anyone. i need one to go with my machine.
I use a Black & Decker burr grinder. It’s one of the less expensive burr grinders. Only a bit more than the blade grinders. Works OK. Generates some coffee dust along with the grind. But still gives a more uniform grind than the blade grinders.
I use it to do a coarse grind for a French press. Most of the dust ends up sticking to the wall of the catch basin due to static electricity so it’s easy to scoop away most of the dust. That leaves you with a coarse grind mixed with only a little dust.
Other burr grinders can get to be 4 to 5 times the price or even more.
If the B&D grinder dies I’ll get a better one.
All the fine ladies
are makin’ a fuss
but I can’t pay attention
'cause I’m on that dust
– Beastie Boys: Slow Ride (Licensed to Ill)
thanks. i got a secondhand industrial machine so itd be nice to get something to match. i recently did a barista course so im thinking of getting a job so i can get something like a rancilio rocky. its like 2-3 hundred. if i work my ass off i could probs get one in like 2-3 weeks. thanks for th help:) . i gotta go make a mug now.
Nice grinder. I looked at one in a store a few months ago. It’s a beauty!
But…
For home use, don’t buy one with a doser (no matter how cool the idea seems). You will have to grind a LOT of coffee ahead of time in order to make the doser work. This is NOT good for home use, because you will end up drinking coffee made from beans that you ground the previous day (or two). Get the one without the doser.
Or…
Get the Solis Maestro Plus Conical Burr Mill. That’s the one I have and it is excellent. Very even grind with no dust. Heavy-duty machine. You can use the timer knob on the side or press the on-off switch on the front.
Also, check out Sweet Maria’s and start roasting your own coffee!
Edit: P.S. - I also have this commercial Bunn grinder (the Solis is for espresso grind and the Bunn is for drip grind). I splurged and got the Bunn grinder several years ago. It should last a lifetime.
I have a hard time justifying a $150 grinder for home use. And I do coarse french press coffee at home so griding isn’t as critical as it is for espresso.
I might consider a good hand crank burr grinder. They’re about half of that $150 mark for the fancy grinders. I think a hand crank grinder should work well enough. I only grind enough for myself (a mug at a time).
Maybe one day I’ll splurge and get an espresso machine but I don’t know if I want to deal with the fuss. On the plus side I’d be able to select a roast that is more to my liking that the Starbucks espresso style.
The Zassenhaus grinders are excellent. Very even grind. Get one with a closed-hopper, because when you are grinding the last few beans, they sometimes pop out like popcorn instead of feeding into the burrs.
Neat. Bookmarked for the future. How much turning does it take to grind enough for a large mug (3 cups or so)? Is it hard to hold it still while grinding? I’m guessing you can hold it on the counter with one hand and turn the handle with the other.
Okay, I haven’t used it recently, so I had to go try it now to refresh my memory (plus, I never paid much attention to how long it takes).
For three (six ounce) cups, I would use three level scoops (a standard coffee scoop is two tablespoons). This much coffee took about a full minute to grind. And it nearly filled the output drawer.
The coarser the grind, the faster it grinds. For a French press grind, it will probably go a little faster. And easier. You have to put some energy into the device, both to hold it still and to crank it. You can use one hand to hold it down on the counter as you crank with the other hand. It moves around a bit. And occasionally it clunks up and down on the counter (it will partially lose contact with the counter) – possibly because of the way the beans are feeding in vs. your cranking action (I don’t think my cranking applies power evenly all throughout the stroke). You can sit down and put it between your legs. That’s much easier.
It’s a cool device, but I wouldn’t trade it for my electric grinders! I have, however, used it on a daily basis in the past, and it’s been fine. And it’s great to have around when the power goes off!
The only thing I don’t like, other than the open-hopper issue I previously described, is that the grind is controlled by the ornamental nut at the top of the center shaft. There are no markings or “clicks”. To adjust for drip coffee, I first turn the nut until the burrs are touching. If you crank the handle a little, you can hear and feel the burrs touching. That’s my starting point. Then I back off half a turn of the adjusting nut. You have to experiment to find the right setting, and then figure out how to make it easily repeatable. I usually go through this adjustment procedure every time (which only takes a few seconds), because I have no way of knowing whether it moved. I don’t think it moves out of adjustment, so maybe I’m just paranoid. I wish you could set it and then lock it.
Here’s my actual grinder as it appears in a poster hanging in my friend’s restaurant. I set up the grinder, took the picture, and did the artwork.
Now that’s an informative post. Thanks.
I’ve never used a hand cranked coffee grinder so didn’t know what to expect.
Sounds like it’s something that would work well for me. Now if it only had indexable grind settings.