Consumer Reports' Highest-Rated Coffee Grinder Works For Any Brewing Style

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A coffee grinder is not an essential piece of kitchen equipment, but for people who really want to make the best cup possible, Consumer Reports' highest-rated grinder might be. While normal people might be able to get by on pre-ground, true obsessives know the taste just doesn't compare to the quality you get from grinding your own coffee. That's because the moment coffee is ground, it starts degrading from oxygen exposure, which even packaging can't protect from in the long term. But coffee grinders can really vary in performance, making them a tough buy. That's why Consumer Reports has tested some of the biggest coffee grinders and found a device from Oxo to be the one to beat.

CR compared the performance of coffee grinders from eight major brands, including Bodum, Breville, and Cuisinart. Oxo's Conical Burr Coffee Grinder outclassed them on almost every front. Landing in the Very Good range of quality overall, it was one of only two models to earn the publication's recommendation. Consumer Reports particularly liked its convenience, with simple controls and a large 12-ounce hopper (the second largest of the models tested) for your favorite brand's coffee beans. What's also great is that Oxo's model was also one of the more affordable options, with its price set at just around $110. It also features great quality-of-life features, including auto-stop and a timer, which not all coffee grinders have.

More than any other model, the Oxo Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder was consistently good at everything. Consumer Reports tested six different types of performance across grinders, and Oxo received Very Good to Excellent ratings in all but one of them, which no other brand could match. It performed equally well at all three levels of grind tested (fine, medium, and coarse) making it versatile for whichever method of brewing coffee you prefer. In addition to the aforementioned convenience of using it, it also scored highly at being easy to clean. The only area where it was merely average was noise, but that was an area where every other model struggled as well. Only one model – the Capresso Infinity Conical Burr Grinder 560.04 – was quieter.

The number two option in Consumer Reports rankings, the Bodum Bistro Electric Burr Coffee Grinder, does have the advantage of being a little bit more affordable than the Oxo coffee grinder at about $81. However CR's testing found that it wasn't as easy to use and had unclear instructions compared to Oxo. It was also among the noisiest models in testing, and it was rated as slightly harder to clean. What made it great was its grinding performance, which was better on average than all of its competition, including outdoing Oxo for coarse grinds. Still, the Oxo grinder has the edge for ease-of-use and quietness; it might be a bit pricier, but it'll still give you great coffee without breaking the bank.