Are you stoked to start grinding your own coffee beans? If you’re reading this article, it’s either your coffee grinder just gave out disappointingly and you’re looking for a replacement, or you’re looking to purchase a manual one for the first time.
I’ve written this article to show you the best manual coffee grinder to buy, whether you’re in the market for your first manual grinder or searching for a replacement.
There are two types of coffee grinders on the market – burr grinders and blade grinders. If you’re serious about making top-drawer coffee, I recommend you avoid the blade ones and buy a burr machine instead.
Burr machines have this ability to grind coffee so well that the results a blade machine can produce couldn’t match that of a burr machine.
Types of Manual Coffee Grinders
Manual grinders share the same design concept most of the time. You’ll find a crank and a handle for manually rotating the burrs at the top of the machine. They are all lightweight appliances, and they all have a small footprint (they are simple manual appliances, so there’s no reason why they should be large).
The burrs are also located at the top, and this is the same part of the machine that houses whole coffee beans before they are crushed.
After measuring and adding the beans to the grinder, you turn the shaft by holding and rotating the handle, and the grinder does the rest of the work. As you grind the beans, a receptacle at the bottom collects the grounds.
This is basically how all manual grinders work. Also, you can pick your grind size before you begin. Grind sizes range from coarse to fine, and the appropriate grind size depends on the type of coffee you’re making.
The only notable difference you’ll find among manual grinders is the transparency of the ground receiver. Some of them are transparent and you can see what your grounds look like while you crush the beans.
Others are opaque, so you can’t see your grounds until you’re done unless you stop what you’re doing and open it up.
The Best Manual Coffee Grinder
The first manual grinder that I stumbled upon while I was searching for my first one on Amazon was the TimeMore Chestnut C2, and it’s proven to be the best I’ve ever used. I bought it some years back and I’ve been a happy camper from that moment on.
Out of curiosity, I decided to try out another brand to experience the features it had to offer and find out what it was like to use it. I tried brand after brand and none of the grinders could give me the kind of results I got with the TimeMore Chestnut C2.
This grinder has a beautiful exterior and is easy to carry around for those who travel a lot like me. Most importantly, it has a 36-step grind size adjustment nut that lets you pick from 3 grind sizes (fine, medium, and coarse sizes) and even fine-tune your settings with the steps in between each grind size.
I particularly like its appearance. It looks nice from the outside and works perfectly on the inside. This machine is definitely worth the money, and I’d recommend it over and over again.
