Hand grinders
| Grinder | What Lance Hedrick says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Kingrinder K2 | 32 mm hexagonal burr with a slower feed, about 16 µm per click (he isn't certain), and a thicker 3 mm dial plate. The lowest model he'd recommend for daily espresso, and it can rival a JX. About $80 to 90 | 19:54 |
| Kingrinder K4 | A good budget espresso option but much weaker than the K6 on light roasts. Good traditional espresso, weaker filter. Graded C (an A on price) | 3:03 24:09 |
| Timemore C2 | Small, cheap and fits in an AeroPress. Geared to medium and darker roasts and espresso. A D overall, an A on price | 3:35 21:28 |
| Orphan Espresso Apex | Large ghost-burr discs, filter only. A very unusual profile with high extraction and clarity but a distinctive bitterness. Slow. Graded C for filter | 9:11 10:53 |
| Weber Workshops HG2 | 83 mm Mazzer-style burrs and the easiest to turn. Passable filter and good traditional espresso, though boulders plus small fines give a slight bitterness. Over $1,000. Barely an A, and a C on price | 14:44 15:45 |
| Knock Feld47 / Aergrind | Balanced with nothing extreme, and the dial isn't ideal. The Feld47 got a B and the Aergrind a C | 17:54 |
| Etzinger Etz-I | Vernier dial. Thick traditional espresso with plenty of body from fines and little clarity. Graded C | 24:51 |
| Wonplug Dual | Two burrs, some retention and a reversed turning direction. Graded D | 26:45 |
| C64 ERM | A pre-breaker inspired by roller mills. Very sweet, not very clear, with poor ergonomics. Graded A at about $500 | 27:59 |
| Dual-cone hand grinders in general | He wasn't impressed and says to avoid them, along with ceramic-burr and Hario Skerton-style budget grinders | 4:35 |
Electric grinders
| Grinder | What Lance Hedrick says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Eureka Mignon Oro | 65 mm. More fines than a DF64 in his sieve test (about 2.6 to 2.7 g against 1.9 to 2.0 g under 200 µm per 15 g), with better stock alignment than the DF64. Graded C | 16:27 10:00 |
| Eureka Silencio | A flat burr at the chocolatey, coating end. He'd take it over many much-hyped grinders under $1,000 for traditional espresso | 3:32 |
| Femobook A5 | 53 mm heptagonal burr, about 60 rpm, a 6000 mAh battery, takes 40 to 50 g doses and weighs over 2 kg. A wonderful kitchen grinder, but pricey | 2:33 |
| Femobook A3 / A4 | The A3 uses the 38 mm Q2-style heptagonal burr. The A4 uses a JX-style burr, which he believes moves about 8 µm per click, and has a strong motor | 5:05 |
| MAB E01 (Timemore) | A hexagonal burr that slices then cuts. Good across methods but stellar at none, and you can't get at the battery. About $220 | 9:10 |
| Compak PK100 (modified) | An aligned, slow-fed 98 mm grinder with a tight unimodal peak. At one fixed setting the shot time swung from about 10 to 100 s across coffees. He points to its finishing teeth, roughly 1 cm long, as the kind that could cut heat damage | 13:52 15:44 |
| G64 | A Lagom P64 look-alike with Italmill-style coated burrs and speeds of about 800 to 2200 rpm. Loud, with a rough dial and a poor catch cup. Underwhelming at about $850 | 24:57 |
| Feima 600N | A 60 mm budget flat, effectively the same as the Akira Koki, that takes every burr set | 3:02 |
| Shioleo 60 mm budget flat | Decent stock burrs, but it stalled constantly and he dropped it from the test | 22:10 |
Motor add-ons for hand grinders
| Product | What Lance Hedrick says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Flair Power Tower | A fixed speed of about 110 rpm. It fits the Flair Royal and most 1Zpresso K and J grinders. It stalls on dense ultra-light espresso unless you feed it slowly, and it's fine for filter. About $129 | 0:03 |
| Madkat Skope | Variable from about 30 to 185 rpm, with more torque and a flapper to cut retention. Loud, with lots of parts. About $130 to 160 | 2:35 |
Aftermarket burrs
Burr sets (SSP multi-purpose, HU, Cast, ULF, Brew, Lab Sweet, LeBrew, Timemore Turbo and others) are covered in conical vs flat and burr geometry.
From the other six creators
Short mentions from Kyle Rowsell, The Coffee Chronicler, Sprometheus, European Coffee Trip, Brian Quan and Bluebird Coffee Roastery (Bluebird in the tables). The Timemore C2 and C3 and the 1Zpresso JX and JX Pro stay here rather than getting pages of their own. The Femobook A68 now has its own page. Bluebird's single Timemore comparison (Chestnut C2S, Whirly and Bricks) gives no settings or specs, so those three stay here too.
Hand grinders
| Grinder | What they say | By | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Zpresso JX | Fast for a hand grinder, 35 to 40 s for a fine filter grind, but hollower and a little muddier than the X-Pro, which he prefers for $20 more. 24 to 26 clicks for a 20 g 4:6 V60 | Rowsell | 4:05 8:42 2:39 |
| 1Zpresso JX | The best-value 1Zpresso for pour-over. Sweet and complex, about 1 g/s, and it comes apart without tools. The clicks are too big for easy espresso. For filter he starts fully closed, goes two turns out, then 5 to 6 clicks finer | Chronicler | 2:45 18:49 4:33 |
| 1Zpresso JX Pro | The same burr as the JX with finer espresso steps. His espresso sat around 1.5 turns. Harder to take apart, and by 2022 the JX and J-Max had overshadowed it | Chronicler | 9:17 17:19 7:45 |
| 1Zpresso X-Ultra | Flavour between the Q Air and K-Ultra, a shade less enjoyable than the X-Pro. Easy to use, but the magnetic cup knocks off easily | Chronicler | 36:23 |
| B+ Apollo (also written "B plus") | A 48 mm cone with good body. With wet WDT and fast papers it can make high-extraction light-roast V60s, though he'd stop around 24% where a big flat reaches 25% | Quan | 10:53 |
| Flair Royal | Tasty, easy daily espresso with body and a lift in the middle, and it works on the Power Tower. The plastic knob creaks, the cup presses in and the adjustment feels dated | Chronicler | 6:19 |
| Hario Smart G | Light and compact, but the ceramic burrs, loose axle and slipping crank gave boulders and dust and a sharper, bitter cup. Fine for the money, about €45 | ECT | 1:36 |
| MHW-3Bomber Blade R3 | The best value around $100. Slightly blended and good for medium-roast sweetness. It takes other 48 mm burrs, and with one the espresso grind time for 16 g fell from about 1:50 to 40 s | Chronicler | 22:02 |
| Timemore C2 (and C3) | The C2 is hard to beat for budget filter, at about 1 g/s with no numbers on the dial. The C3 adds a spike-to-cut burr that can do espresso, but only one of its clicks (8) gave a usable shot. Both feel dated next to a Q Air now | Chronicler | 4:47 8:25 4:01 25:08 |
| Timemore C3 Pro | A sweet, forgiving, silky filter grinder with a folding handle. Espresso sits about 7 to 8 clicks from zero, but the steps are coarse. About $80 to 100 | Quan | 4:20 2:33 |
| Timemore C5 | A clear step up from the C3 that can grind for espresso, but it takes about 2 minutes for 18 g | Chronicler | 27:11 |
| Timemore Chestnut Slim / Slim Plus | A clean cup with florals and caramel and a slightly bitter finish, well built, about €100. The Coffee Chronicler found the Slim Plus comparable to the C3, with coarse espresso steps | ECT | 2:06 9:27 |
| Timemore S3 | Sweet and round with stone-fruit notes, fast and nicely built. It can't reach 9-bar espresso in a 58 mm basket. A good mid-range bet for pour-over | Chronicler | 27:41 |
| Timemore Chestnut C2S | A sturdy entry-level hand grinder for about R2,000, with a click dial that holds its place. The least static of the three Timemores he compared, and small enough to travel with an AeroPress, though slower than an electric first thing in the morning. The roastery sells it as its entry option | Bluebird | 2:01 3:01 |
Electric grinders
| Grinder | What they say | By | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cuisinart Supreme Grind | Ceramic plates and a wide spread made astringent, muddy, bitter cups, and it's loud and slow. At about $50, buy a hand grinder instead | Rowsell | 1:01 |
| Eureka Zeus | Seen on a café visit. 85 mm coated flats, 750 to 1,400 rpm, very quiet, about 0.5 g retention on big doses and quick to clean. €2,000 to 2,500 | ECT | 0:31 |
| Gevi Veloce Pro | A 64 mm variable-speed option with an SSP-style burr and a sharp, very clear cup | Chronicler | 21:12 |
| Kafatek Monolith Flat (2018) | SSP red burrs at about 350 rpm gave more pronounced fruit than a Niche, under 0.1 g retention and fluffy grounds. The small chute clumps and punishes poor prep. Different rather than better. About $2,600 to 3,000 | Quan | 0:00 |
| Outin Fino | Cleaner and crisper than a Femobook A2 with less body, and he preferred it blind despite its espresso marketing. Slow | Chronicler | 18:10 |
| Ozik The All | A made-to-order grinder with two burr sets (SSP 80 mm ULF for filter and 83 mm for espresso), very low retention and a solid build. It tastes like whichever burrs are fitted, so you're paying for the workflow. It can't be started with beans already in | Quan | 0:01 |
| Starseeker Edge | A conical at about 150 rpm, close to a good hand grinder. Suits medium-roast black coffee or big French press batches | Chronicler | 19:41 |
| Titus Nautilus | With SSP 98 Brew burrs it made the clearest cup he has tasted. Ideal for ultra-light filter, but unforgiving, short on mouthfeel and poor with dark roasts | Quan | 8:05 |
| Victoria Arduino Mythos MYG75 | Seen on a café visit. A heated burr chamber you can set to 20 to 30 °C, a micron readout (espresso around 130 to 190 µm), doses by weight within 0.2 to 0.3 g, and two screws to get at the burrs. A soft aluminium bean stopper bent | ECT | 3:38 |
| Timemore Bricks | A single doser you set by turning the hopper cover, with a magnetic grounds cup, bellows, a clearing tool and an RDT sprayer. The strong motor covers everything from coarse filter to light-roast espresso, but retention and static are still there. His favourite of the three and very good value at about R6,000, and a natural match for a Gaggia Classic Pro | Bluebird | 6:32 7:32 |
| Timemore Whirly | A quiet portable electric that charges over USB-C, with a C2S-style click dial and larger conical burrs. Fine enough for light-roast espresso on a 9-bar machine, but bulky for travel, static, awkward to empty and messy with an AeroPress. Capable at about R3,500 to 4,000, though he wasn't sure who it's for | Bluebird | 3:31 |
Aftermarket burrs and mods
| Grinder | What they say | By | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kinu Puro inner burr | A cheap pour-over inner burr (about $50) that turns a 1Zpresso J into a filter grinder in a minute. Lots of notes that change in the cup. The fit varies by grinder | Chronicler | 8:45 |
| LeBrew Hyperburrs 64 mm (filter) | Forgiving and less screechy than SSP multi-purpose, somewhere between SSP Brew and Cast in style, and now and then it beat SSP Brew blind. Poor for espresso. About $140 | Chronicler | 7:43 |
| S-Works Design flat-burr kit for the Niche Zero | Swaps the Zero's cone for 54 mm or 58 mm flats in about a minute. Cleaner, clearer cups, but little range at the fine end, with espresso near zero at about 2 to 6 notches. The 58 mm set takes up to 3 minutes for a 17 g espresso dose, and fit varies | Sprometheus | 7:08 5:55 |
Excluded
The April 2023 "Weber SG1" video is an April Fools parody about a stone quern, so none of its claims are used here.
Settings mentioned in passing
Settings for grinders or burrs that don't have their own page.
| Grinder | Method | Setting | Context | By | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSP Cast 64mm burrs (aftermarket) | Pour-over | 15g dose, 255g water, a 45g bloom then a second 45g, pour to 255, no agitation | Kono dripper with the temperature matched, using a natural Colombian pink bourbon | Hedrick | 11:13 |
| Sboly conical burr grinder | Pour-over | nearly its finest setting | Matched to the other grinders for a V60, 30 g to 500 g | Hoffmann | 1:33 |
| Melitta Molino | Espresso | finest setting | About 18 g, and the shot ran too fast | Hoffmann | 4:06 |
Summarised in our own words from the creators' videos, with every point linked to the moment it comes from. Notchbook isn't affiliated with or endorsed by any of these creators, so please watch the originals for full context. Sources
Dialling in from here
- Sour, thin or fast? Grind finer. Why coffee tastes sour
- Bitter, dry or slow? Grind coarser. Why coffee tastes bitter
- Espresso: how to dial in. Filter: pour-over grind size.
Compare with other grinders in the grind size chart, or see every grinder.
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