Capresso Infinity Conical Burr Coffee Grinder

Baristas burr before brewing. You can, too.

If you want the freshest, most full-flavored cup of coffee, we always recommend grinding your own coffee beans. It’s best to do this right before you brew, as beans begin to lose flavor and aroma within an hour of being ground. Home grinders come in two styles: blade (think tiny food processor) and burr (operates like a pepper mill). Burr grinders are the norm in the coffee industry for good reason: They produce precise, evenly ground beans. We recently tested household burr grinders and found a few that were easy to use—and others that required us to decipher hieroglyphics to operate.

Capresso Infinity Conical Burr Grinder

BEST BUY - RECOMMENDED

This machine has only 16 grind settings, but we liked that each was clearly labeled. Its dial timer doses the correct amount of coffee beans for the number of cups you're brewing (two cups or more). Its grounds container was a little small and slightly awkward to clean.

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We maintain strict objectivity in all testing.*

CLEANUP ★★½

GRINDING ★★½

EASE OF USE ★★

KEY: GOOD ★★★ FAIR ★★ POOR ★

Details

Style: Burr
Number of Grind Settings: 16
Highest Percentage of Medium Pieces: 69%
Bean Container Capacity: 8.8 oz
Ground Coffee Container Capacity: 4 oz
Item Number: ATKCCG
Item Weight: 4 pounds

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Even grinds = A Better Brew

Brewing coffee is inherently a race against time. Coffee has more than 800 aromatic compounds, and the goal is to try to extract as many of the pleasant aromatics before some of the more unpleasant flavors—such as excessive acidity or bitterness—have time to dissolve into your brew. If all the grounds in your coffee were the same size, the water would extract each tiny piece of coffee at the same rate. But ground coffee is never completely even. Coffee beans shatter like glass when they’re ground—they break into some big pieces (the coffee industry calls them boulders), some medium pieces, and some tiny, dust-like pieces (known as fines). Some amount of boulders and fines is inevitable no matter how great your grinder, but burr grinders are known for producing an exceptionally even grind (a high percentage of medium pieces) compared to blade grinders. A more even grind means more control over your final brew.

BOULDERS

Will be under-extracted during brewing, tasting dull and flavorless

IDEAL-SIZE PIECES

Even grind for consistently good brewing results

FINES

Dust-like pieces that will be over-extracted during brewing, tasting bitter and acidic.

How We Tested Burr Grinders

We purchased 10 burr grinders and used each to grind coffee beans of different densities on fine (recommended for espresso), medium (recommended for drip coffee), and coarse settings (recommended for French press coffee). Six testers—from novices to coffee experts—operated each grinder to gauge its user-friendliness. A panel of 21 tasters sampled coffee made from beans in the least even and most even coffee grinders; we standardized the weight of the ground coffee, the brew method, and the type of beans. We repeated the test three times to confirm the results.
We also removed the burrs from all the grinders, inspecting their shape and size; measured the capacity of each bean hopper using whole beans; and measured the capacity of each grounds container using ground coffee.

Winning Traits

Steel conical burrs with sharp grooves
Intuitive and easy to use
Timer to control dose
Small stature to fit under cabinets
Roomy, sturdy plastic grounds container
Operates cleanly—no sprayed grounds

* OBJECTIVITY FIRST, LAST, AND ALWAYS.

America’s Test Kitchen does not accept advertising and conducts equipment tests without the knowledge of product manufacturers. Exclusive equipment offers are sourced only after the test results have been published in our magazines and on our websites.