I'm new to the world of making coffee and bought an AeroPress about a month ago. I've been buying ground coffee but decided to try to get into grinding my own, and I quickly saw that manual grinders range from $15 to $300+. Most of the cheap ones seem to be one offs of each other, the next step up seemed to be the Porlex grinder, but I wasn't happy with what I saw consistency wise. Does it make sense to jump right into a Lido 3 at this stage for me? I really don't know much of what I'm doing but I was just on the verge of dropping $180 on one. Is it overkill when all I have is an AeroPress?

Hey man,

If you love coffee and want to enter our rabbit hole, the Lido really seems to be the golden ticket until your budget is big enough for a Vario, Forte or some ridiculous commercial grinder you'll try to fit somewhere in your kitchen, so I say go for it!

I'm usually of the mindset of getting the best of something instead of some junky alternative. Does that mean the Lido is better than similarly priced electrics too?

Personally I would (and did) go for the Lido or a similar hand grinder (Feldgrind, Kinu, etc) over everything short of a modded Bunn grinder, which would run about $650.

Wow, I thought the Lido was expensive, the Kinugrinder is $300 for the comparable size I believe.

Thanks though, guess I'll kick the idea around a bit more and maybe go with the Lido 3. I have a bag of whole beans coming my way and now I won't be able to use it haha.

A Lido 3 will be a big step up for you. I started with a modified Hario Skerton, which is on the cheap end of the spectrum, paired with my lever espresso machine. Not a very consistent grind, hard to dial in, which led to pretty variable shot volumes and timing.

I got a Lido 3 as a stop gap until my end-all be-all grinder is ready, a Kafatek Monolith. It will then be repurposed for a travel brew grinder. The adjustment in the espresso range is finicky, hence the Lido E and Lido E-T which have a finer thread pitch for adjustment than the Lido 3, but are otherwise similar. That said, once I'm dialed in it's much more consistent with repeatable results compared to the Hario. They are tough as nails too. I get a fair bit of static in my house, and I literally whack the side of the grinder on the metal adjustment rings with the removable silicone bar from my knockbox to get all the grinds into the collection cup. The retention this way is less than 0.2 grams, not bad for the price!

One caveat with the manual grinders. Light roasts take some serious muscle. I stick with light-medium roasts at the most right now, and I have to earn each shot. Looking forward to help from a nearby outlet in the future

And it won't be overkill when all I have is an AeroPress? I don't see myself going with anything else in the near future brewing wise.

I had a Hario Mini Mill Slim paired with the AeroPress at work, and could make a decent tasty cup. Then I purchased a Lido E, and was impressed with the flavor improvement. So, I could have stayed with the Hario and enjoyed it, but the Lido E ruined any hope of that.

Well, just ordered myself a Lido 3. I got some new coffee in today and couldn't wait to try it so I had to smash it with a hammer. Not ideal, but I wound up making the best cup of coffee I ever have so I'm not sure if it's the coffee or the fact that it's my first experience with fresh, whole beans. Either way I can't wait to get it because the hammer method took about 5 minutes.

berfles wrote:Well, just ordered myself a Lido 3. I got some new coffee in today and couldn't wait to try it so I had to smash it with a hammer. Not ideal, but I wound up making the best cup of coffee I ever have so I'm not sure if it's the coffee or the fact that it's my first experience with fresh, whole beans. Either way I can't wait to get it because the hammer method took about 5 minutes.

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Fresh beans make a world of difference.

If you were impressed with your hammer "ground" coffee, the Lido 3 will make you very happy. Other than some of the nickel finish coming off the threads on my Lido 2, it's made more tasty Aeropress' than I care to remember. Your excitement is justified.