The right motor for the right burrs

Every day at Mahlkönig, we manufacture hundreds of espresso, filter, and shop grinders, plus thousands of steel burrs.

Before leaving the factory, each grinder undergoes rigorous testing and systematic particle-size analysis. All burrs are developed by our in-house team and have been manufactured at our Hamburg site for decades - see also Mahlkönig Brand of the Century.

Crucial to each grinder’s meticulous functioning is a perfect match between the grinding mechanism and its drive. In other words, the motor and the two burrs must be flawlessly matched to ensure that the grinder delivers a reliable and consistent grind long term.

Mahlkönig has been developing and manufacturing professional use high-quality grinders for almost 100 years. In order to live up to our century-long promise of exceptional quality, our developers invest months or even years ensuring the optimal tuning of both motor and grinder for each new model.

How do we arrive at the perfect combination of burrs and motor?

The starting point is always the burr with its application-specific size and surface geometry. An espresso grinder, in contrast to a shop grinder, is designed for grinding manageable volumes, but usually has to grind the beans finely. The burrs are therefore also small but fine in the espresso grinder and can map many short grinding cycles. Grind-on-demand requires a strong acceleration of the burrs and ends a few seconds later with an abrupt braking of the rotating burr.

In addition to the nature of the burrs, the quality of the grinding are determined by classical mechanics. The most important quantities are the speed of the motor and the power of the torque (how it spins).

The development of a grinder begins by measuring the mechanical power of the burrs. The coffee is ground at different levels and at varying speeds. Through this process, the torque of the burr is determined. This value, in turn, can be used to calculate the mechanical power that the motor must deliver to the burrs in order to achieve optimum grinding. The motor choice is based upon these findings.

Why is torque such an important factor for performance?

For daily use, a coffee grinder must be able to start up at any time without overheating. A motor that is too weak would not be able to drive the burrs sufficiently from a resting point. During each use, slight residues of beans and powder are deposited on the teeth of the burrs, which can cause them to get stuck. The motor must have sufficient power for the burrs to immediately restart, despite this residue. The motor must therefore apply the greatest force at the start of each grinding operation.

What to look for when choosing the right replacement burrs?

Mahlkönig offers a comprehensive range of original replacement burrs. In principle, the replacement burrs should always match the burrs installed at the factory in order to enjoy perfectly matched grinding even after their replacement. Different burrs with the same diameter can be installed in the grinder, but they are not necessarily optimally matched to the existing motor. As a result, the torque can deviate from the original sizes and change the grinding performance. This in turn can lead to problems with grinding, for example, if the grinder clogs and no longer starts smoothly.

If you need new burrs perfectly matched to your grinder, you can simply follow this link, in the next step select your grinder and then the matching burrs.