed the best punch.
Why you can trust IndyBest reviews
The IndyBest team tests a wide range of kitchen products to help you decide which are worth the money. Everything is tested in a real world environment, with hours of testing each product to ensure it fits the bill for our reviews. If we don’t think a product is worth your money and is not something we’d buy ourselves, it won’t be featured in our list.
The best coffee grinders for 2025 are:
- Best overall – Wilfa svart coffee grinder: £99.95, Amazon.co.uk
- Best budget buy – Bodum bistro blade electric coffee grinder: £27.95, Amazon.co.uk
- Best premium option – Niche zero: £549, Nichecoffee.co.uk
- Best portable design – Hario mini-slim+: £26.40, Amazon.co.uk
Wilfa svart coffee grinder
Best: Coffee grinder overall
Weight: 2.2kg
Dimensions: 32.5cm x 20.2cm x 15.9cm
Coarseness settings: 5
Why we love it
- Lots of different grind sizes
- Large enough to cater for a crowd
Wilfa is one of the most respected names in the coffee-brewing business – and this model seems to balance professional-level functionality and affordability (which makes sense, seeing as it was designed in collaboration with a World Barista Champion). Several of the coffee pros I spoke to recommended this grinder, telling me it’s a favourite at-home option among them and their colleagues.
There are five settings here for grind size – each labelled with the type of coffee they’re intended for – and 32 steps between them, so you can refine your grind to a pretty specific level. The grinder can take up to 250g of beans at once – meaning you can cater for a crowd, too. To grind, it’s just a case of selecting your grind time with the dial on the front, and pressing the power button.
Our ground beans had really great consistency and aroma, and were collected in a clear, slide-out container that’s happily easy to clean.
Buy now £99.95, Amazon.co.uk
Bodum bistro blade electric coffee grinder
Best: Budget coffee grinder
Weight: 755g
Dimensions: 9cm x 9.5cm x 16.6cm
Coarseness settings: 1
Why we love it
- Small but mighty
This grinder has the portability and space-saving convenience of a hand grinder, but with the efficiency and speed of an electric machine. Certainly small and light enough to pack in a bag and take on your travels, it’ll store away easily when not in use.
Like with other handheld options, this isn’t a burr grinder. Instead, it has a really robust stainless steel chopping blade that made short work of our beans, with minimal fuss and noise. Just hold down the pulse control button for the length of time it takes to get your required grind size – the top of the unit is totally transparent, so it’s easy to keep an eye on progress.
Although compact, this number can grind up to 60g of coffee, meaning you can still make several cups at once, and the consistency of the grind was pretty decent, too.
Buy now £27.95, Amazon.co.uk
Cuisinart burr mill
Best: Value burr coffee grinder
Weight: 1.8kg
Dimensions: 22cm x 19cm x 31cm
Coarseness settings: 18
Why we love it
- Great mid-range option
- Lots of settings
- Dishwasher safe
If you’re after a burr mill but aren’t blessed with ample kitchen surfaces or wads of cash to sacrifice for a hulking great machine, Cuisinart’s grinder is a great mid-range option. There are 18 settings for coarseness of grind, which are selected using a dial on top. The hopper (the compartment the whole beans are added to) and the grind storage vessel are removable and dishwasher safe, and can hold up to 250g of coffee. Once your beans have been shown who’s boss by the burr plates, they’re dispensed into a plastic airtight chamber to maintain that just-ground freshness.
Buy now £47.24, Amazon.co.uk
Niche zero
Best: Premium coffee grinder
Weight: 4.1kg
Dimensions: 122mm x 211mm x 311mm
Coarseness settings: Infinite grind dial
Why we love it
- Stunning design
- Takes up minimal countertop space
Take note
- Expensive
This is the best-looking grinder I tested. I love the gloss-white finish against the natural oak base and feet, which gives it Scandi style and means it will look at home both in a sleek, modern kitchen or amid more-rustic decor. While reassuringly weighty, it’s nice and compact, taking up minimal surface area – which is great for kitchens in which worktop space is at a premium.
It’s not all about form here, though – this grinder has real A-game when it comes to function. The grind is super consistent and noticeably aromatic, resulting in a really full-flavoured morning cup. Simple to use, it has a dial around the top to select the grind size – and it’s stepless, so you have pretty much limitless control – while the burrs are activated by an on/off switch on the side. A patented grinder design shortens the journey of the beans through the burrs too, so zero coffee gets left inside the machine.
Sure, it comes with a hefty price tag, but it really does look and feel like a premium bit of kit – and I noticed the difference in the coffee, too. So, if you’re willing to drop some serious cash on a coffee grinder that will get you top-notch results, this might be the one for you.
Buy now £549.00, Nichecoffee.co.uk
Sage smart grinder pro
Best: Mid-range burr coffee grinder
Weight: 450g
Dimensions: 21.4cm x 16cm x 38.9cm
Coarseness settings: 60
Why we love it
- Can save your preferences
- Lots of settings
“Smart” is definitely the most appropriate adjective to describe this does-it-all burr grinder, thanks to its 60 precise pre-programmed settings. The cool LCD screen displays the number of cups you’re grinding for (up to 12 per batch), grind size and grind time – all of which are adjustable using dials and buttons on the control panel. You can save your settings, to speed things up in the future, too.
The hopper is removable and easy to clean, as is the air-tight container that collects the grounds. Alternatively, you can grind straight into your portafilter, if the beans are destined for a pro coffee machine, thanks to the slot-in cradles included.
Quiet and speedy, the smart grinder pro has more than enough power to tackle our domestic caffeine needs, without fear of breaking into a sweat – the grind is really consistent, too.
Buy now £209.00, Amazon.co.uk
Wilfa uniform+
Best: Coffee grinder for precision
Weight: 428g
Dimensions: 24cm x 27.5cm x 63.7cm
Coarseness settings: 41
Why we love it
- Bluetooth connection
- Easy to operate
With its cylindrical shape and black, eggshell-style finish, this electric burr grinder has a real contemporary and understated style. It comes with digital scales that sit comfortably on the top of the unit and allows you to measure your beans with an accuracy of 0.1 of a gram. It can even connect to your phone via Bluetooth – so, if you want to get really geeky over your brew, download the app and go crazy.
This model has 41 grind settings, ranging from super-fine to coarse, meaning you can make a top-notch espresso, perfect French press cup or anything in between. Considering it’s clearly one for coffee gurus, we found it easy to operate. There’s one button to set the burrs in motion, and it automatically stops when the beans have all been processed. The grind container is metal, to prevent static energy that often causes the ground coffee to stick.
Buy now £379.00, Amazon.co.uk
Hario mini-slim+
Best: Portable coffee grinder
Weight: 300g
Dimensions: 10.16cm x 17.78cm x 7.62cm
Coarseness settings: Manual
Why we love it
- Uniform grind
- Helpful measurement markers
With enough capacity for two cups of coffee, this hand mill is great for grinding on the go. It’s relatively small and really lightweight – made mostly from durable plastic – so is super portable. It also comes apart, so will store away easily in an already-bulging drawer or cupboard.
It uses ceramic burrs to get a nicely uniform grind, and you can adjust the coarseness easily. When grinding, I found a modest amount of elbow grease was needed to get it going, but once those burrs were in motion the action was smooth and easy. Helpful measurements marked on the grind container gave us a rough idea of when I had enough grounds to make my cup, too.
Buy now £26.40, Amazon.co.uk
Your questions about coffee grinders answered
What is the best coffee grinder?
There’s no doubt the premium grinders here promise a great user experience and a belting cup of coffee but they do come at a price.
Although not usually one to follow the crowd, I couldn’t deny the virtues of the much-praised Wilfa svart grinder, which comes at a more palatable cost than others. The sturdy, easy-to-use machine gives a great range of grind options and super-uniform results – not to mention it comes with a five-year warranty. It’s a pretty sleek-looking machine, too, and it’s not too bulky, so it won’t take up an awful amount of room.
Meanwhile, the Sage smart grinder pro will give you great control over your grind, though it is a little pricier.
What are the benefits of an electric grinder vs hand grinders?
Electric coffee grinders are normally at a higher price point but also have higher automatic performance as a durable and convenient high-end grinder with several different grind size settings. However, with electricity comes noise, bulk, and a much larger price tag.
On the other hand, manual coffee grinders are portable, durable, and mid-high performing, creating consistent coffee grounds on a budget. A manual coffee grinder may suit you if you don’t want to splash the cash, and enjoy a bit of elbow grease and the process of making coffee – especially on the go.
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