Oh, yeah; is there a graceful way to get the ground coffee out of this thing???? I'm bashing the heels of my hand in, and shaking it like I've got full on turettes, but its slowwwwwwww.

The grip is critical. Press down as you crank and it will not hop all over.

walt_in_hawaii wrote:Oh, yeah; is there a graceful way to get the ground coffee out of this thing???? I'm bashing the heels of my hand in, and shaking it like I've got full on turettes, but its slowwwwwwww.

HI Walt. I used to hit the coffee out with my hockey puck banging lightly against the top plate while the Pharos was angled slightly over a wide mouthed canning funnel. Recently, Doug has suggested rolling the grinder on its side to dissipate static, then shaking into a jar. I've tried both, and both are OK for me. Below are two videos of Doug emptying the Pharos, in case you haven't seen them yet:

In the Youtube video, I'm also noticing that the Pharos is below Doug's waist...I'm much shorter than him, so it's above my waist when I use a counter-top. I wonder if grinding on a lower surface for more downward pressure might help with the force required to grind.

I spritz the beans with .3g (not 3g, .3g) of water before going in the hopper. Very little issues with retention. As foreskm says, when the burrs break in it gets much easier to grind.

I still hit my Pharos repeatedly to get the grinds out. I figure it's all part of the workout routine. I ground a very light roast that a friend brought over today and was really impressed at how fast it ground. It reminds me of John Henry.

As others have noted, burr break-in makes a huge difference. About a year and a half in on mine (I bought it from a fellow HBer but he didn't have much through it when I acquired it), probably close to 40 lbs through, and even light roasts are not a huge challenge. I grip it more or less as in OldNuc's photo and hold it between my knees. As for grounds removal, a couple of drops of water on the beans prior to grinding and I get everything out just by shaking it above my basket (with an OE dosing funnel in place).

Go mow a putting green short with a manual reel mower; Maybe saw a few logs with a hand saw. Then go buy some Starbucks roast and have a go. Your sore tired muscles will find it easy to grind and you'll learn the technique. Or think of a workaround.

Then once broken in, the grinder will = Fun even more.

Oh and enjoy great espresso!

I do use a reel mower, just not on a putting green. That would be great.