If you got to this question I do not have to introduce you to what coffee grinding is. Now, if you just seek to try grinding coffee at home for the first time I want to encourage and agitate you. You will not regret acquiring a coffee grinder. You will finally taste what real fresh coffee tastes like.
Grinding Methods
There are a few methods to grind coffee. You can chop coffee beans with a blade coffee grinder, grind them with a burr coffee mill or just pound beans with mortar and pestle (this method should be used for Turkish coffee only). You will get similar to blade grinding results with a mixer (with similar blades). Most people say the latter method is a good way if you don't have a grinder but that's not really true. Continue to learn why.
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While grinding with a mixer probably won't harm it you will not get great results out of the beans. It will chop the beans but like a blade grinder will produce uneven sized coffee grounds. That is the most important feature in a grinder - particle uniformity. A professional will choose a grinder which grinds uniformly enough. And he or she will not even look at blade grinders. In the picture on the left is a production of blade coffee grinder and on the right - of a burr mill. You can clearly see the difference in grounds uniformity.
Correct coffee grinding
The solution is a burr grinder. It's a machine with mechanism of two surfaces: one is still and another rotates. Coffee beans are crushed between these surfaces. The uniformity of grounds Depends on the quality and sturdiness of whole machine and especially burrs. Burr coffee grinders rotate much slower than a blade grinder thus emitting less heat which over-burns coffee particles in blade grinders. Usually the more expensive a grinder is the better it will perform.
There are a few types of coffee drinks that use different grinding settings. A drip coffee and French press do not require very uniformly ground coffee and you will get a fine grinder for $40 to $110 like Capresso Infinity. Most of these will produce grind fine enough even for Turkish coffee. Espresso is more capricious. It requires very evenly sized particles. If you want espresso you should consider models for $200 to $700 or even more.
As a newly interested person in coffee grinding you probably wonder what grinding settings for different coffee drinks you should use. Well for espresso you should grind for particles at diameter of 0.47 millimeters. Hopefully you did not take that seriously and will use a coffee grinding chartonline.
Summary
You should get a burr coffee grinder and take the best out of fresh coffee beans. However, if you cannot spend at least40 dollars on that, get a blade grinder. Even though it will not produce high quality grounds you will get better brew than using pre-ground coffee anyways.
