At any given price, a hand grinder grinds better. That is not a preference, it is arithmetic: an electric grinder spends most of its budget on a motor, a housing, a hopper and a dosing mechanism, while a hand grinder spends almost all of it on burrs and the shaft that holds them straight.
A seventy-euro hand grinder competes with a two-hundred-euro electric one.
What you pay instead
Effort and time. An 18 g espresso dose takes 30 to 60 seconds of cranking, and dense light roasts are genuinely hard work. Filter coarseness is much easier — 20 to 30 seconds and little resistance.
The decision
It is not about coffee quality. It is about how many cups you make.
One or two a day: hand grinder. It becomes part of the ritual, and you get better grind quality for less money.
Three or more, or other people in the house make their own: electric. A grinder that requires effort stops being used by everyone except the enthusiast, and then somebody starts buying pre-ground.
Travel: hand grinder, obviously.
The middle path
Plenty of people own both: an electric grinder for weekday espresso, a hand grinder for weekend filter and for travel. Given the price of a good hand grinder, that is a reasonable position.
Last reviewed 8 August 2026