Hello All,

When we travel, we bring our french press kit. Last vacation, we picked up a Rhino on the way, to avoid using the small electric grinder that is now relegated to spices. Not thrilled with the Rhino, though it is head and shoulders above the little electric grinder.

The latest development is the my wife has gotten into cold brewing, which apparently uses roughly the same grind as french press. I hate getting my precisely adjusted Baratza Sette out of espresso adjustment to grind her cold brew beans, and she seems receptive to a hand grinder.

So I wonder if there is a manual grinder out there that can do acceptable double duty (travel and semi-daily uses for cold brew) without breaking the bank. We are NOT ready to dive into a Kinu M47.

Your thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Portable manual grinders have been discussed a lot on the grinder forum, especially recently. If you're looking for really good ones under $200, my recommendation is to check out the 1-Zpresso line,especially the JX series. Your choice will depend on whether you want to grind mostly for brew or espresso extraction.

Pressino wrote:Your choice will depend on whether you want to grind mostly for brew or espresso extraction.

Thanks Pressino. This grinder will be 100% for brew. Espresso duty will be handled at home, with the Sette.

Jonk wrote:The lowest price brand name grinders are from Timemore as far as I know. They're pretty good and will blow that Rhino out of the water.

Thanks Jonk. The Timemore C2 Max looks decent. Not too big for travel, not to small for regular cold brew duty at home.

I have a timemore chestnut c2 I use at work. Will be taking on my next vacation too.

It works well, I really like it for drip at work. Holds about 25gr max of beans. So when I use it for a pot of coffee on vacation, will need to fill multiple times.

Depending on how many grams of coffee your wife is using for her cold brews, I think a manual grinder might not work well. For 20 grams a couple times a day its fine for me. It will be kind of a pain for vacation to grind enough for a pot, but I can manage for one week.

Randy

Buy once, cry once. The Commandante delivers the best results. The M47 isn't good at coarse grinding.

randytsuch wrote:Holds about 25gr max of beans. So when I use it for a pot of coffee on vacation, will need to fill multiple times.

Thank you Randy, and thank you for pointing out the capacity. For my needs, 25g won't cut it any way you slice it. For a single cup of french press, I need 30g, and that is the smallest quantity I will ever need. That is about all I can stuff into the Rhino when using dark roasted beans, which is what we will be using almost exclusively.

Is there anything comparable, but with a larger capacity?

erik82 wrote:Buy once, cry once. The Commandante delivers the best results. The M47 isn't good at coarse grinding.

I understand the wisdom of this, Erik, but were I to acquire The Commandante, the result would be a river of tears; not one I am prepared to shed at this point.

I own a Lido 3 and a Fixie, both from Orphan Espresso, $200. They are well built, the Fixie is especially well suited for travel, and both produce excellent grounds. Would buy them again.

After I researched I bought the Comandante, with red clix, and a carrying case. Yes it was expensive, no I don't regret it. I really enjoy using this a lot more than I expected. I ordered a Key grinder and this is my daily driver until it arrives.

Zaneemomo wrote:I own a Lido 3 and a Fixie

For OP info the LIDO 3 capacity are 70 grams very capable doing large batches for brewing and it wasn't far enough from Commandante for pourover...