Too Much Coffee

Howdy all - looking for a relatively inexpensive grinder for press pot, any recommendations?

Cheers,
Phil.

I use a Dualit / Solis ~£60 grinder. But after watching James Hoffmann's Chemex and Press pot videos I don't think it can grinder coarse enough. It produces an astringent taste that using the Mini-E doesn't so I suspect it's the grinder fault. Based on that I couldn't recommend it, however others may have had more sucess with it. If I had more energy I'd try a hand grinder to see if that could produce better filter/ press pot.

Paul

Hi Phil,

I'll recommend a second hand Guatemala:)

Regards,
dsc.

I'm using a hand grinder most of the time, a Hario Skelton.
It seems to have a more consistent particle size when grinding finer; at coarser grinds it produces quite a range of sizes, including some fines.

But the results are good, and it can accompany me places that electric grinders can't, which is great.

I'd also endorse the second hand Guatemala for the reason that the only truly outstanding press coffees I have had have been from commercial outlets using similar or better spec grinders.

I've got a Maestro plus, model up from Maestro/Starbucks Barista or Dualit. It does appear to grind coarser (having previously has a Starbucks Barista) but in my opinion it suffers from the same ills as all consumer grinders in that it produces too many fines for French press.

My solution was not to go the commercial grinder route and stick with cloth pour over and syphon, again with a cloth filter. Both these methods work pretty well with grinders like the Starbucks Barista.

I'm using a Porlex hand grinder for the press pot (essentially the same as the Kyocera) - seems to beat my Mazzer Mini. Fairly useless for espresso though.

Gadders, the Dualit can usually be had for £48 at Starbucks branches on outlet village sites (30% permanent discount). Shout if you want one and we'll check locally for you

Ah lovely, cheers Mark - reckon they're any good?

Gadders wrote:Ah lovely, cheers Mark - reckon they're any good?

Hi Phil! Nice to see you around here again. IMO the Solis/Dualit/Starbucks is OK for everything but espresso. For the price they're not badly made, look alright and are relatively quiet. I used to use one for the press pot, stovetop and AeroPress and it seemed to work fine.

Think I paid 39 for mine, many a year back. If you think of it as being half the price of a MC2, then yeah, they're not bad. They do wobble about a bit and create a fair amount of fines. Oh, and it'll give you a nasty electric shock if you touch the plug after use!

It's what we use for everything non-espresso Phil. The adjustment markings are clear and it makes going from one method to another very repeatable. I must point out that the grinders are marked 'Starbucks Barista Grinder' so your kudos may suffer, though the flavour will not!

.... And yes, as Dom suggests, there can be some static - grinding a whole bag for someone can be a little frought with static/flying grinds, but imo it's fine overall on balance.

No, Mark, I'm talking about much more than a little static! I'm referring to a rather nice discharge if you go anywhere near the plug contacts after use. Quite unpleasant.
You're right about the static though, I'd forgotten about that. Tends to have the most amount of effect on any chaff remaining on home roasts.

Gouezeri wrote:No, Mark, I'm talking about much more than a little static! I'm referring to a rather nice discharge if you go anywhere near the plug contacts after use. Quite unpleasant.

Yes, this is definitely a design flaw. It's caused by the motor capacitor that remains charged after pulling the plug. I put a small, high-value resistor in there to discharge the capacitor when the plug is pulled.

Clears the nasal passages a threat though ........

CakeBoy wrote:Clears the nasal passages a threat though ........

Thanks for the tip, I have been leaving mine plugged in to the socket. I will try unplugging and immediately inserting the plug pins into my nasal passages. I will report back soon......