What is the best grinder I can buy for grinding espresso at home?

Hi Tanya, you’ve made quite a difficult question. Coffee grinders have improved noticeably in the past few years, and some home grinders have adopted commercial grade parts. The first thing to consider here is if you prefer a hand grinder or an electric one. There are excellent choices for espresso grinders in the manual segment. For instance, the 1Zpresso grinders from the K series offer an excellent grind size distribution and grind faster than many electric grinders. We’re talking here about more than 1 gram per second with these grinders, which is kind of an average for 1Zpresso gear. Some people prefer the Commandante C40 and the Kinu M47, which are premium manual grinders that will cost you significantly more than any 1Zpresso. In my experience, and after talking with a lot of fellow coffee geeks about it, 1Zpresso can be very similar in performance and quality and save you more than 100 dollars in the process. If you prefer electric grinders, the options vary significantly in price. For instance, the Baratza Sette 270 and the Rancilio Rocky have similar costs -around 400 dollars at the moment- with comparable performances. Although the Sette 270 is noisier and has a less than impressive plastic casing, it has a shallow retention rate and produces a great grind size distribution. It really delivers a low amount of fines and boulders. The Rancilio Rocky is less noisy and comes with commercial-grade steel flat burrs. Overall, it delivers a more prosumer experience but has a bit higher retention rate. If you’re going for the long run or want to get a piece of more premium equipment, you can look at the Niche Zero and the Eureka Mignon Specialita. Both have similar prices again, and the performance in both is quite outstanding. All but praises I heard about both grinders, only followed closely by the Turin DF64. In my opinion, getting an espresso grinder boils down to setting a budget and picking the one that fits better your routine and personal preference, particularly in terms of the looks. I know I may sound superficial here, but as performance and price are so close between these grinders, I would pick the one I like the most. It will be one of the first things you look at every morning anyway!