Have grinder, will travel (with fresh coffee!)

All true coffee geeks will be familiar with the idea that the grinder is at least, if not more important as the coffee machine.
It’s broadly true. Take good quality coffee, freshly roasted by an experienced and talented roaster, and a ‘good’ grinder, and almost regardless of the machine/brewing method, you can make good drinkable coffee.
Take the quality of the grinder out of the equation, and even with an expensive and sophisticated espresso machine, the end result is going to be in question.

So important is the grinder, that when people starting the journey of exploration into fine coffee ask me my opinion about a particular espresso machine or something similar, I respond by asking ‘what about the grinder’. I go on to urge them to buy a decent grinder before even looking at sophisticated brewing methods.
But that can be a significant hurdle to jump for many.
They just don’t see (at that stage) the value in a $3-400 grinder.

Q. So how to move people to the point where they can glimpse the potential that specialty coffee has?
A. Get them a affordable (in their eyes) grinder that will effectively and accurately grind fresh coffee from plunger to espresso (and beyond).

So when a colleague in coffee pointed me to the Kyocera Ceramic hand grinder I was interested. I actually collect hand grinders and have an assortment of Zazzenhaus and other grinders of varying ages and conditions – and very few of them grind effectively for espresso (my ‘bought new’ Zazz being the exception).

But the Kyocera is different.
It’s not particularly pretty machine, it’s mainly made of plastic, but it appears to be well constructed, and the most interesting feature is the ceramic burr set. (see images below). This makes it very easy to clean even without full disassembly, and also very quiet.
How well does it grind? Very well.

I’ve had the grinder for a couple of weeks and have ground for everything from plunger to espresso – and it will even grind fine enough for Turkish coffee.
To start at the coarse end, you back off the adjustment ‘star wheel’ about two turns from tight. At this setting, 14g of beans will require about 100 turns of the handle. Any looser than that and you start getting very uneven particles.
The adjusting wheel has small indents – about five per revolution – which gives you a reasonable chance of returning to a setting after changing the grind.
Espresso grind is about 1/2-3/4 of a turn from tight, and about 200 turns to grind 14g of beans.

All the grinds fall into the clear container that screws on under the burrs, and the whole beans are contained with a push on lid on the top.
The whole assembly weighs just grams, and the handle pops off for very compact storage if travelling.

But the best ‘feature’ is simply: it works. It grinds consistently and repeatedly for most common coffee brewing methods.
Add to that, ease of cleaning, light weight, compactness and very reasonable cost (somewhere between $80-90), and this is a great way for people new to quality coffee to explore without a major financial investment.

Disclaimer: I plan on selling these little grinders through the Ministry Grounds Store

(click image for a bigger version):

Posted: 12 June 09
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5 Comments for Have grinder, will travel (with fresh coffee!)

  1. Wow….impressive. What are these little beauties worth?

    Marc · Jun 14, 04:05 PM
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  2. Hey Marc,
    I’m hoping to be able to sell them for ~$80

    Neil A · Jun 14, 04:17 PM
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  3. Good price.

    I wonder if you could attach a cordless drill to it?? :-)

    Marc · Jun 14, 06:57 PM
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  4. just received a Kyocera grinder from ex daughter inlaw in Korea, gratis! amazed at how easy it is to use. I don’t have my scales at the moment so I filled the Aeropress spoon with beans and they come just level in the three “chambers” in the hopper. Just right when ground.
    Impressed!!

    KremaKarisma · Jul 10, 01:42 AM
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  5. This is grinder designed by intelligent minimalists. Nothing is there without passing the function test. I’m very satisfied with its operation and portability. It’s a quiet achiever (quite literally) and I can’t imagine why it wasn’t ‘invented’ before.
    Kyocera (ie Kyoto Ceramics) have an excellent balance of design and production quality with everyday cost. This should become the iPod of effective portable ‘go-anywhere-that-there-is-an-able-bodied-coffee-drinker’ coffee grinders because from my perspective, it is simply without competition.

    Ozquonk · Jul 12, 08:29 AM
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