coffee grinders : history of coffee grinders

In the beginning, there was the hammer. Flat rocks were use too. Smashing the coffee bean was easy. However, smashing away is not all that accurate in obtaining a uniform coffee grind size.

Around the time coffee was being roasted, wheat was being ground by rollers. Coffee volume was not as large as bread but the grinding principle was tried and worked very well considering the level of mechanical development in the old days. In the early days, a person sat at a table and smashed the roasted coffee beans in a roll grinder. Electric powered stone roller roasted coffee bean grinders, using dressed stone, are used in Greece and Turkey today for making powder coffee generally referred to as "Turkish Coffee." The fact is, Turkish Coffee grinds can not be made any other way as yet.

Not much was known about coffee grind verses coffee brew in the old days. It was not until different types of coffee brewers came about did the roasted coffee grind size become important. Coffee shops had no standards until filter, drip, percolator, vacuum, and espresso coffee brewers were developed. About all that was know in those times is that whole roasted coffee beans didn't brew up well at all and it worked a lot better if the roasted coffee bean were ground. After roasting, the coffee bean is easy to grind any way.

http://www.gardfoods.com/coffee/coffee.grinders.htm