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Home » Brentwood Coffee Grinder Review (Burr Coffee Grinder)

Brentwood Coffee Grinder Review (Burr Coffee Grinder)

The perfect grind awaits you with the Brentwood coffee grinder. It’s an affordable, impressive, and versatile electric flat burr coffee grinder. If you’ve been using a blade grinder or pre-ground coffee, it will take your barista skills up a notch. This budget-friendly coffee grinder is fit for all coffee grind types, and its one-touch operation and large capacity makes it easy to grind for batch brewing.
Read on for our Brentwood burr coffee grinder review.

Summary: The Brentwood Burr Coffee Grinder

Brentwood CG-2021BK 8-Ounce Automatic Burr Coffee Bean Grinder Mill
  • Electric flat burr coffee grinder
  • Budget-friendly pick
  • 18 grind settings

Nice economical, convenient, useful coffee grinder. I like the storage of the fresh beans and that it allows me to grind as much as required. Simple to use.

– Brentwood Grinder Owner

The Brentwood Burr Coffee Grinder Review

Brentwood Appliances has been around for over three decades, but the Brentwood burr coffee grinder was released a few years ago. Ultimately, if you’re looking to grind a whole latte coffee for not a whole latte money, this’ll do the trick.

Need more specifics? We’ll break down the details behind this coffee grinder’s design, durability, ease of use, grinding capability, and value for your money to help you decide whether the Brentwood grinder suits your needs.

The Brentwood Burr Coffee Grinder
  • Design
  • Durability
  • Ease Of Use
  • Grinding Capability
  • Value For Money
3.8

Design – 4/5

The Brentwood CG-2021 automatic grinder is built to last with a durable and well-engineered design. It has a sturdy plastic casing that is available in black or silver, and it’s topped with a large-capacity 225 gram bean hopper. The bean hopper is transparent, allowing a clear view of the coffee beans inside.

The grinder measures 17.8 x 10.8 x 24.1 cm and weighs 1.7 kilos, so it’s fairly small and lightweight compared to other burr grinders. This grinder is attractive enough to keep proudly displayed on your kitchen counter, but compact enough to easily tuck away under a cabinet for more space.

The automatic Brentwood burr coffee grinder packs a lot of power for the price. You won’t have any stalling issues with the 150-Watt motor. It’s actually more powerful than the pricier Fellow Ode, though the burr set doesn’t measure up.

Beyond being simply a coffee grinder, the Brentwood burr coffee grinder can also be used as a spice grinder!

As both a coffee and spice grinder, this model is designed for grinding coffee beans for your brew as well as spices for your cooking, herbs for your meals, and nuts and grains for your snacks. Just note that if you use this coffee and spice grinder as a spice grinder, you will need to wash it thoroughly after each use to remove any non-coffee remnants that may affect the smell and taste of your coffee beans. For committed coffee lovers, avoid using this as a spice grinder.

Durability – 3/5

Brentwood is known for its durable stainless steel appliances. However, this particular Brentwood grinder is made wholly of plastic, so don’t count on decades of use. It will crack if dropped, and you should use care when removing the hopper. That said, the engineering and electronics are solid. You can expect three to five years of performance if you treat it with respect.

Ease Of Use – 3.5/5

Using this coffee grinder for freshly ground coffee is as easy as pushing a button – literally – with its simple one-touch operation. Simply use the selector knob to choose the number of cups of coffee you plan to brew, then push to start.

The Brentwood grinder will time the correct ground coffee dose and shut off automatically when it’s done.

The challenge for beginner-level coffee grinder users is finding the right grind size. There are 18 positions available on the grind selector, from fine Turkish coffee to coarse enough for cold brew. Experimenting is encouraged, and be prepared to dial it in each time you change your beans or brewing method.

The Brentwood grinder can be messy as it lacks any static control design features. Fortunately it’s easy to clean. To clean this coffee grinder, all you need to do is remove the grind chamber and the bean hopper. Wipe everything down with a soft rag covered in warm, soapy water, then let everything air dry. The bean hopper is easily removable and dishwasher safe.

Grinding Capability – 3.5/5

The Brentwood grinder is a premium unimodal flat burr coffee grinder. It offers exceptional grind consistency for the price and yields a clean and flavourful cup (1). There is anecdotal evidence that flat burrs produce a different flavour profile, according to the pros at Driftaway Coffee (2).

Conical burr grinders are said to bring out individual and bright flavours… Flat burr grinders supposedly meld and enhance darker notes, such as nutty and chocolatey flavours.

There is no true research to back up these claims, so you’ll have to let your taste buds decide.

The unimodal design also allows greater control over the intensity and taste of your brew compared to a bimodal distribution, which is better suited for more advanced baristas seeking complexity (3).

Espresso enthusiasts won’t get what they need from Brentwood burr grinder, unless you have an espresso machine with a pressurised filter basket. Although it can yield fine enough grinds with relatively good consistency, 18 settings simply aren’t enough to properly dial in a shot.

Value For Money – 5/5

This electric flat burr coffee grinder is not the cheapest on the market, but it is comfortably seated in the affordable range compared to similar offerings. Typically, quality burr coffee grinders start around a hundred dollars and just go up from there. But this one sits happily in the realm of seventy to eighty dollars. The value for money is very good given the number of grind settings, powerful motor, and timed grinding mechanism.

Things we liked:

  • Excellent grind consistency from the unimodal flat burrs.
  • Great value for money.
  • 18 grind size settings.
  • Powerful motor avoids stalls.

Things we didn’t like:

  • Not suitable for espresso.
  • Plastic case isn’t very durable.
  • Can be messy.

Do Not Buy The Brentwood Grinder If…

  • You prioritize kitchen cleanliness – If you want to minimize the mess of grinding coffee beans, go with the Bodum Bistro coffee grinder instead. The Bodum Bistro grinder has similar features and capacity, but has a coffee grounds catch bin made out of borosilicate glass. This discharges any static in the ground coffee beans, so your grounds will stay in the bin and not wind up all over the countertop.
  • You want something quieter – To guarantee a serene morning coffee grinding experience, the Capresso burr grinder is an ear-friendly choice. It has 40 mm conical stainless steel burrs and a gear and motor system designed for noise reduction. It’s perfect for sleepy coffee lovers looking for a quiet morning fix.

The Verdict

The Brentwood burr coffee grinder is an ideal pick for a beginner home barista. It’s a huge step up in quality from a blade grinder but only a small step up in price. With one-touch operation, a powerful motor, an attractive design, and a wide grind size range, this grinder offers excellent value for money. Just beware the plastic casing, and treat it gently to get the best longevity.

Brentwood CG-2021BK 8-Ounce Automatic Burr Coffee Bean Grinder Mill
  1. Petrich, I. (2020, May 12). Coffee grinders: What’s the difference between conical & flat burr grinders? Retrieved January 6, 2023, from https://perfectdailygrind.com/2020/05/conical-vs-flat-burr-coffee-grinders-difference/
  2. Driftaway Coffee. (2016, March 13). What’s the Difference Between a Flat and Conical Burr Coffee Grinder. Retrieved from https://driftaway.coffee/conical-vs-burr-grinder/
  3. Rossi, R. (2017, December 15). A Brewer’s Guide to Choosing a (Good) Coffee Grinder. Retrieved January 6, 2023, from https://perfectdailygrind.com/2017/12/a-brewers-guide-to-choosing-a-good-coffee-grinder/
Dasha Toptygina
I am a writer who delves into all manner of things related to coffee, cats, and characters. I started drinking coffee daily in university and now my entire work, life, and personality all revolve around procuring the perfect brew. I start every morning with yoga, French Press coffee, and some special creative time devoted to working on a magical cat café story... but, more on that later.

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