Professional Guide to Selecting and Operating Commercial Coffee Grinders_How to Grind Commercial Coffee Beans

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The importance of professional espresso commercial grinders is undeniable. The quality of the grinder directly affects the quality of the coffee. For those who are new to commercial grinders, the first thing you need to understand is that professional commercial coffee bean grinders don't crush coffee beans—they uniformly cut them into fine powder. Regardless of the type of grinder, the last thing you want to see is excess heat generated during grinding. The less heat generated, the smaller the grinder's impact on the final coffee quality; conversely, the more heat, the more the coffee's flavor will change. Of course, friction inevitably generates heat, but people can minimize heat generated during grinding through improved grinder design. This is exactly what many grinder manufacturers are striving for.

Before purchasing a commercial coffee bean grinder, we recommend buyers first understand the grinder's capacity. In this article, we will explain in detail how to select and use a commercial professional grinder from aspects such as grinder blades, parameter adjusters, and dosers.

1. Material of Grinding Blades

First, there are two reasons why grinders generate excess heat: one is that the actual grinding volume exceeds the grinder's original capacity, and the other is blade wear or dullness. Grinders on the market commonly use three blade materials: ceramic blades, steel blades, and titanium alloy blades. These include:

1. Ceramic Blades

This type of blade can effectively absorb heat and is highly durable. Grinders equipped with ceramic blades are not common and are mostly used for single-serve coffee grinders, such as the La Marzocco Swift grinder. Some fully automatic espresso machines also come with ceramic blade grinders, such as the Evolution ASP coffee machine designed by Franke Coffee Systems. The only disadvantage of ceramic blades is that they are very fragile. If any non-coffee bean impurities enter the grinder, the consequences could be disastrous.

2. Steel Blades

Due to low production costs, steel blades are the most common. When overused, steel blades heat up easily. Some grinder manufacturers use hardened steel to make blades to extend their lifespan and reduce heat generated during grinding. Some high-capacity grinders use extra-large steel blades to improve grinding efficiency. Steel blades have a shorter lifespan than blades made of other materials.

3. Titanium Alloy Blades

The lifespan of titanium alloy blades is three times that of ordinary steel blades, and they dissipate heat easily and are not prone to breakage. Additionally, the cutting surface threads of these blades are more durable and long-lasting than those made of other materials. That's right—these blades have high production costs. Only a few grinders on the market, such as the Nuova Simonelli Mythos Plus and Mythos Clima Pro, use this material for their blades.

2. Shape of Grinding Blades

Typically, blade shapes fall into two categories: flat blades and conical blades. These include:

1. Flat Blades

Flat blades have lower production costs and are more widespread. When purchasing, note that larger capacity grinders should be equipped with larger flat blades.

2. Conical Blades

Conical blades are mostly made of steel, and their shape is designed to extend the blade's lifespan. Low-speed grinders mostly use conical blades. Like flat blades, larger capacity grinders should be equipped with larger conical blades.

3. Grinding Parameter Adjuster

At different times of the day, you need to adjust your grinding parameters according to the constantly changing characteristics of the coffee, adjusting the coarseness of the coffee powder to ensure consistent coffee quality. Morning temperatures and humidity are lower, but as time progresses, room temperature and humidity will continuously increase, requiring timely adjustments to your grinder to ensure no changes in coffee quality. Additionally, heat generated by the grinder itself will also affect coffee quality.

You should use brief periods of leisure time to adjust your grinder according to your taste preferences. There are three types of parameter adjusters for commercial professional grinders:

1. Micrometer Adjustment Knob

This adjuster is the simplest to operate. The micrometer adjustment knob can rotate freely. Once the knob is turned, the gap between the lower blade and the upper blade changes. Of course, there are exceptions. The La Marzocco Swift grinder's adjuster is equipped with a special set of linkage gears that allow free adjustment of the upper blade. The micrometer adjustment knob allows you to precisely control the degree of coffee grinding.

2. Adjustment Knob

The adjustment knob appears similar to the micrometer adjustment knob, but it adjusts the upper blade. Grinders equipped with this type of adjuster, such as the Kryo grinder produced by Rancilio, typically use small linkage gears to adjust the grinding blades. Many people consider this adjuster to be very precise, but the problem is that it doesn't rotate freely. The adjuster is equipped with a positioning pin that must be inserted to complete the adjustment. However, compared to the two more traditional adjusters that follow, the adjustment knob offers greater precision, and the small linkage gears allow for extremely fine adjustments.

3. Smooth Adjustment Collar

The smooth adjustment collar is extremely common and can rotate freely like the micrometer adjustment knob. A set of springs is placed between the upper and lower blades of the grinder. When turning the collar, the distance between the upper and lower blades changes, thereby adjusting the coarseness of the grind. However, compared to the advanced micrometer adjustment knob, this type of adjuster is somewhat clumsy and inconvenient to use.

4. Traditional Adjustment Collar

This is the most traditional type of adjuster. When using the traditional adjustment collar, you must first pull out the positioning pin, turn the adjuster to the appropriate position, and then insert the positioning pin to complete the adjustment. This adjuster has very limited precision. Grinding parameters are preset by the manufacturer, so users cannot adjust the coarseness of the coffee powder as freely as they wish.

4. Doser

Next, let's introduce the grinder's doser. There are two types of dosers: electronic dosers and manual dosers. These include:

1. Manual Doser

Coffee powder enters the powder bin after grinding, then is manually dosed into the filter basket before tamping and brewing. Manual dosers typically come with a lever; each pull of the lever dispenses a certain amount of coffee powder from the bin. Generally, one pull is suitable for making one cup of coffee, while two pulls are suitable for two cups. Manual dosers are usually adjustable to modify the amount of powder dispensed with each lever pull. The maximum single dose from a typical manual doser is 9 grams.

When using a grinder equipped with a manual doser, ensure that the powder bin always contains at least 1/2 capacity of coffee powder. At the end of each day's brewing, be sure to discard any unused coffee powder. However, the problem with this type of doser is that sometimes air gaps can form between coffee particles, making it extremely difficult to control the amount dispensed.

2. Electronic Doser

The amount of powder dispensed by an electronic doser is preset in advance, allowing the operator to obtain a fixed amount of coffee powder each time. Modern electronic grinders typically come equipped with this type of doser. The operation panel on the grinder can preset 2-3 different settings. Of course, if baristas have special needs, they can also dispense powder manually. Most electronic grinders have LCD displays and control panels, making program settings very simple and convenient. Typically, electronic dosers adjust the powder amount by controlling the dispensing time. Of course, there are exceptions. The Swift grinder produced by La Marzocco adjusts the powder amount by controlling the height of the coffee powder. The operator only needs to place the portafilter in the predetermined position, and the doser will dispense the powder. Grinders produced by Mazzer require the operator to press a button to dispense powder.

● Commercial Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

Single-origin and espresso commercial coffee beans roasted by FrontStreet Coffee: Yirgacheffe coffee, Kenya AA coffee, Panama Geisha coffee, and others all offer excellent guarantees in terms of brand and quality, suitable for brewing with various equipment. More importantly, they offer extremely high value—half a pound (227 grams) costs only about 80-90 RMB. Calculating based on 15 grams of powder per cup of pour-over coffee, one bag can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup of specialty coffee costing only about 6 RMB. For coffee shops that normally sell a cup for 30-40 RMB, this represents exceptional value for money.

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small storefront but diverse bean varieties, where you can find various famous and lesser-known beans. They also provide online store services at https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473