Coffee Grinders

Collecting antique coffee grinders is a fun and exciting hobby that many coffee enthusiasts have found to be rewarding in many ways. Part of the fun is tracking down the coffee grinders from years gone by, such as the Enterprise coffee grinder, an antique from a company that is no longer in business. Years ago coffee grinders were known as coffee mills and Enterprise was a top name in coffee mills. 

Collectors of coffee grinders typically search for the mills that were used during the nineteenth and twentieth century, particularly those from manufactures such as Arcade, Enterprise, Parker and various other companies. Coffee grinders can be found dating back to the 1780’s when Richard Dearman received the first patent for a coffee grinder. Finding these coffee grinders can be a difficult task and takes time, patience and research. It can take many years to find the most sought after models and then it may be more of an investment than most people are willing to make. This is why many antique coffee grinders, including the Enterprise, are usually found in history museums.

Enterprise Coffee Grinder

Antique coffee grinders are big, bulky machines that typically operate on a crank wheel mechanism. The coffee beans are loaded into the top of the grinder, which deposits them downward to the wheels as space permits. The operator of the grinder turns the crank handle to start the grinder process. The beans are crushed between the wheels and the resulting coffee granules are deposited into a collector box underneath the grinder. Other antique grinders operated in a similar fashion using blades instead of wheels. The crank handle turned the blades, which crushed the coffee to create the usable grounds.

Antique coffee grinders produced quality coffee during the era in which they were used; however, they would not be the ideal choice for today’s coffee makers. The resulting coffee granules created from antique coffee mills were too coarse for coffee makers in today’s world, however, in those days, coffee was typically made or brewed using what was known as coffee socks, a type of filter cloth.

Brewing in those days was a manual task. The person brewing the coffee could control the strength of the coffee by varying how many times it was poured through the coffee sock. If strong coffee was desired, the coffee would be poured the sock repeatedly. Today’s coffee makers do not operate in this manner and the size of the granules produced by mills like the Enterprise coffee grinder would not produce a quality coffee.

Collecting antique coffee grinders is a passion for many people. They proudly display their finds and are always on the lookout for the next great discovery. The one thing that is constant is the love of coffee has endured many generations and continues to grow more popular. Years from now there will be generations of people collecting single blade grinders and wondering how coffee ever survived the process.

-Sharon Chapman

Tags: Enterprise Coffee Grinder, Enterprise Coffee Grinder Antique

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