A manual grinder called OmniCup (sold here on aliexpress) works counter-clockwise. No idea how good it is, but their marketing blurb mentions C40 and EK43, so they obviously believe in their product.

Interesting. They say they use Italian burrs that are CCW rather than the usual CW cutting burrs. Maybe the same as used in the new Etzinger? Not sure why they describe this CCW "grinding efficiency is higher." Maybe so for left-handed folks.

I not sure OmniCup is actually claiming to have Italian made burrs. Could just be a translation quirk.

Out of curiousity I watched this video with automatic translation (hilarious at times, but I think the general message was conveyed): My first thought (and he seems to think so too) was that maybe OmniCup is CCW just to make it a little bit different even though it's clearly a blatant copy of Comandante C40. Kind of like when copies are sold as "Hogo Boss" or "Hello Boos" but with similar packaging to the original.

FWIW it seems to be quite a good copy with slightly better resolution than Red Clix as standard. Pretty silly that it seems they copied the poor adjustment system and then decided that making it turn CCW was the way to set it apart from Comandante

If you go to the OmniCup site and click on the small window to the left of the big picture, the window that shows a picture of the burrs, they clearly state the steel the burrs are made of, "Italian," and that CCW "grinding efficiency is higher." Doubt it is a translation error and have doubts about what it all really means.

One thing I've learned from all this discussion is that there are apparently manufacturers of CCW grinding conical burrs. Except for Etzinger's, which I'm confident are good, I wonder how well designed and made these others are.

OK, I never heard that term "hand punch" as applied to a brewing method, but I see that's what they must mean. Thanks for the clarification of this expression. I thought "hand punch" meant something like "hand grinder" but your explanation makes much better sense. When I Googled "hand punch coffee" I got lots of hits with pictures of various coffee brewing gadgets, some of which were drip, not all V60, and even some of which were other things, like French press. Maybe it's a general term that covers any method of drip or infusion brewing, especially for single cup dosing. Most of the gadgets seemed to come from the far East. I briefly searched here on HB.com and was unable to come up with any mention of "hand punch," but I suppose it has been discussed here before.

Anyhow, I doubted that the burrs were made in Italy. I still have no idea why they claim CCW "grinding efficiency is higher"...it sounds like advertising hype and I don't believe it.

I think it's just a translation issue.

baldheadracing wrote:They're using 420 steel, which is relatively soft. This lets them use common CNC tools and make any design of burr relatively easily.

Conical burrs from Italmill, Mazzer, Etzinger, etc., typically use tool steel, which is harder than 420 and requires much more expensive tooling to make.

Thanks for pointing this out. Curious, as they could've just kept the steel secret instead of promoting it in the material (I guess it's still better than some alternatives?). What could this mean for edge retention: 3-6 times faster wear? (the exact alloy used in C40 is not known right?)