# Aergrind vs Aerspeed



## dreambroom (Feb 17, 2020)

I've worked as a specialty barista for a number of years, and am leaving to follow a career outside coffee.

I've never really made coffee at home due to having free access to filtered water, an EK and other equipment I could never afford to buy (nor would I want to go to all the hassle of faffing with at home) - i.e. there was no way I could ever make a coffee as good at home. In any case I'll be moving somewhere that doesn't have much going on in coffee (rural Ireland! there is great coffee in ireland, but not where I'm going!) so I'll be brewing at home!

I've been staying with a friend and surprised by how good a coffee I've gotten using his Wilfa - i've been brewing a v60, but recently came across James Hoffman's french press recipe, which is pretty ideal for how simple it is and how forgiving immersion seems to be of less-than-perfect grinds. So I've been convinced that a pretty passable cup can be made at home.

I'd like a hand grinder due to doing a fair bit of travelling and camping + I'll be living in a small space in Ireland.

The Made By Knock options seem to hit the nail on the head, and are as much as I'd like to spend realistically.

The impression I got from reading around was that the calibration of the Aerspeed's burrs made it a better grinder in the filter range. But speaking with MBK, I get the impression that that's not really how they see it:
"The Aerspeed burrs have a marginally different profile so more of the burr is in the Aeropress to Filter region than the Aergrind - does that mean more control, maybe yes but really just a longer area in which to play. The rate of angle change between the burrs at a given point is what's at play there and the deeper cuts that make the grinder chew through beans quicker allow for more variation in that angle. it's a trade off. As yet no one has complained that the Aerspeed doesn't do what they ask. Again, the price difference reflects this potential variability vs stability."

So as far as I can tell, MBK reckon the Aergrind is a more consistent, if not slower grinder with a little less control in the filter region.

Does anyone here have any real world experience with both grinders to help give me make up my mind?


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## catpuccino (Jan 5, 2019)

Hello fellow Redditor (I'm the guy who replied to you there).

I'm afraid I think I'm still the only one on here who has the Aerspeed, hopefully I'm wrong and someone can come in with a comparison.

I still feel what MDK have said there is slightly disingenuous. There's a whole marketplace of handgrinder manufacturers releasing brew profiled replacement burrs (e.g. Kinu) and the Aerspeed marketing seems to respond to that. Bottom line is probably that if grind quality is comparable which we suspect it is, then the faster grinding makes it more suitable in terms of user experience.


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## dreambroom (Feb 17, 2020)

'Ola.

Ah - I hoped this being a UK based forum there might be some more active users of the grinders.

If the Aerspeed is a response to the brew profiled grinders, I find it odd that they wouldn't really be marketing as such - in fact it's whole purpose in their line up is pretty vague in their website copy - they seem to be leaning into the "entry level" (a bit cheaper) and "fast" thing, though.

Is it also meant to be more compact? It's kind of sold as being more travel friendly and faster, but there's nothing that explicitly says so.

Speed is nice, but I'd rather get a stable grind and spend 10 seconds longer grinding while the kettle boils. His bottom line seemed to be "if you're not doing much espresso or turkish and wand to save a little cash, go for the aerspeed, if you are hesitant about stability, the aergrind will give you more peace of mind" - but he also says they haven't done a full range of tests to see if there's a difference in grind stability, so he's speaking theoretically.


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## catpuccino (Jan 5, 2019)

dreambroom said:


> Is it also meant to be more compact? It's kind of sold as being more travel friendly and faster, but there's nothing that explicitly says so.


 They're the same body and construction, just with a swapped out burr and rubber grip.

Quite a few happy MBK owners here, just not seen another Aerspeed yet!


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## Marcros (Feb 9, 2020)

is it possible to get hold of the MBK grinders? Each time I have looked they are out of stock.


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## L&R (Mar 8, 2018)

Try every day, they appear on their webpage and obviously disappear randomly


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## dreambroom (Feb 17, 2020)

The Aerspeed is in stock. They said the Aergrind would be back in stock this week.


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## Slowpress (Jun 11, 2019)

@dreambroom I haven't used the Aerspeed, but use the Aergrind regularly for espresso. I think it is a terrific hand grinder. It was designed to go with an aeropress but works equally well for moka pots & espresso.

I thought the Aerspeed was designed specifically to suit the coarser grind range, but less suitable for finely tweaking an espresso grind setting. The Aerspeed's larger spacing between setting adjustments suits pour overs & V-60s very well & has the benefit, therefore, of speeding up the grinding process. Whereas, espresso requires such micro adjustments, closer settings, & therefore will be slower grinding & may possibly produce more fines, I'd guess?

My interpretation isn't based on hands on experience though, just gleaned from reading about the Aerspeed.?‍♀


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## dreambroom (Feb 17, 2020)

Thanks! Yeah what you're saying is the general impression I was given. The Aergrind is definitely calibrated for espresso, but the gist of MBK's comments to me in a few emails was that even though the Aerspeed had more control in the brew region of it's burrs, it wasn't necessarily better as it isn't as stable (at least theoretically).


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## Slowpress (Jun 11, 2019)

It's hard to know definitively without using each grinder, tough call.☺

(I wonder how the word "stability" is to be interpreted, as I would think there wouldn't be a difference between the two grinders in that regard, unless he means being able to adhere to & hold a very fine espresso setting? Yes, on second reading of your quote, that's my guess.)


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## nameisjoey (Feb 23, 2020)

I wish I could help but I don't have the Aergrind - only the Aerspeed. I do wish there was more info out there on the grinder. Considering how often it goes out of stock there's got to be plenty that have sold. Why aren't any of the owners posting on the internet?


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## Jake3103 (Apr 17, 2020)

Hey, I only just stumbled on this forum, so I'm sorry about being a bit late to this topic.

I have the Knock Aerspeed. I've been using it for 6 months now and I'm very happy with it. Like others here, I had originally gone to the website to get the Aergrind because it has an excellent reputation (plus, it's made in the city I live in, Edinburgh). I ended up getting the Aerspeed instead because I almost exclusively make coffee with a V60 at home, and sometimes an Aeropress when I'm travelling. For this purpose, the grinder has been excellent. I can't directly compare it to the Aergrind because I don't have it, but what I can say is that the Aerspeed is incredibly quick (I can grind 16.4g of coffee in about 10-15 seconds) and it's very consistent. You have a lot of control over the the grind for filter brewing, and I've found even making the smallest adjustment makes a significant difference, so you can fine tune your grind for your coffee.

I use 16.4g of light roast coffee to 270ml of water. I've found a grind setting of 2:9 to be ideal for most of my coffees in a V60.

The Aerspeed is constantly selling out on the Knock website, so it's surprising how little information is out there about the grinder. What I will say is that I haven't heard anything negative - which is a good sign! I took a punt on this, and it's very much paid off.


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## Johann (Jul 3, 2020)

Searching the forum this old thread was exactly what I wanted to know so thought it best to just resurrect it rather than start a new one. Anyone happen to have had any experience with both grinders since the question was posed 6 months ago?

Jake - that's a super interesting insight and might well sway me towards the cheaper Aerspeed, thank you!

I'm after a travel grinder to use exclusively for aeropress & the ultralight espro travel press, having looked into it I settled on the Aergrinder (any other suggestions I look into?), but whilst on their site (no stock at the mo) I noticed the aerspeed significantly cheaper and upon reading up I *think* it'll produce a similar quality of grind for my non-espresso use, but if anyone has experience of both I would love to hear it!

Also I've never used a hand grinder - I see Jake can grind 16g of coffee in 10 seconds, but roughly how long does it take to grind 20g of coffee with either would you say?

Thanks


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## L&R (Mar 8, 2018)

I have them both, the difference in them is the burrs, aerspeed has stainless steel pourover oriented burrs 38mm and aergrind has classical Italmill burrs inside again 38mm. I like using aerspeed with my AeroPress because it is really fast 30sec for 17 gram and output at this grind setting a bit coarser than espresso is very nice. Aerspeed is not good for espresso though.


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## Xabi17 (Jun 1, 2020)

Johann said:


> Searching the forum this old thread was exactly what I wanted to know so thought it best to just resurrect it rather than start a new one. Anyone happen to have had any experience with both grinders since the question was posed 6 months ago?
> 
> Jake - that's a super interesting insight and might well sway me towards the cheaper Aerspeed, thank you!
> 
> ...


 Personally, unless you're dialling in espresso where I can see it would be frustrating, the length of time it takes to grind a coffee never really caused me much of an issue.

That said, I have an original feldgrind which I believe uses similar burrs and I just ground 20g of coffee and timed it - 25 seconds.


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## Johann (Jul 3, 2020)

Thanks Xabi didn't expect anyone to actually time it for me! Much appreciated that's not bad at all for the few occasions I use it away from home - not sure why, but I had always envisioned it taking much longer, hope the brew you made afterwards was worth the effort 😁


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## Johann (Jul 3, 2020)

L&R that's exactly the response I needed! No espresso equipment to date, all kinds of other contraptions though (somehow they just keep multiplying!) think Aerspeed over Aergrind it is then for my needs, glad someone's chimed in with experience of both and always nice to save a few pennies and get something that sounds better suited in terms of speed as well!


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## Turner19901 (Jul 10, 2020)

L&R said:


> I have them both, the difference in them is the burrs, aerspeed has stainless steel pourover oriented burrs 38mm and aergrind has classical Italmill burrs inside again 38mm. I like using aerspeed with my AeroPress because it is really fast 30sec for 17 gram and output at this grind setting a bit coarser than espresso is very nice. Aerspeed is not good for espresso though.


 Hi mate,

What setting are you using for aeropress if you've tried it?


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## L&R (Mar 8, 2018)

If I remember right it was 6 or 7.


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## Turner19901 (Jul 10, 2020)

L&R said:


> If I remember right it was 6 or 7.


 On an aerspeed? Sorry I meant what was the grind setting you used? Are you saying 0.6 or 0.7?


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## L&R (Mar 8, 2018)

Yep 0.6 - 0.7


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## ChrisinHove (Jul 11, 2020)

Chance would be a fine thing.

In stock and paid for 26/6/20, 5 days to delivery quoted on website.

13/7, no Aergrind, no reply to enquires.

I don't know whether to just go straight to PayPal dispute for a refund.

The grinder - if I would ever get it- will have to be pretty damn good to get over the bad taste in my mouth.


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## Turner19901 (Jul 10, 2020)

ChrisinHove said:


> Chance would be a fine thing.
> 
> In stock and paid for 26/6/20, 5 days to delivery quoted on website.
> 
> ...


 Try not to worry, mine took just on 2 weeks to arrive! Ordered the start of June and it arrived just before the 15th. Spoke to my postman and he said the backlog with current post means items can be upto 2 weeks late!

It's well worth it if I'm being honest and for the cost there is no better grinder in my opinion.


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## ChrisinHove (Jul 11, 2020)

Thank you! That makes me feel a little better.

I ordered my Aeropress dice from Australia on the same day and they arrived today!


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## Wha burst the ba (Jun 20, 2020)

I got mine in about 2 weeks I think but it only travelled 65 miles! No comms. I suppose PayPal is a very safe last resort. I'm sure it'll come.

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## ChrisinHove (Jul 11, 2020)

Just got a text apologising for a dispatch error and it's on it's way special delivery.

Can't argue with that!


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## ChrisinHove (Jul 11, 2020)

Sure enough, my Aergrind arrived this morning. I'm glad I didn't throw all my toys out of the pram...

Fantastic build quality. I can't wait to start using it.


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## Turner19901 (Jul 10, 2020)

ChrisinHove said:


> Sure enough, my Aergrind arrived this morning. I'm glad I didn't throw all my toys out of the pram...
> 
> Fantastic build quality. I can't wait to start using it.


 Great news mate!

If anyone reading has noted a list of rough grind sizes for different brew methods/coffee types for the aerspeed then feel free to post!

I'm pretty much guessing at the moment, the barn website says that the settings are similar to the aerspeed but all that I've tried on the aerspeed using Aergrind settings have been terrible!


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## supersemps (May 16, 2020)

ChrisinHove said:


> Sure enough, my Aergrind arrived this morning. I'm glad I didn't throw all my toys out of the pram...
> 
> Fantastic build quality. I can't wait to start using it.


 I ordered an Aerspeed on 3 July and I'm still waiting for delivery. Multiple emails and no response. I'm still holding off going through paypal as I knew they would be slow but it is still annoying having no communications. Hopefully it will arrive soon.... 🤔


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## supersemps (May 16, 2020)

Aerspeed still hasn't arrived 

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## Wha burst the ba (Jun 20, 2020)

supersemps said:


> Aerspeed still hasn't arrived
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


That's not really good! You're caught in the dilemma of wait and get eventually(but with zero correspondence) of PayPal claim!!!!!

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## supersemps (May 16, 2020)

Got a refund! MBK are not worth the hassle. Shame really. 1zpresso here I come....

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## Wha burst the ba (Jun 20, 2020)

supersemps said:


> Got a refund! MBK are not worth the hassle. Shame really. 1zpresso here I come....
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Well that's a shame. No financial loss though which is good. I'm not a business person but I really can't see the part in the MBK business model that says do not "communicate with the customer". That's what the fancy reviewers should be asking at these international coffee events!!!

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## Rapid (Jun 12, 2020)

Wha burst the ba said:


> Well that's a shame. No financial loss though which is good. I'm not a business person but I really can't see the part in the MBK business model that says do not "communicate with the customer". That's what the fancy reviewers should be asking at these international coffee events!!!
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 I haven't dealt with MBK so I can't comment from first hand experience but when I brought my grinder I researched them extensively. The general consensus is that there's a trade off in getting an excellent product at value for money that isn't really matched elsewhere but at a trade off for customer service. He could pay some admin person (or virtual PA probably) x amount to run that side of things for him but that would have a knock on affect on the cost of the product. So presumably he chooses to keep it that way to keep the low cost. Whilst it's not desirable from a consumer point of view I understand that decision purely because he literally can't make them fast enough to satisfy demand.

Bottom line, if anyone is considering buying from them do consider that there are question marks over customer service.


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## Wha burst the ba (Jun 20, 2020)

Rapid said:


> I haven't dealt with MBK so I can't comment from first hand experience but when I brought my grinder I researched them extensively. The general consensus is that there's a trade off in getting an excellent product at value for money that isn't really matched elsewhere but at a trade off for customer service. He could pay some admin person (or virtual PA probably) x amount to run that side of things for him but that would have a knock on affect on the cost of the product. So presumably he chooses to keep it that way to keep the low cost. Whilst it's not desirable from a consumer point of view I understand that decision purely because he literally can't make them fast enough to satisfy demand.
> Bottom line, if anyone is considering buying from them do consider that there are question marks over customer service.


I don't disagree with you and like I said I'm not a business person. But, you have to wonder if they could just improve things from very very low to low customer service. People cancelling orders after months can't be making the business money either!!!

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## catpuccino (Jan 5, 2019)

It's not a question of whether having a basic level of customer support is a good or bad business decision, it's an absolute requirement. It's a cost built in to responsibly run organisations. The things I read about how they handled their kickstarter and subsequently how the majority of enquiries are treated makes me very reluctant to recommend them now, even though I am very happy with my Aerspeed and more enthusiastic still that they're local to me.


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## Wha burst the ba (Jun 20, 2020)

catpuccino said:


> more enthusiastic still that they're local to me.


I can't comment on the past Kickstarter. I thought I'd stay with local business as in only 65 miles north of them. More than happy with my Feld47 .

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## Rapid (Jun 12, 2020)

catpuccino said:


> It's not a question of whether having a basic level of customer support is a good or bad business decision, it's an absolute requirement. It's a cost built in to responsibly run organisations. The things I read about how they handled their kickstarter and subsequently how the majority of enquiries are treated makes me very reluctant to recommend them now, even though I am very happy with my Aerspeed and more enthusiastic still that they're local to me.


 I respectfully disagree. In an ideal world yes but in the real world (business) customer service (or lack of it in this case) is all part of positioning and product offering. The best example of this being Ryanair. They don't even pretend they have anything other than contempt for the customer and abysmal service, yet they're (pre covid....) a successful business.

Good customer service costs time and money. The customer has to decide whether to purchase the product based on this.

My point with MBK particularly is that if people keep buying his products faster than he can make them, there's not much tangible incentive for him to sort the problem out. If threads like this keep popping up and prospective customers decide not to purchase to the point of him losing sales, maybe something will happen.

Now days people's expectations of service are far higher than they were say, 10 years ago. The information era has changed that. MBK still gets away with it to a degree because of it being a bit of a niche market.


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## filthynines (May 2, 2016)

The trouble is, what customer service are you going to be contacting him for? 9 times out of 10 it will be an actual manufacturing problem and not merely a dialing-in issue. If that's absent - and it seems conspicuously so - then that's a real problem.


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## supersemps (May 16, 2020)

I knew the service would potentially be bad if I had an ordering issue. He can/does control orders by releasing a certain amount of each item a week ( I presume already made or can be made very quickly from stock) so workload can be controlled - I felt lucky to get an order in. I made it very clear that a simple update would suffice but even after going through paypal (which as far as I could tell he didn't engage with) he didn't reply. The only good thing about the order was that it was through Paypal. Ryanair can treat you poorly because they deliver a service (mostly 😉 ) for "great" value, MBK just don't deliver.


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## catpuccino (Jan 5, 2019)

Rapid said:


> I respectfully disagree. In an ideal world yes but in the real world (business) customer service (or lack of it in this case) is all part of positioning and product offering. The best example of this being Ryanair. They don't even pretend they have anything other than contempt for the customer and abysmal service, yet they're (pre covid....) a successful business.
> 
> Good customer service costs time and money. The customer has to decide whether to purchase the product based on this.
> 
> ...


 I agreee MBK gets away with it because they're a cottage industry. But Ryanair...abysmal service? They have a mouthy CEO, but they've made European travel accesible to millions, kept failing airports afloat and materially changed the industry they're in. They have a very consumer friendly outward appearence (see all their marketing), and for the most part are vasty popular with their customers. At times they fail, and being a budget airline they naturally attract a lot of scrutiny, but nobody's in an abusive relationship with a budget airline.

Spent the last 11 years working for early stage startups and scale ups, I'm not speaking idealistically - MBK is building a consumer facing brand, consumer targetted product, relying on a consumer driven market. It's an absolute neccesity to have a basic degree of what we're generously calling customer service (I don't think responding to lost order enquiries is customer service, it's a legal requirement), and in the event resources are so strained they're unable to accomodate this there's nothing wrong with a little bit of transparency. They manage to update their website most mornings, if they wanted to communicate that there'll be slow replies etc they could do so.


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## Nightrider_1uk (Apr 26, 2020)

I have both an original Feld and an Aergrind. Brought the Feld for Aeropress when working away from home and travelling. Brought an Aergrind when released because it fitted the Aeropress better. I now use the Feld for espresso. It takes me a couple of minutes to grind 20g in the feld and slightly longer in the Aergrind. But my hands are now starting to find the every day hand grinding more difficult, Might be time for a Niche if I can save the pennies.

As for the customer service issue, It's been documented on here quite often, therefore people know what to expect when ordering from this company. I for one like their products, and have no issues with the quality or longevity of the products brought.


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## Stu Beck (May 31, 2020)

supersemps said:


> Got a refund! MBK are not worth the hassle. Shame really. 1zpresso here I come....
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


 Hope you'll be as pleased with your 1z as I am with mine 😀 Customer service has been great (i.e next day dispatch and delivery tracking updates) and the grinder is awesome...

I'd have rather bought from a UK manufacturer too. £100+ grinders aren't something you buy on a whim and it didn't take long to uncover the poor customer service reputation that MBK have. Surely MBK would do better in the long term to ensure a positive experience for all customers?


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## Rapid (Jun 12, 2020)

catpuccino said:


> I agreee MBK gets away with it because they're a cottage industry. But Ryanair...abysmal service? They have a mouthy CEO, but they've made European travel accesible to millions, kept failing airports afloat and materially changed the industry they're in. They have a very consumer friendly outward appearence (see all their marketing), and for the most part are vasty popular with their customers. At times they fail, and being a budget airline they naturally attract a lot of scrutiny, but nobody's in an abusive relationship with a budget airline.


 This is a subject we could literally talk for hours about but I think it's best that we agree to disagree on Ryanair. Regular strikes and flight cancellations are just the tip of the iceberg.


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## Chromedome (Sep 1, 2017)

What setting are people using for Aeropress on the Aergrind (and for French Press aswell while I'm asking)?

Cheers


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## Wha burst the ba (Jun 20, 2020)

Chromedome said:


> What setting are people using for Aeropress on the Aergrind (and for French Press aswell while I'm asking)?
> 
> Cheers


On the Feld47 I'm at 2 turns minus 5. There's 12 clicks so it's not decimal. I couldn't get French press dialled in. Much finer that I ever did before but I needed to as things were so sour!!!!!

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## Johann (Jul 3, 2020)

Just a heads up for anyone interested, MBK has just listed 7 Aerspeeds (now 6! ) on their site, been waiting patiently for months as keep missing out on restocks, hopefully this helps someone.

Fingers crossed I'm one of the lucky ones when it comes to delivery/customer service as it seems a bit of a gamble.

Good luck everyone!


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## Wha burst the ba (Jun 20, 2020)

Johann said:


> Just a heads up for anyone interested, MBK has just listed 7 Aerspeeds (now 6!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nothing listed now!!!!!!!

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## supersemps (May 16, 2020)

I decided to take another chance with MBK and ordered one of those aerspeeds that were available Sunday. Royal Mail just delivered it today!!

I'll update here how I find it, but out of the box it is rather lovely.


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## Johann (Jul 3, 2020)

Mine arrived in this morning's post - super stoked it actually turned up!! Had just finished this morning's coffee so had to restrain myself from making another straight away 😆

Supersemps I'm glad to hear yours turned up as well - you needed a bit of luck after your last experience!

Here's to some consistent grinds and good coffee whilst travelling!


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## Kith004 (Sep 29, 2020)

Hello all,

It seems like many of you have the MBK Aergrind and are using it with the Aeropress to brew on the regular. I bought my Aergrind last Christmas 2019 and I'be enjoyed using it but I'm wondering if my unit is performing correctly. When I grind for espresso-like coffee to use in the Aeropress I often do it on the 1.8 setting, but recently I have found that grinding takes me almost 3.5-5 minutes. I am by no means grinding slowly or in poor shape so I'm wondering if you all experience similar grind times at this setting for medium to light roast beans (20-22 grams) in the hopper.

When I compare it to the 2.4 setting that I use with light-medium roast beans (22g), I find that my grind times are closer to 2-3minutes. I know some of you mentioned that you had sub-1 minute grind times, is there anything I can do to make sure I'm using this product correctly?


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## L&R (Mar 8, 2018)

Your burrs are less aggressive and you cant do much about this, just use it as it is, MBK put different burrs from different vendors. Mine is absolutely the same.


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