The concept of the mill was introduced by the Greeks sometime around 1350 B.C. The first coffee grinder, dating back to the origins of coffee, was the mortar and pestle. People in Ethiopia, the Middle East, and early coffee drinking countries would use the small club and bowl to grind up coffee beans for brewing.
In the days of old, those who craved caffeination had to use stones to grind their coffee beans. Later, in the 15th century, the spice grinder was used in place of stones as it was able to grind coffee finer than its predecessor. In the 1400s in Turkey and Persia (Iran), individual bean servings were roasted in small round perforated metal saucers and then ground in cylinder-shaped mills.
The earliest coffee mill was invented by Nicholas Book, an Englishman, in the latter part of the 17th century. Nicholas Book publicized himself as the only man known to make mills that could grind coffee to powder.
Coffee mills were used commercially in the 1660s in London, where coffeehouses were popular community gathering places.
In 1798, the first U.S. patent for a coffee grinder was issued to Thomas Bruff of Maryland, who was Thomas Jefferson’s dentist. His wall-mounted device ground beans between metal nuts with coarse and fine teeth.
In 1815, Archibald Kenrich was granted a patent in England on “mills for grinding coffee.” Coffee mill is of the box type, the interior of bowl is enamelled white, the handle has been replaced by a wooden cotton reel, the drawer has been replaced by one of folded and soldered tinplate.
Many other inventors and companies put out their own manual devices throughout the 18th century. These were household items until the late 1800s, when American company Hobart produced the first electrical coffee grinder, leading a shift towards the grinders known today.
In 1905 a Coffee Mill patent designed by William Bussinger was registered by the United States Patent Office which consisted of a novel means for mounting the grinders and a bucket for catching grounds.
History of coffee mill (coffee grinder)
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