How to Clean Your Coffee Grinder: The Only Guide You’ll Need

Blade Grinders 

These types of grinders operate through a motor that rotates two (sometimes three) blades in a confined space. They pulverize almost whatever you put in them. We don’t typically recommend them for grinding coffee since they produce uneven grounds. However, some people do prefer them or will use them to grind up spices. 

You will need the following items: 

• – ¼ cups of uncooked rice 
• – Damp paper towel
• – Water

To clean your blade grinder, follow these easy four steps:

1. Add the uncooked rice to the hopper. 
2. Turn the grinder on and run it until the rice becomes a fine powder. Once this happens, the oils should cling to the pulverized material. 
3. Throw the rice flour away. 
4. Unplug the grinder and wipe it from the inside with a damp towel. 

How often should you do this? As often as needed! This means if your grinder looks dirty or is giving off a weird smell, it’s time for a clean. This may happen often since oils produced when grinding coffee tend to cling to the blades and inside of the hopper.

Burr Grinders 

It’s possible you own a conical burr grinder. If this is the case, you already know these are more complex contraptions that don’t work like blade grinders. 

To use, you place coffee beans into an adjustable fixture with an outer and inner burr. You can adjust the inner burr as you’d like (closer or further away from the outer). This will determine the size of the grind. Consequently, you receive a more controlled brewing process. 

How to clean a burr grinder? This varies depending on the model you use; however, the cleaning process always revolves around the same steps. 

To begin, you will need the following items: 

• – A soft brush 
• – Screwdriver (in case you need it to remove some pieces) 
• – Water 
• – A dry cloth
• – Coffee grinder cleaner tablets (optional) 
•  

Once you’ve acquired all the necessary materials, follow these steps: 

1. Remove the hopper and wash this and the lid by hand. 
2. Run your grinder for a few seconds (with the hopper removed). This will remove any remaining coffee from the burrs.
3. Unplug the grinder.
4. Remove any rubber or plastic parts that come in contact with coffee beans. Don’t forget the bin that catches your ground coffee. Wash these by hand also. 
5. Remove the inner burr as best you can. This sometimes requires a screwdriver. 
6. Using a soft brush, knock out any loose coffee grounds that are stuck to the outer or inner burrs. 
7. With a dry cloth, wipe both inner and outer burrs to help absorb any oils left behind. 
8. Allow all washed parts to dry and reassemble your grinder.

Now, what about using grinder cleaning tablets? This is a quick and easy solution for those that don’t want to wash their grinder by hand (which is completely understandable). 

To use cleaning coffee grinder tablets, you’ll need to pour the recommended amount into your coffee bean hopper. Pulse the grinder until all tables have run through the machine. Next, take about 1 oz (30g) of coffee grounds and run them through your machine. Throw away the grounds as well as the tablet residue and rinse the ground coffee bin with warm water. Tablets do a nice job knocking out any loose particles left behind by coffee. They will also absorb lingering oils. This is, of course, more expensive than the steps described above, but it will save you time.

How often should you clean a burr grinder? We recommend every few months to remove any buildup from inside the grinder. If you don’t use it every day, it could be cleaned less often. 

Conclusion 

Now that you know how to clean a coffee grinder, you have no excuses for lingering odors or funky tasting coffee! The process of doing so is really quite easy. Remember to always practice caution and take your time when cleaning out your beloved coffee machines!