Many of our customers find themselves in this dilemma: you are certain you want to make the best possible coffee at home, but you want to keep the cost down. Perhaps you are unsure if you need to buy a coffee grinder.
Benefits of grinding your own beans at home:
- Freshly ground coffee is always going to be the best – there is no better way than to grind your coffee and then make your drink immediately. To do that you need a grinder, and that’s our recommendation.
- You can grind exactly what you need every day, which means your coffee is always as good as it can be.
- Beans stored in an airtight container will stay fresh much longer than pre-ground coffee, so you can buy bigger packs of coffee and reduce the frequency of purchase which will help reduce delivery costs.
Downsides of grinding your own beans:
- The grinder itself will cost at least £60 and you could spend as much as £600 if you really want to (but we don’t recommend you do that in the first instance).
- A grinder will take up a bit of extra space, and depending on your style, the grinding process will often make a bit of mess.
Benefits of buying your coffee pre-ground:
- Less space requirement as you don’t need a grinder if you buy pre-ground coffee.
- Maybe a tiny bit faster to get your brew by using pre-ground.
- Slightly less mess – grind coffee can be a bit messy, especially with low cost entry level grinders.
We recommend – buy small packs of pre-ground coffee so that exposure to air is minimised and your coffee will still be fabulous. To maintain freshness you must keep the packet tightly closed and squeeze as much air out as you can each time you close it.
We recommend that if you can afford a grinder and have enough space to set one up wherever you will be making your coffee, that’s where you want to get to.
CONCLUSION: it’s completely fine to do without a grinder, and purchase ground coffee – you will be able to make wonderful coffee at home. But if you chose to do that, we strongly recommend you pay attention to the careful storage of your ground coffee.
