The Evolution of Home Coffee Grinders

Perfectly ground coffee wasn’t always readily available for purchase. With coffee being a luxury in the past, people had to source whole beans and grind them (sometimes even roasting them) at home.

Today, there are several convenient and effective options in the market. Ranging from manual grinders to smart grinders, advancement in coffee technology enables us to grind coffee when, wherever, and however we please.

Let’s explore what the evolution of coffee grinders for home use has been like over the last several centuries.

The First Coffee Grinders

In the very beginning, coffee was ground using a mortar and pestle. The whole beans were added to the mortar and had to be crushed into a powdery texture.

This combination of a bowl (often made with ceramic or metal) and a club-shaped tool didn’t always produce the most consistent grinds, which would affect the coffee extraction process. As a manual method, it requires a lot of time and effort, especially if you want extremely fine coffee grounds. 

Just like the mortar and pestle, a couple of other tools like spice mills and grinding stones were also used despite the fact that these tools were not invented for the specific purpose of grinding coffee.

The first manual coffee grinder was invented by Nicholas Book in the 17th century. The structure was made of wood, and the bottom half of the device looked like a box with a drawer. A container to place coffee beans was attached to the top and had a turning handle. 

You would have to turn the handle constantly to make the rotating mechanism inside grind the coffee. The coffee grounds would then be collected in the bottom chamber. 

Several decades later, a French company named Peugeot came up with a more refined and easy-to-use model of the hand-cranked coffee grinder. They began producing it in bulk in 1840 and went on to be credited for this invention. This device could be placed on a counter and was also followed by other coffee mills that could be wall-mounted.

Electric Coffee Grinders

With electricity becoming more accessible by the 20th century, inventors began upgrading appliances so that electric motors could power them and deliver better results. But it would be some more time before electric coffee grinders entered the home-use market.

The initial electric grinders produced in the early 1900s were bulky and used only in coffee production plants. By the 1930s, a couple of companies introduced smaller devices for home use that could be operated in a much more simple fashion.

Hobart Manufacturing Company is credited for inventing the first electric coffee grinder.

As you may know, there are two types of electric coffee grinders - burr grinders and blade grinders. 

While blade grinders were the first to be mass manufactured, they weren’t (and for many, still aren’t) the most effective option. These would use rapidly spinning blades to cut through the whole beans. Blade grinders became popular in the 50s in homes and restaurants.

Burr grinders, on the other hand, use two rotating surfaces to crush whole beans in between them, making it possible to get a fine grind size. These were introduced in the 60s by Krups and Braun.

Fast forward to the 21st century and although electric coffee grinders are the norm, there has been no stopping advancements. We are now in an age where automated coffee grinders allow for greater precision. Some have timers and programmable settings too!

The 2010s have ushered smart technology into the coffee industry. The most recent inventions all have digital interfaces and smart integration technology with which you can create a cohesive coffee setup at home. 

Imagine going from struggling with a mortar and pestle to being able to tap a few buttons and let the grinder do its own job.

As coffee culture began to transform, shifting from a focus on store-bought coffee to brewing specialty coffee at home, more and more people wanted control over the grinding and brewing processes.