The grinder plays a pivotal role in drawing out the rich aroma and flavor from coffee beans, facilitating the creation of delightful, top-notch coffee.
The practice of grinding coffee has ancient origins dating back to approximately 1350 B.C., courtesy of the Greeks. Initially, people in Ethiopia, the Middle East, and early coffee-consuming regions utilized the mortar and pestle as the inaugural coffee grinder to grind coffee beans.
In bygone eras, individuals seeking caffeinated beverages had to resort to using stones for the coffee bean grinding process. By the 15th century, the spice grinder took the place of stones, providing a finer grind. In Turkey and Persia during the 1400s, coffee beans were individually roasted in perforated metal saucers and ground using cylindrical mills.
The earliest coffee mill, credited to Nicholas Book, an Englishman, was devised in the late 17th century. He positioned himself as the sole creator of mills capable of grinding coffee into a powder.
Coffee mills gained commercial prominence in 1660s London, where coffeehouses served as popular social gathering spots. In 1798, Thomas Bruff of Maryland, who also happened to be Thomas Jefferson's dentist, received the first U.S. patent for a coffee grinder. His wall-mounted device featured metal nuts with coarse and fine teeth for grinding beans.
In 1815, Archibald Kenrich secured a patent in England for "mills for grinding coffee," delineating a box-type coffee mill with a white-enameled interior bowl, a wooden cotton reel substituting the handle, and a tinplate drawer.
Throughout the 18th century, diverse inventors and companies introduced their manual coffee-grinding contraptions, widely adopted in households. However, the late 1800s witnessed a transition when the American company Hobart produced the inaugural electric coffee grinder, ushering in the era of the contemporary grinders.
In 1905, the United States Patent Office registered a Coffee Mill patent crafted by William Bussinger, featuring an innovative mounting mechanism for the grinders and a receptacle for collecting grounds.
Coffee Grinding Evolution
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