Manual coffee grinder choices

I thought about an aergrind but couldn't justify the cost.
I have got a porlex ceramic and a hario ceramic one (can't ferment the name but it has a glass jam jar style grounds holder). Both are really good and cheap in comparison to the expensive grinders.
Have you had a look on ebay for a second aergrind though? They come up sometimes

Edit - there is an aergrind 38 on ebay for £75 at the moment

If it's for home use, Rok FTW. I had several portable hand grinders, but a bench top manual grinder is so much nicer to use.

I got an Aergrind at a reduced price on the Knock site as it had some imperfections. Not sure what they are - I haven’t found them. So worth keeping an eye out.

I recently got a Hario skerton Pro, it was on special for about £35. Its quite alot of work but compared to my old Krupps blade grinder it's a massive step up in consistency. I also think(could be in my head) that my coffee tastes better.
It's now a ritual in the morning sat at my desk grinding away!!!!

My stock response to the 'what manual grinder' question is to ask how much coffee you plan on drinking and at what level of fineness of grind do you need it? To be crude, at 50 my caffeine habit is sufficiently advanced and my ****ing arm sufficiently out of practice that a manual grinder is bloody hard work.

Aergrind is great, but if I was buying now I'd go for a timemore.

I don't think I'd use any of them for espresso.

It’s now a ritual in the morning sat at my desk grinding away!!!!

I got reported to HR for that...

Hario skerton Pro

I have a Aergrind that was supposedly a 2nd, it looked brand new when I got it so I wouldn't hesitate getting one. It's very well made and I'd happily buy one again. It's also a British company so supporting homegrown business if that means anything to you.

Convert makes a good point. Is this your first foray into manual coffee grinding? Be wary it may not suit.

My first manual coffee grinder was quickly attached to my cordless drill before I moved back to buying pre-ground. But then I’m clearly not a coffee aficionado.

I have two of those - Timemore is used at work for aeropress. 1zpresso lives in the van with a PicoPresso (far fussier about grind consistency) and makes a passable espresso.

The latter is good and repeatable enough to grind coffee for my home machine - expensive but worth it for espresso.

Worth thinking about portability if it’s for camping etc. Neither of mine will fit inside an aeropress, which is a big advantage in some situations

@convert, I guess for the 2 of us 6 brews a day and currently all aeropress.

We used to use stove pots but they don't work great on an aga, it's just too hot.

I always used to grind with the krupps blade as I knew no better but that is now on spice duties.

We did have a cheap mechanical one, a right pita, I might look again at powered grinders but part of my brain thinks it will approve of the slower process.

Well for a relatively fine aeropress grind (so fine but not as fine as the finest espresso) I reckon on my porlex it's 150 turns that takes about 2mins per aeropress. That doesn't sound too bad written down and in truth isn't.....for one person. It's only when you are doing 2 or 3 back to back for other people too that it goes from ritual to a bit of a faff.

I’ve only experience of the Knock grinder (which has been excellent, so much so I got a Feld47) but I’d be wary of cheap grinders.

My first hand grinder was a £45 (Rhino?) job that was awful and took an eternity (and several arm changes) to produce one grinds worth. The Aergrind was chalk and cheese and definitely over engineered (in a good way). I’d be back on pre-ground if I was still using the Rhino. So a classic case of buy cheap buy dear.

Knock are expensive (they have some graded ones atm at £20 off I think) but are high quality and (to me at least) worth it. And they will fit in an aeropress if that’s what you want. I’ve had zero issues in ~5 years of daily use. Had to replace the rubber bung on the Aeropress twice in the same time…🙃

I reckon on my porlex it’s 150 turns that takes about 2mins per aeropress. That doesn’t sound too bad written down and in truth isn’t…..for one person.

Aergrind is *much* more pleasant to use than a Porlex. It's honestly more annoying cleaning out the aeropress between each coffee than grinding back to back.

I got the reduced aergrind, 125gbp. Looked pretty carefully and couldn't see any imperfection. Love it, nice bit of exercise too.

Also treated myself to an alessi pulcina stovetop, much better than bialetti it replaced.

Dual burr grinders are where it's at now:

MOMENTEM™ Dual-burr Coffee Grinder Pre-order - I'M NOT A BARISTA

A mere $399 to you sir.

At that money i would hope the dual burrs make the coffee really come alive.
Dear god £325 for a manual grinder that looks like a pepper mill

.. future proofing to include espresso grinding

Because you said this, I'd say the best you can afford. Grinding for espresso requires a finer (and more consistent) grind than aeropress will tollerate. It's also a deep dark rabbit hole if you get overly into internet 'opinion' like I do. I believe James Hoffman has a hand grinder comparisson video somewhere, I went from a cheapish Bodum electric burr, to a Kinu manual to a Niche zero, I am a self confessed coffee-dork who spent too much on the hobby/habit according to some/many.

I have a Commandante c40, which is... a little spendy. I use it for pour over at home and aeropress when I'm away (great for camping). I really enjoy using it though. I use an electric grinder for espresso though, hand grinding for espresso is a bit of a chore due to how fine you need to go.

James Hoffman has done a couple of hand grinder group reviews (including a more budget option group), but they're a couple of years old now so better options may be available.

I have a porlex and it’s a pain. If I could find a five sided driver for my drill I’d be happy! The grind is great but the “coffee isn’t worth the grind” as Americans might not say. So I tend to use my delonghi cheap grinder for aeropress instead.

Something bench or wall mounted with a flywheel is optimal effort. Son1 has something expensive (why I have the porlex) but I forget the name

I have little to compare it to, but I'm very pleased with the 1zpresso Jx Pro. It's our only grinder and is still like new after a year of being used 3+ times daily, including camping and music festivals. Easy to clean and very easy to adjust. Both mine and ImpatientCow's grinding muscles must have developed over the year as it seems much easier to grind now than it did when we first got it. Overall time to make a coffee is no longer than for an automatic if you're grinding while waiting for the machine to heat up or water to boil. Would recommend.

For comparison, the Aergrind will do an aeropress grind in under a minute. It is night and day compared to a grinder with ceramic burrs. The type of beans also makes a difference, I tend to use fairly light roast beans which take a little more effort but you barely feel resistance with darker beans

I've used a Comandante two or three times a day with no complaints (apart from price) for the last couple of years. For espresso the red klix upgrade is needed.
https://comandantegrinder.com

for an aeropress any old grinder will do its basically a upside down cafetierre after all. i dont find my posh grinder makes it taste appreciably nicer than my electric one. it just takes waaaay longer.

I had a hario. Worked ok as a hand grinder for espresso. But then I modded a drill attachment for it, and it failed under the load of a drill. Replaced it with a mains powered sage...which it what I should have done from the start.
For camping, I buy pre-ground as then it's only for a moka pot.

My KYM coffee grinder has 'Made in West Germany' printed on the bottom. It grinds the beans up and makes good coffee.

I'll just leave this here

unless going right down the rabbit hole just get a blade grinder. There, I said it. My mate who while not a Hoffmann knows his beans reckons that in order, the factors affecting coffee taste are

(1) choice and quality of beans and roast >>>> (2) freshly ground over preground >>>> (3) subtleties of the brew method >>>> (4) how you grind them

1 is pretty self explanatory;

2 means within reason always better to have freshly ground than something that's been sat in a supermarket for months. Getting preground that is freshly done from a local roaster and drinking the bag in 2 weeks, the difference will be far less

3 - within reason. Of course if you burn the coffee, or try to extract with lukewarm water it'll have a big impact, but I'm talking about whether the water is 93.6 or 89.7C, or the extraction time is 0.36 seconds longer - will be irrelevant if your coffee is shit and it's been sat going stale for months.

4 - if you have honed all of the above THEN the method and quality of grind becomes a factor. But best grinder in the world and shit control of the rest = shit coffee.

Now - I'm not saying that you shouldn't have a good grinder, if you want one / can afford it and enjoy the ceremony of it all then be my guest. I've had several hand grinders and they all end up in cupboards or on ebay - for me, and the type and quality of coffee I brew and drink, the convenience of a handful of freshly (blade) ground good quality beans outweighs the faff totally.

--> YMMV <--

Cheers all,

The aergrind is winning it at the moment I think. They have some seconds at £30 off. So tempted

I've a normcore grinder and, other than being about 2mm too wide to fit inside my aeropress for camping, it's excellent. Never used for espresso grind, but I use it 7 clicks from finest for aeropress and it's very consistent and pretty easy to grind so I suspect that going finer wouldn't be an issue.

Not sure about price as it was a gift, but I think it was between the porlex and aergrind price points.

For using 3 times a day I'd invest in an electric grinder. However, if you definitely want a manual then I'd go with the Rok. It's a thing of beauty. If you can't face that price tag then I have a Heihox which is of exceptional quality for 75 pounds. great grind consistency and will grind beans twice as fast as a Porlex.

I got a 1zpresso kmax and it’s been great for all coffee - aeropress and espresso are my most common methods. Been using for a couple of years now with no issue. I’d definitely recommend. Think they have options with even finer adjustments for really precise espresso control, but the kmax seems to have suitably fine control for any coffee I’ve made. Takes a wee bit of effort each time to grind, but for me it just adds to the pleasure of the process. If making coffee for more than 2 or 3 people it’s a bit of a drag though.

Well, I think badgers have moved in to the rabbit hole.

Just borrowed a timemore c3. Beautiful. It really feels quality. For aeropress it was a breeze to use, an easy, almost effortless 30 seconds, then managed 20 seconds. An espresso grind took me 45 seconds. Really impressed.

But now MrsMcMad has said she quite likes the idea of the Rok espresso maker and what about the grinder as well. Sweet #####. I love the fact one review described it as portable, weighing in, only just over 2kg!

It’s honestly more annoying cleaning out the aeropress

Unscrew the lid, pop the puck out straight into the bin/compost waste and it's ready to go again. Out of all of the coffee prep methods it is the easiest. Perhaps even easier than espresso, as for ease you need a knock box which then itself needs to be emptied.

My grinder journey started with a manual Hario and has now probably cumulated as I've just bought a Niche Zero... you've been warned

To be crude, at 50 my caffeine habit is sufficiently advanced and my **** arm sufficiently out of practice that a manual grinder is bloody hard work.

At 50 your missus is likely to be perimenopausal imminently, so that'll sort your arm out.