Smell the freshly ground coffee

Author's Rating:

Pros: overall good grinder for the money

Cons: can be messy, improper assembly gives a big mess, hard to clean

The Bottom Line: 
This burr grinder is a respectable, entry-level model and will produce a good, although not perfect, grind.

Author's Review
Braun Coffee Grinder KMM 30

Why this model

I bought this burr grinder about 1.5 years ago because I wanted to be able to get a more consistent grind to my coffee than my old blade grinder is capable of giving. When making drip coffee with a paper filter, this is not as important, but for variety, I also make espresso and use a French press, and an even grind is much more important. Also, I wanted to eliminate possible overheating of my beans during the grinding process (I have definitely done this with my blade grinder--with bitter coffee as the result). Since I often grind my own spices, a 2nd grinder would allow me to dedicate my old blade grinder to my spices, eliminating a lot of the frustration in trying to avoid cumin, fennel, or cardamon-flavored coffee the next morning. I saw this grinder for $39.99, and this fit into my budget better than most of the other burr grinders out there (superior burr grinders cost > $100).

Features

14 settings to adjust your daily grind
60 second timer (this also turns on the grinder)
detachable containers for coffee beans and grounds
good cord length (> 3ft)

Description

To operate this grinder, place your beans in the hopper, and close the lid. Make sure the receiving container is securely attached. Turn the timer button to operate.

Performance

This definitely gives a more consistent grind than my old blade grinder. It is, however, not perfect. I still end up with some dust-like powder, even with a coarser setting. It is not enough to cause me great concern, even when I use my French press, though. Happily to my taste buds, it also eliminated the absent-minded overheating of my beans during the blade grinding process.

The timer feature doesn't affect the coarseness of your grind (you rotate the grinding part to do that), but it is handy because once you learn how long it takes to grind the amount of beans you put in everyday, you can set the timer and do not have to attend to the grinder. This is a nice advantage over a blade grinder. Before you leave it unattended, make absolutely sure that you have the lids tightly secured on the grinder & the receiving containers, and also make sure the receiving container is tightly attached to the grinder. A couple of times I didn't have something securely attached and ended up with quite a mess.

After grinding, I always tap the lid a couple and the receiving container a couple of times before I open it up to prevent most of the coffee dust from escaping. I still end up with just a little dust around the grinder, but I also ended up with dust around my blade grinder; I am pretty much resigned to this. As for clean-up, every so often I hold the grinder over the sink and try to scoop (with the provided clean-up spoon) & tap out most of the dust. It isn't perfectly clean, but most of the residue does come out (I use both regular coffee beans and also the "oily" espresso beans). Comparing it with the blade grinder, I don't consider this one any harder to clean, and at least now I have separate grinders for coffee & spices, so a teeny bit of residue is not a problem.

Overall analysis

I recommend this model to you if:
1. you want to be able to vary your grind with more control than a blade grinder
2. you don't want to worry about overheating your beans during the grinding process
3. you like being able to have unattended grinding (leaving you free to measure out your water, etc)
4. you want all of the above without paying a professional price
5. you don't mind being careful about connecting all parts securely to avoid messes

Price Update

May 2001
I recently saw this model on sale at Costco for $32.99. I also saw it on clearance at Target for 29.90. For those prices, this is a super burr grinder!