This Gaggia grinder, the 8002 MDF grinder, is a true commercial grade grinder on par with those you find in the espresso bars of Europe. That is why it is priced at $250-300. It has 39 adjustable settings for different degrees of fineness. It has a 120 watt motor that powers 50-mm steel grinding burrs, which grind your beans with precision every time. The grinding is thoroughly even and consistent. The grinding burrs operate quietly, unlike the metal blade grinders you may be used to.

It has a large hopper that holds 10 ounces of coffee beans. This is one thing that sets it apart from the Breville coffee grinder we looked at in the previous entry. This means that you can conveniently grind more coffee without refilling the hopper. The interesting thing about the Gaggia MDF coffee grinder is that it can release automatic serving doses into a filter you place at the bottom of the unit. You pull the lever once and one cup’s worth of coffee comes out. If you pull it twice, two cups, and so on. Unless you don’t like the strength of the coffee that results, then you no longer have to measure out your coffee with a spoon and have grinds fall all over the place. This is an essential feature in a cafe or restaurant where a high volume of coffee is served.

This Gaggia grinder is excellent for making espresso. Belive it or not, the grinder makes a big difference to your espresso. The coffee grinds must be ground perfectly evenly with no bigger chunks, because espresso is pressed at high pressure with 200 degree water, and having bigger chunks will distribute the pressure unevenly. It also prevents coffee dust from grinds that ended up smaller than intended.

The only complaints I have heard about this machine really are that the automatic dosing compartment needs to be full in order to give you the right size dosage. Five servings need to be in the compartment to fill it. So if you are not planning on making five cups of coffee, you either have to leave the coffee grinds in the compartment so they lose a bit of freshness, or you have to deal with the risk of having your dose come out a little imperfectly. The compartment was really designed for use in a cafe, which is why its capacity is 5 cups.

This is an excellent commercial grade coffee grinder. If you have a lot of money to put into your coffee or you just love coffee enough to make big sacrifices for it, then this is a great unit. But at the price of $250, unless you take your coffee very seriously, a better medium range grinder might be the Breville coffee grinder mentioned last time.

Learn more about the MDF Gaggia Grinder

Let me tell you right off the bat – this Breville coffee grinder is expensive! As is often the case with Breville products, you will probably look at the price think “What?!” and want to look at something else. But there is a reason for those high prices. Breville produces commercial-grade products, and markets them to the general population at a price that may seem high to you, but is much lower than commercial products. So if you look at it that way in terms of value for your money, then Breville products are very reasonably priced. And this Breville coffee grinder is no different.

The Breville BCG450XL is a conical burr grinder with a variety of adjustable grind settings. You can use coarsely ground coffee made for perculator coffee makers, or you can grind ultra-fine coffee for things like Turkish coffee (into which you want the fine grinds to seap. Unlike cheaper grinders, the BCG450XL Breville grinder grinds consistently and evenly, which creates a good consistent coffee flavour. Conical burrs with their slow speed of motion also maintain more of the coffee bean’s flavour than fast-moving metal blades.

This is also quite a quiet unit, so you won’t have to blow your eardrums out to make a pot of coffee. This is also a very durable machine, and most customers report this machine lasts a long time without malfunction.

This is a great grinder, even at its retail price of $100-150.

Learn more about the BCG450XL Breville Coffee Grinder

The Baratza 8-oz Maestro Plus Coffee Grinder is based on the best-selling Maestro grinder, but as the “plus” would imply, it is a new and improved version of the Maestro with some added features.

It is a conical burr grinder, the highest quality type of grinder that makes less noise and rarely gets clogged, even when grinding coffees with special flavours and oils added. The Maestro Plus demands a premium price over other coffee makers, but its high quality more than pays for the money.

Some of the special features of the new Maestro Plus are its 60 second timer and a pulse button (a touch button that you hold down to keep the grinder moving for as long as you want without using the timer), a heavily weighted base so that the unit is steady while grinding, and 40 different grind settings so that you can make grinds suitable for any kind of coffee maker or brewing method.

It is clean without grinds spilling, and the coffee grinds are uniform in size and consistency. The Baratza Maestro Plus Coffee Grinder is a top-end unit, and if you love to spoil yourself with coffee you’ll love using this exciting grinder.

I want to buy a Baratza 8-oz. Maestro Plus Coffee Grinder