Grinders are often considered the most essential pieces of equipment in a coffee shop or home brewing setup. Without a high-performing, consistent grinder, it’s difficult, or even impossible, to extract balanced, interesting flavour profiles.
Even with the recent advancements in grinder technology, baristas and home brewers continue to demand more control and precision. With coffee extraction considered an exact science, the desire to tweak and customise a growing number of variables only increases, and grinders are a common focus.
From advanced burr design to adaptable motor speed, manufacturers are responding to the growing demand for greater control. I spoke with Aurélien Fouquet, the CEO of Santos, a manufacturer of premium coffee grinders, to learn more.
You may also like our article on whether baristas should weigh milk.
The impressive evolution of grinder technology
The modern coffee grinder is a far cry from the hand-held spice grinders, pestles, and mortars first used to prepare coffee beans in the 15th century. By the late 1600s, a device had been invented specifically for grinding coffee. Two centuries later, the American company Hobart produced the first electric coffee grinder for use in coffee shops.
Santos, a French manufacturer of home and commercial coffee and kitchen equipment, entered the market in 1954 with a coffee grinder as its first product. The company has more than 70 years of coffee expertise and in-house manufacturing of grinder burrs.
Aurélien Fouquet, the company’s owner and managing director, says that grinder technology has advanced significantly within the last few decades, coinciding with the rise in global espresso consumption.
“Until the 1980s and 90s, it was a bit of a slow market; things weren’t changing much,” he tells me. “We were selling grinders all over the world, but the volume was mainly in Europe and just for espresso.”
As third-wave and specialty coffee gained popularity around the world, so did the demand for high-quality coffee equipment. Manufacturers moved away from basic dispensing grinders and began developing timed and volumetric models to improve dose consistency and freshness.
“Specialty coffee came with new people, new energy, and a new way of drinking coffee,” Aurélien explains. “Probably the biggest change has been the thriving coffee culture in Asia, where some consumers are becoming even more experienced than industry professionals.”
To tap into this burgeoning market, Santos began shipping more espresso grinders to customers beyond Europe. Aurélien says this was the beginning of the on-demand grinder concept – grinding coffee just before extraction for maximum freshness and flavour.
Sophisticated technology becomes the norm
Over the last decade, grinder manufacturers have integrated more intuitive and smart technology into their equipment to enhance quality, efficiency, and consistency.
Newer models often include integrated scales and systems to manage heat and grind retention. Burrs have become more advanced to achieve a wider range of grind sizes, with some grinders even featuring temperature-controlled systems to improve heat regulation.
Espresso grinder technology has also become more customisable, allowing users to achieve more precise results and change grind size more efficiently. Features like ultra-fine micrometric grind adjustments give baristas maximum control. At the same time, dosing is also more precise than ever, with accuracy within ±0.1g, to reduce grind retention and ensure every shot uses fresh coffee.
Thanks to smart technology, users can now wirelessly connect some modern grinders to espresso machines, allowing them to dial in grind settings even more precisely. Touchscreens have also become increasingly common, making it more user-friendly to switch between preset recipes.
Santos grinders, including the award-winning I-Grind #67, feature user-programmable recipes based on grind size, motor speed, and time. The I-Grind’s exclusive brushless motor also ensures ultra-quiet operation, enabling slower grinding that preserves more delicate aromas.
Catering to prosumers and baristas
Before the boom in third-wave coffee in the 2000s, consumer knowledge about the intricacies of extraction was somewhat narrow. As specialty coffee proliferated, baristas shared their expertise, which helped emphasise the movement’s focus on craft and artisanal quality.
At the same time, more coffee shops began sourcing high-quality, single origin beans and using meticulous manual brewing methods. As the desire to optimise extraction grew, so did the demand for more advanced brewing equipment to better control a number of parameters.
“Twenty years ago, nobody was worried about the heat inside the grinder or the power of the motor, for example,” Aurélien says. Today, this mindset has shifted dramatically, with baristas and home brewers alike seeking more control and precision than ever before.
Covid-19 accelerated interest in at-home brewing, helping drive the growth of the prosumer market as more people sought to recreate café-quality coffee at home. Sitting between industry professionals and consumers, prosumers often invest in semi-professional and complex brewing equipment and accessories, which typically include features intended for commercial use.
To capitalise on this burgeoning market, more manufacturers, including Santos, have launched new products intended to capture the attention of educated and skilled consumers, including the Kawa #76 and On-Demand #59.
“If you want to sell grinders now in the specialty market, you have to explain how they work, the quality they produce, and why your brand can go one step further,” Aurélien explains.
For Santos in particular, this means more transparent communication with customers is key. Aurélien notes that end users are increasingly interested in the technical details about the company’s grinder designs.
“We can speak from over 70 years of experience, but it’s still been a challenge to adapt to changing market needs,” he adds.
Why the desire for greater control is only growing
As coffee professionals and enthusiasts become more knowledgeable, they are increasingly focused on optimising every detail of extraction. Baristas and prosumers now seek precise control over as many variables as possible to achieve their desired results consistently.
“A few decades ago, you programmed the grinder one time and then you made coffee all day using those settings, but we know now that so many factors affect grinding,” Aurélien says. “You have to reset the grind size every time you change the coffee, or even if the weather shifts significantly and humidity increases, for example.”
It has become even more crucial for users to be able to adjust variables like grind size and burr speed with razor-sharp precision to unlock new flavour profiles, especially as espresso extraction becomes increasingly scientific.
“The demand for more control is what drives our R&D philosophy: to develop products that empower users to explore new flavour profiles through precise and repeatable adjustments,” Aurélien tells me.
With this increased attention to detail came a deeper curiosity about the equipment itself; more users want to understand how grinders are made and by whom.
“Until recently, people weren’t interested in how we made our burrs,” he adds. “But over the last ten years, people have been coming to the Santos factory; they want to be sure of what they’re buying and the people who are making the product.”
Simultaneously, the demand for greater customisation has prompted manufacturers to incorporate more advanced features and technology into their products. Santos’ new I-Grind #67, which was recently recognised at the 2025 Sirha Innovation Awards, for example, allows users to select different grind speeds, opening up new possibilities with extraction.
“Adjusting the speed of the motor means users can adapt the speed of the grinding process,” Aurélien explains. “Changing the speed variation of the grinding and the burrs is another parameter that directly impacts the coffee experience and the flavours in the cup.”
A higher number of revolutions per minute (RPMs) typically results in finer grinds for a given grind setting. It also produces more fines overall, resulting in a less uniform grind size distribution. Santos manufactures flat burrs in a range of sizes, designed to create a unimodal grind size distribution. This helps users achieve more even extraction and allows for greater experimentation with grind size.
The need to control and customise motor speed, however, is important. Test results from Barista Hustle show that while a higher RPM means faster dosing, which is beneficial for busy coffee shops, the last portion of the dose often becomes less accurate. Slower motor speeds towards the end of the grinding process can then compensate for this.
“The I-Grind #67 is fully customisable so that you can grind faster at the beginning and slower at the end,” Aurélien adds.
Higher RPMs mean the motor generates less heat (as it operates for a shorter amount of time) and the coffee passes through the burr chamber more quickly, so it’s less likely to absorb heat – leading to more even extraction.
The continued need for innovation
Coffee grinder manufacturers constantly need to innovate to keep pace with the needs of specialty coffee professionals and consumers.
Santos, for instance, leverages its 70 years and three generations of experience to develop new technologies and features, such as the I-Grind #67’s brushless motor.
“We use the same motor for our kitchen and commercial blenders, which are like induction motors that last for years,” Aurélien says. At the upcoming WoC Geneva, Santos will showcase the new I-Grind #67, as well as its other coffee grinders, at booth no. 1671.
“Some of the manufacturing basics will never change, so you have to capitalise on your experience, but you also have to stay open-minded about what the market is asking for,” he adds. “There’s a new generation in coffee that wants to learn more, so we have to learn from them. Innovation has to be in accordance with the needs of today’s baristas.”
Keeping consumer needs in mind
However, balance is key. Aurélien notes that innovation shouldn’t happen just for the sake of releasing a new product. Instead, they should always align with the end users’ demands.
This sense of alignment also extends to pricing. As grinder technology becomes more sophisticated, Aurélien warns against pricing out the consumers it’s meant for, especially in emerging specialty coffee markets in Asia and the Middle East.
“We don’t want to innovate to the point where it becomes inaccessible to consumers who want to invest in high-quality equipment,” he concludes. “The balance between accessibility and excellence is precisely what drives our commitment to catering to the needs of the specialty coffee community – from cafés and competitions to mobile events and prosumer setups.”
Grinders have undergone a remarkable transformation over the past decade with more innovative, advanced technology.
As baristas and prosumers become increasingly knowledgeable, they’re also raising the bar for what they expect from their equipment. With a more educated user base has come a demand for precise control over as many possible extraction variables.
Today’s grinder manufacturers must not only deliver innovative features but also ensure those tools are accessible and customisable. By listening to the needs of their users and designing with both performance and usability in mind, manufacturers can support wider industry innovation.
Enjoyed this? Then read our article on why the push for perfect espresso will never stop.
Photo credits: Santos, Image & Associés
Perfect Daily Grind
Please note: Santos is a sponsor of Perfect Daily Grind.
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