Grinding
Burr Grinder vs Blade Grinder for Espresso
This is one of the few genuinely settled debates in home espresso: burr grinders are the standard, and blade grinders are not recommended for espresso specifically.
How each works
A burr grinder crushes beans between two burrs set to a specific gap, producing a consistent particle size. A blade grinder chops beans with a spinning blade, producing a wide range of particle sizes with no real size control — closer to how a food processor works than a precision tool.
Why that difference matters for espresso specifically
Espresso needs both a fine and highly consistent grind to build proper resistance against the pump's pressure. A blade grinder's inconsistent, uncontrollable particle size makes a proper, even espresso extraction essentially impossible — some particles will be reduced to dust while others remain coarse chunks, extracting at wildly different rates within the same shot.
What this looks like in the cup
Unlike a burr grinder's adjustment dial, a blade grinder gives you only grind time as a control, and even a longer grind time does not converge on a consistent size — it just shifts the average while the spread stays wide. The resulting shots are typically both bitter (from the over-fine dust) and sour (from the under-extracted chunks) at once, a signature combination that is difficult to fix through technique alone.
The practical takeaway
Every grinder reviewed on this site, and every grinder worth considering for espresso, is a burr grinder. A blade grinder is fine for drip coffee in a pinch, but budget for even an entry burr grinder like the Baratza Encore ESP if espresso is the actual goal.