Not the best

This coffee grinder really has a lot that it needs to improve on. If the question is, does it grind coffee beans well, then yes, for that I have to give it full credit. You can grind coffee beans to the absolute finest level without problems. It has 9 different levels of grind from Espresso to French Press and it does a great job with all of them. It also looks sleek and cool. However, there are other problems here.

Considering this is twice the price of comparable grinders, I'm looking at it with a harsher lens, but even giving it a loose lens there are a lot of big problems. Firstly, this is not a multi-use grinder, it says recommended only to use for coffee in the manual, but can you grind other things? For this price I'd expect so, but the reality is no. Why? Well, that leads us to the grinder's biggest problems; cleaning.

The reason this cannot be used as a multi-function grinder is simply that you cannot clean it well. It is not easy to clean, not even close. To Braun's credit, being able to remove the grounds container and clean it (where the beans end up once ground) is really handy, you can also remove the cap from the top of the beans holder. Those are the only two things that can be washed.

Braun provides a brush, right enough. It's ok, but not great. The bristles are quite firm and the right length, but the brush would be ten times more useful if it was just 3 times as thick. There is literally no part of the grinder that couldn't be accessed with a chunkier brush. Cleaning this off will have you feeling like an archeologist, dusting at it with the world's most delicate tool. It is literally impossible to get this thing clean. So anything you grind, will taste like coffee. So it's impossible to use it as a multi-grinder. Stuff gets packed into the screws and seams. Even getting it somewhat clean is a chore. To clean it well you would need an endless supply of (expensive) canned air. It is nice that part of the grinder lifts out to brush easier, but it's still a pain to get it even somewhat clean.

Second problem, it doesn't hold a lot. Comparable grinders let you hold a lot of beans, so you can happily empty the whole bag into the grinder and then just grind as you need. The grinder for this holds about two cups of beans. That means you can't just empty and throw out your coffee bag. At this price, I'd expect more storage. However, the flipside is that it's actually better if you don't have a large kitchen, have low cabinets, or need a very small unit. So keep that in mind.

It can grind up to 12 cups at a time (of coffee, not 12 cups of beans) so it's pretty cool that it can measure how much coffee you 'need' for a cup, but if you take your coffee weak or strong, your tastes might vary. If you're not 'average' it makes the feature a bit useless.

Once it's ground, pouring it out of the container is not the easiest thing in the world, having a spout or a slightly rounded corner would make this easier. If you're making a lot of coffee and tip it up too fast, prepare to spill some.

Noise-wise, it's not overly loud, quieter than a blender certainly, however it's still loud. I don't think I'd feel comfortable running it in an apartment at 5am before work. It is quite high-pitched sounding, more than rumbly.

Another small note, while it is good quality and I don't believe it will have problems over time (who knows?) the burrs are made of plastic in this. Some cheaper brands have metal burrs and I know that some people care about this.

Overall, it's not my ideal grinder. It can grind a reasonable amount of coffee quickly and easily and is probably a good fit for someone who gets up not too early, doesn't share the house with a lot of coffee drinkers and has a small kitchen. For those with big households, early risers and those who hate the idea of a never clean machine, it's not the best.