Best Non Electric Coffee Grinder

Anybody has suggestions on a really good non-electric coffee grinder?

I bought this one for DH about 9 months ago and he likes it well enough. I don't drink the stuff, so I can't give a first hand opinion.

I did look at that one. How long does it take to grind enough for a few cups?

I bought what looks like the same one for the cottage. It takes perhaps 30 seconds or less to grind enough for a (16 oz) cup with little effort.

Is the transparent part glass or plastic?

Glass jar, plastic housing. Silicone cover over the hopper and silicone sleeve around the glass- maybe for a better grip on the glass? I don't think I got the separate lid with mine.

Glass. It seems like the electric kettle comes to boil about while he's grinding.

Truthfully, I bought it because the man needs his coffee and in an extended power outage, I need the man not to be caffeine-deprived. Where we live, a winter storm could take out our power for a good long time. I have a wood stove, we can heat and sort of cook, but a whole lot of good an electric grinder would do in that case. I guess I could plug it into the car's 110, but this works fine. He thinks I'm worrying for a minuscule risk. I don't care, he'll have his coffee if it comes to that. So long as he stocks up on the beans that is.

We have a hand crank coffee grinder we got from Lehmans. However, I just went over there and they are not carrying it any more. It was made in Germany and cost more than the china made one they have now. We started with a china made one, which was fine until it broke. I feel like the one we have will last quite a long time. It does a great job and takes less than two minutes to grind enough coffee for two lattes.

Home roasters here. After using a Hario Slim for several years we wanted to upgrade to something that gave us a more consistent grind. Recently purchased a Lido 2 and love it. Highly recommend it. The grind is consistent, widely adjustable. For our grind it takes maybe 20 seconds.

We are Aeropress users.

We will hack the unused Hario Slim (per online instructions to improve the grind) use it for travel.

Julia Winter wrote:We have a hand crank coffee grinder we got from Lehmans.

Do you know the manufacturer and model? Perhaps I can find it somewhere else online.

I have this one:. http://smile.amazon.com/Porlex-JP-30-Stainless-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B0002JZCF2/ref=sr_1_12?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1438181904&sr=1-12&keywords=Hand+crank+coffee+grinder

I chose it over the hario because it is all stainless and will fit inside an aeropress for travel. It will just do enough grounds for a big moka pot at a time. I have used it daily for almost a year, never an issue. Once I found the right setting for the burrs, I haven't had to touch it.

Not the answer if you do drip or pour over, unless you grind multiple batches.

R Scott wrote:Not the answer if you do drip or pour over, unless you grind multiple batches.

Right now we use the measuring cup and tea strainer thing (https://permies.com/t/16387/frugality/coffee-maker-eco-coffee-maker) which requires roughly 2.5 tbsp of ground coffee. Would that grinder do enough for one brew?

Adrien Lapointe wrote:

I did look at that one. How long does it take to grind enough for a few cups?

I bought this one for base camp, too. For similar reasons as Ann - didn't want to be without should the power cut out! It seems to work well, and more quickly than expected and easier to turn than some of the reviews suggested. Sorry that I don't have enough experience to give you more info on how long it long it takes. It seemed to fit a similar amount of beans in the top as our electric grinder...I think.

When Cameron (a cook and awesome permie foodie!) was out, he brought a similar hand-crank ceramic grinder as the Hario, but a different brand and it didn't come with a lid, so Cameron had made a lid by cutting a hole in a lid from something else that fit kind of close enough over his grinder. The lid helps keep the beans in when the grinder catches them funny and tries to spit them out. Cameron thought the ceramic hand grind created a far superior taste over metal, motorized grinders (which I guess heat the beans excessively?).

What I like about the Hario is that is a ceramic grinder for those foodies that might visit us(!), with a glass base, and that the top part screws onto a mason jar if you'd like a larger container or accidentally break the one that comes with it. I tried it, and it does work!

Here are empire supporting links:
Hario ceramic coffee grinder with a glass base
Porlex ceramic coffee grinder - stainless steel

Hm, it seems that Hario grind might not be adjustable (? - we haven't played with ours enough to be sure), though the Porlex claims its grind is adjustable. We're not so picky about grind, so this doesn't matter so much for us. This difference could partly explain why the Hario is currently about 1/4th less in price than the Porlex.

Thanks for the feedback Jocelyn. The specs for the Porlex says that it has ceramic burrs too. I like the fact that it doesn't have plastic. I might go for that one.

I think the Porlex is the way to go, as well. I'm even thinking about getting one, because the one we have doesn't have the "clicks" that let you measure the grind (roughly) and more importantly, help you keep the grind that you've decided upon.

Our grinder just has a screw, and it will work its way loose until you realize the grind doesn't look right. So, Japan beats Germany! This time, anyway. I do think the Japanese value food more than the Germans. Not as much as the Italians and French, but they are better at manufacturing. Our espresso machine is a Gaggia (Italian). Not at all eco, but economically a good idea after my husband decided that any coffee other than espresso (OK, lattes) gave him stomach upset. Compared to getting a latte at a coffee shop, the electricity needed to run the heater and pump are worth it!

Bruce Quimby wrote:Home roasters here. After using a Hario Slim for several years we wanted to upgrade to something that gave us a more consistent grind. Recently purchased a Lido 2 and love it. Highly recommend it. The grind is consistent, widely adjustable. For our grind it takes maybe 20 seconds.

We are Aeropress users.

We will hack the unused Hario Slim (per online instructions to improve the grind) use it for travel.

Hail, Fellow AP users!

We are really wanting a Lido 2 but our 2 Zassenhaus (one Panama, one antique) will not wear out.

Adrien Lapointe wrote:

R Scott wrote:Not the answer if you do drip or pour over, unless you grind multiple batches.

Right now we use the measuring cup and tea strainer thing (https://permies.com/t/16387/frugality/coffee-maker-eco-coffee-maker) which requires roughly 2.5 tbsp of ground coffee. Would that grinder do enough for one brew?

I do 5 tablespoons per batch for my moka pot. You might be able to grind 6 per batch if you fill it to the top.

Zenais Buck wrote:

Hail, Fellow AP users!

We are really wanting a Lido 2 but our 2 Zassenhaus (one Panama, one antique) will not wear out.

Hi! Once we started using the AP we loved it. It's our standard coffee maker now.

We roast weekly with a Behmor. Just for our own use.

I make my coffee in a Permies mug with "Weeds - Nature's way of saying she's not your bitch" or something like that on the side. A typical Paul Wheaton saying.

We switched to the Lido 2 based on a desire for a more consistent grind. It made a huge improvement in our coffee taste. Maybe this will push you over the edge......

Cheers!!!

Ah, the nice German coffee grinder we got from Lehman's is a Zassenhaus. The grinding mechanism is steel, not ceramic. It's working very well, but it will slowly "lose" the setting for how fine to grind the coffee.

There's a lot of concern about the Porlex grinders on Amazon not being actual Japan made Porlex grinders. It's an odd mix of happy and unhappy people, I kind of wonder if mistakes are being made in the shipping warehouse.

I did not know that there was such a thing. How awesome is that? My husband was talking about buying coffee beans instead of the bagged stuff! I will have to check this out.

Just get one of the Hario grinders, there's the Skerton (Pictured above) or the Mini which may be a better grinder but doesn't hold as much ground coffee.

As long as you're not a tiny woman you'll have no problem grinding with them.

If you're a really small woman with no muscles the hand-cranked grinders might be a chore. The resistance is not that bad but people with no muscle at all might get tired halfway through.

It takes me about 1 or 2 minutes to grind 40grams of coffee beans (That's enough for 2-3 cups/600-800ml of strong coffee) but I am a strong 29 year old male.

One little bonus is that the skerton comes with a plastic cap you can screw onto the jar after you've ground the coffee, so you can keep it in the jar overnight without it degrading too much (Or you can bring it to work or whatever). I liked mine so much I bought a grinder specifically for using at my office.

I like ceramic because getting some iron is not so good.

(electric sensitive people seem to have some problem of non organic rion or copper overload)

From my experience with ceramic knives, they cannot be sharpened and do not cut well after some time of use though... I still PREFER ceramic though, because stainless steel brings more than iron: chromium and most of the time NICKEL!

(guess what means 18/10 added after stainless steel: this is the % of nickel and chromium)

15 turns on the handle with organic coffe beans loaded in the top and its on the stove in no time

When the last one gave up, I found that it only takes a minute longer to grind the beans for a 6 cup french press in a mortar and pestle.  We have a nice, large one that we got from China town, and it lives on the counter since I use it almost every day for grinding spices....and now, coffee.  Low tech, yes, but there's a certain charm in that.

Inherited this from my mom.  She inherited it from her mom.    Still grinding  after 100 years.

I have her hand crank stone burr grain mill as well.

I’ve had this “feed” grinder in the family for three generations. We roast coffee for the farmers market and occasionally I need to grind a pound or ten. Does a fine, or coarse, job.
I have a customer who uses mortar and pestle, so I tried that, worked good.

The best nonelectric grinder, is someone else doing it.



OK just joking, I just couldn't get the image of that scene out of my head when I saw the thread listed. So had to post it to get it out of my head, and in yours. ;)

Some really cool option in this thread. as a coffee drinker, and my neighbors having coffee as an all day thing, I look forward to eventually getting a good non electric grinder. Though I have to wait till after I build my house to have the room. My trailer just doesn't have enough room left to get any new devices. Good thing is I am sure this thread will be here when I am ready to help guide me to the right choice. And it will likely be a lot longer with more suggestions by then.

C Gale wrote:15 turns on the handle with organic coffe beans loaded in the top and its on the stove in no time

I too have a classic zassenhaus whirly-bird - one of my prized possessions. Here it is with my long retired Mio-Star that i replaced with a Bialetti moka-pot:

Here’s the best one I’ve used: https://prima-coffee.com/equipment/orphan-espresso/lido-3. Super easy to grind espresso by hand.

A brass Turkish coffee grinder. It is adjustable for grind size and its a burr grinder. It will outlive you.

Chris Holcombe wrote:Here’s the best one I’ve used: https://prima-coffee.com/equipment/orphan-espresso/lido-3. Super easy to grind espresso by hand.

$195.00 is steep for a grinder. not the same but good enough, my 'zass' cost $40+ in 2005.

probably would need a drop cloth but, hey it works for walnuts so... coffee beans too? lol

I searched through old antique stores until I found the real deal

So the story goes that cowboys would make coffee by roasting green coffee beans. Then putting the days coffee in his sock and beating it over a rock, till just right. Did double duty. Ground the coffee and made delicious smelling feet!