Smallest Coffee Grinders: 6 Small But Mighty Grinders for Home and Travel

Enough about all that. Here are the best picks for the smallest coffee grinders in 2024:

You’re here because you already know that buying pre-ground coffee is blasphemy.

Many folks spend their entire lives buying only pre-ground coffee, not understanding the importance of freshness or grind size. I’m not ashamed to admit I was there once.

But there’s a new world out there waiting to be discovered. A world where freshness reigns supreme, and grind size is just as important as buying the right coffee beans and using the correct brew method.

But entering this world means having a capable coffee grinder.

Sure, you can store your ground coffee to keep it fresh, but have you ever noticed how short-lived that is? This is because as soon as coffee beans are ground, they instantly start to lose their freshness and aroma.

No storage container will ever keep your coffee as fresh as it would be if you were to grind it right before you need it. Period.

Also, different brewing methods require different grind sizes. You can’t achieve proper extraction of your coffee if you can’t control grind size.

Most coffee purchased at the grocery store is intended for use with drip machines, so it will not work well with other brewing methods like espresso, French press, pour overs…you get the point.

By owning a grinder, you’re in total control. You can grind your coffee to the perfect grind size for whichever brewing method you desire.

Mainly, there are two categories of coffee grinders to be concerned with: blade grinders vs burr grinders, and electric grinders vs manual grinders.

A blade grinder has a high-powered motor with an attached blade. It spins quickly at the bottom of the grinding chamber and “chops” the beans up. Blade grinders are almost always louder than burr grinders. They’re also unarguably inferior to burr grinders.

Burr grinders use a conical or flat metal plate burr design with ridges. These ridges help draw the beans in, smash them open and grind them into equally sized particles. The plate is adjustable, meaning you can control the coarseness/fineness of the grounds by changing the distance between the plates.

If the particles are all the same size, the grinder is known to produce a good grind consistency or grind particle uniformity. This is crucial for proper extraction.

We’ll always recommend a burr coffee grinder over a blade grinder. Although they are more expensive than blade grinders, you’ll thank your future self when you take that first sip of delicious nectar.​

Blade grinders work similarly to a blender, chopping up the coffee beans into smaller pieces using a blade at the bottom of the grinder.

But because it chops parts of the bean over and over and misses other parts of the bean, you end up with very inconsistent grind sizes—lots of fines and boulders, which is when the coffee beans have been too finely ground and also not ground enough at the same time. This is bad.

A burr grinder actually “grinds” the beans between two plates of metal that are positioned at distinct, precise angles. This smashes and pulverizes the beans once and only once as the beans pass through. Therefore, you get great consistency in particle size with a burr coffee grinder.

This consistency prevents over or under-extraction during the brewing process—a most critical factor in achieving amazing coffee.

If you want the smallest coffee grinder possible, it will almost undoubtedly be a manual grinder. Because of the lack of a motor, it’s much easier to fit these into a smaller footprint than an electric coffee grinder.

Manual grinders are also useful when you’re trying to pack light for your travels or you’ve gone off the grid, as there are no concerns about the lack of electricity.

None of these small grinders are perfect, though. You’ll need to make some decisions based on your situation.

For instance, if you decide to go with a manual burr coffee grinder, understand that you’ll need a lot more elbow grease and extra time to get to that perfect pile of coffee grounds.

This may not be an issue if you’re preparing coffee for yourself or maybe one other person, but it becomes very tiresome when you need to make multiple cups in quick succession.

Without argument, an electric grinder’s biggest advantage is its ease of use. You choose your desired grind size, push a button, and you have fresh ground coffee in seconds. It doesn’t get any easier (or fresher) than that.

However, electric coffee grinders come with their downsides too—size probably being the most critical factor considering this article.

If you plan on using your burr coffee grinder for travel, handheld grinders are an easy decision for their size and portability. Even more convenient, most will have a detachable handle for an even tighter fit in your luggage or backpack.

They’re often smaller and lighter than most countertop grinders, saving you precious cargo space.

However, if you regularly make large batches of coffee, a countertop model is your best choice because of its larger capacity, speed, and convenience.