Collectible Antique Coffee Grinders

Since early pioneer days, U.S. emigrants have relied on coffee to give them the caffeine boost that helps so many people maintain a productive life. Today, we have the corner Starbucks where we can stop in and buy a grande latte or mocha.

When we make our own coffee at home, we enjoy the luxury of an electric coffee grinder that grinds the roasted beans in mere seconds.

However, the pioneers of yesteryear had to grind their own coffee beans by hand in a coffee mill. Today, these antique coffee grinders are collectible kitchenware much sought after by collectors or individuals who love that country kitchen look that comes with having an antique coffee grinder on the countertop or island.

Although their owners purchase them to complete the look of a country kitchen, many antique coffee grinders are fully functional and are used every day by their owners.

Antique Box Coffee Grinders

This style of antique coffee grinder is shaped like a box. The coffee drinker turns the crank on top of the box to grind the coffee beans, and the box beneath stores approximately one pound of coffee.

The box style antique coffee grinder is easier to use when it has a handle on the side. The user can hold the handle when turning the crank, keeping the box stationery on the counter while the coffee is being ground. Ground coffee collects in a handy little drawer that can be pulled out and dumped in the coffee pot.

Antique Upright Coffee Grinders

These cast iron coffee grinders have two grinding wheels and are recommended for collectors who want to continue to grind their own coffee on a daily basis, because cast iron is so much more durable than wood.

Better Tasting Coffee

Ground coffee purists believe that the heat today's electric coffee mills generate damages the coffee and robs it of part of its taste. There is no coffee, they say, like hand-ground coffee that has been roasted and then never exposed to heat until it meets the boiling water that turns it into a steaming cup of magic energy.

European Coffee Grinders

Collectors who have exhausted the U.S. market search for antique coffee grinders made across the Atlantic in Europe. These charming mills are sometimes lettered with "coffee" in their native tongue: koffie, or kaffee. Porcelain Dutch grinders feature Delft patterns of windmills and canals.

Some collectors choose wooden coffee grinders, cast iron coffee grinders, or porcelain coffee grinders, while others collect all three kinds.