I recently acquired this Taiwan made grinds sifter from a local coffee shop. The brand name is Akirakoki. It's made well and the price was seemingly reasonable (~ USD $20). It's quite easy to use: drop your grinds in the basket, drop the basket into the catch cup, put the lid on and shake, shake, shake.

The packaging does not have any information about the size of the holes in the basket, so all I can subjectively say is that the fines that end up in the catch cup have the feeling of a very soft powder when rubbed between the fingers. Grinding for pourover with a Feldgrind, I find that an initial 25g of grinds in the basket produces ~1.5g of fines in the catch cup after shaking for about 30 seconds. If I shake longer I will get more fines separated, but at that point I'm not sure if it's just because I'm bashing the grinds into smithereens. Is that possible?

This is my first time playing with sifting grinds, but I can say that the results are quite clear in the cup. Using a couple different coffees with a V60 and a Kone3, flavor separation and clarity in the cup are improved. Muddy, astringent, and bitter notes are reduced. Hitting my target brew time is a bit more difficult as draw down times are sped up significantly. It's also another added step in the process of making my single morning cup and even though I like the result I can't always be bothered to do the sifting.

Looks good. Do the holes get clogged and that is why no more fines come out?

The catch cup actually has a nice neoprene pad on the base. This allows one to rap it sharply on a flat surface to knock loose whatever fines have clogged up the holes. I did actually have that problem the first couple times I used it before I realized the purpose of the neoprene pad.

My feeling is that the initial shaking separates those fines that are present as a result of the grinding process. Then there is a pause in fines separation. Further fines that are produced later are due to the grinds breaking down from excessive shaking. I haven't really tested this theory in any way, and I have no idea if it's a reasonable supposition or not.

We picked up one of these today in a cafe in Taichung City. I think that grounds sifting has some traction here due to the ubiquitous use of Fuji Royal electric grinders (and clones of the Fuji) used here for all but espresso grinding. Most cafes sift with a tea screen which has a mesh size pushing 1mm, maybe a bit smaller and the holes in this are perhaps .5 mm if that...about right for the job.
My problem is that with no Feldgrind to test, just a Lido 2/3, I can't shake out enough fines to register on my digital scale. Maybe I can adapt it into a brewer of sorts.

orphanespresso wrote:We picked up one of these today in a cafe in Taichung City.

Where and how much?

leon wrote:My feeling is that the initial shaking separates those fines that are present as a result of the grinding process. Then there is a pause in fines separation. Further fines that are produced later are due to the grinds breaking down from excessive shaking. I haven't really tested this theory in any way, and I have no idea if it's a reasonable supposition or not.

This strikes me as very unlikely. I suspect you are simply knocking loose more fines that were bound to larger grind particles by electrostatic (or other) forces.

It was at OKLao Coffee at Dongshan Lu & Xiangsun Lu, price was 450NT. Siphon coffee was good, but I like bigger cups - they use a very narrow shot glass type cup for the Siphon.
Barb

Thanks. I may try to pick one up. I usually sift in a fine mesh sieve for French press, but not any other methods. This could make it more convenient.

(Aside: OKLao usually decants from the syphon into a server and gives you two tiny cups. Is that what they did? They're not cheap, either, for what you get.)

orphanespresso wrote:the holes in this are perhaps .5 mm if that...about right for the job.

I'm using a Lido 2 (thanks Barb and Doug for a great grinder!) I am using an approximately 0.5mm sieve to get rid of BOULDERS, not fines. I'm getting fantastic results with a V60 grinding fine on the Lido 2 and getting rid of boulders, then using lots of agitation and pouring all the water in at once after the bloom for evenness of temperature and extraction. Really sweet and no bitterness/astringency.

Ideally I would like particle sizes between 150um and 350um.

Is grinding fine on the Lido 2 going to produce more fines than coarser?

Have there been any laser diffraction comparisons of the Lido 2 vs EK43? Does the EK43 produce "better" particle morphology than conicals like the Lido 2(ie rounder rather than American football shaped)?

orphanespresso wrote:My problem is that with no Feldgrind to test, just a Lido 2/3, I can't shake out enough fines to register on my digital scale. Maybe I can adapt it into a brewer of sorts.

Why do you want to test the Feldgrind? Is your comment saying that the Lido 2 is incredibly good at producing fewer fines?

Thanks everyone!

orphanespresso wrote:We picked up one of these today in a cafe in Taichung City. I think that grounds sifting has some traction here due to the ubiquitous use of Fuji Royal electric grinders (and clones of the Fuji) used here for all but espresso grinding. Most cafes sift with a tea screen which has a mesh size pushing 1mm, maybe a bit smaller and the holes in this are perhaps .5 mm if that...about right for the job.
My problem is that with no Feldgrind to test, just a Lido 2/3, I can't shake out enough fines to register on my digital scale. Maybe I can adapt it into a brewer of sorts.

What about the Pharos set for drip and press?

On that note...my wife has a tea sifter that looks exactly like that inner portion--from Japan. I might have try it tonight, but oh man is she going to be mad when she sees me!