What is the difference between a burr and blade grinder?
A burr grinder has teeth that cut the coffee beans in one pass, without overheating, or destroying them. A burr grinder has different settings and allows you to pick the type of grind (very fine to coarse) desired. This is what commercial coffee grinders do. A blade grinder has a rotating knife that chops the bean repeatedly (until pulverized, if kept on long enough). It heats the coffee beans causing flavor loss and the degree of grind is controlled by the amount of time the engine is engaged. It gets the job done, but it is not the best thing for treating roasted, high-quality coffee beans. [Back To Top] • What is “specialty” coffee? There are two major species of coffee, robusta and arabica. Robusta is grown at low altitudes, under full sun, has almost twice as much caffeine, and is the main ingredient of cheap, flavorless, “blended” commercial coffee available everywhere. Arabica, grown at high altitudes (4,000 to 6,500 feet) with abundant rain fall, warm temperatures, fertile soil
