# James Hoffman - High End Hand Grinders



## Dr Forinor (Jul 30, 2018)

I like his videos, and thoroughly enjoyed this particular one.


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## 7493 (May 29, 2014)

Interesting! Hoffman as watchable as ever. Did wonder why no Rosco? Has he done a comparison of the big hand grinders, Pharos, HG1 etc.?


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Rob666 said:


> Interesting! Hoffman as watchable as ever. Did wonder why no Rosco? Has he done a comparison of the big hand grinders, Pharos, HG1 etc.?


Where do you get Rosco from in the UK ?


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## mcrmfc (Sep 17, 2016)

Yes great stuff from the Hof. Don't think he has done the big boy manual grinders yet.

I have had Kinu M47 (now with @rob177palmer) and now have the traveller, both are stunning and when you consider the traveller's price point (same burrs, same mechanism) that looks like an even better buy potentially. Though the traveller does lack the premium feel.

It backs up what we have all been saying...that basically MBK, Kinu and Commendante are the ones.


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## Deeez Nuuutz (Apr 15, 2018)

I enjoy his videos too. Ive seen the cheap hand grinders review but I've yet to watch this one.


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## 7493 (May 29, 2014)

Mrboots2u said:


> Where do you get Rosco from in the UK ?


Mail order from Oz. Expensive though but then so is the Kinu.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Rob666 said:


> Mail order from Oz. Expensive though but then so is the Kinu.


Perhaps he has just done stuff you can get from uk/europe ?

Perhaps someone sent him them ?


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## 7493 (May 29, 2014)

Mrboots2u said:


> Perhaps he has just done stuff you can get from uk/europe ?
> 
> Perhaps someone sent him them ?


More than likely he was sent them. Some of the prices are in Euros so I suspect not all of them are available from UK stockists. Most people on here seem to buy Lido's direct from the US but they are or were stocked by a UK supplier. I forget which.


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## mcrmfc (Sep 17, 2016)

Rob666 said:


> More than likely he was sent them. Some of the prices are in Euros so I suspect not all of them are available from UK stockists. Most people on here seem to buy Lido's direct from the US but they are or were stocked by a UK supplier. I forget which.


He paid for them via his Patreon funding and will give them away to those backers....that's what he says in vid


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Rob666 said:


> More than likely he was sent them. Some of the prices are in Euros so I suspect not all of them are available from UK stockists. Most people on here seem to buy Lido's direct from the US but they are or were stocked by a UK supplier. I forget which.


Coffee Hit


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## rob177palmer (Feb 14, 2017)

mcrmfc said:


> Yes great stuff from the Hof. Don't think he has done the big boy manual grinders yet.
> 
> I have had Kinu M47 (now with @rob177palmer) and now have the traveller, both are stunning and when you consider the traveller's price point (same burrs, same mechanism) that looks like an even better buy potentially. Though the traveller does lack the premium feel.
> 
> It backs up what we have all been saying...that basically MBK, Kinu and Commendante are the ones.


M47 being well cared for!!

Feels superb - a joy to adjust and use. Still doesn't make grinding for espresso "a breeze", but to be fair it is a handheld manual grinder, so that's to be expected.

Loving using and looking at it.


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## Syenitic (Dec 1, 2013)

As I watched it I thought...'ah he'll go for the Commandante'. Unless I watched / heard wrong he went for the grinder that felt/looked/behaved rather than tasted best - 'Machines not the beans'?

Seriously that is the first time I saw the Kinu up close, I can guess how good it feels now, it also has that 'from the top' adjustment which for me elevates the usability considerably.

I started my hand grinder journey on a Porlex tall (rather than mini - I doubt there is anything between the two) and when I heard about MBK I got a Hausgrind, the drab black aluminium one - I lust after one of his wooden Hausgrinds. The adjustment on those grinders is superb and stable, grinding is butter smooth. Still wonder why they have been seemingly abandoned.

Maybe Peter can tell us?

But yes a good video, thanks for posting.


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## Power Freak (Dec 14, 2018)

Having used and owned a bunch of this style of hand grinder I think the comment James makes at the end is on the money: they're all pretty same-y. Pick one you like the look of, price of and are happy with the adjustments.

You start to notice a difference when you get into the "big boys" of hand grinding like the pharos/hg1/apex but those fill a different need.

(And I really hope that particle distribution app doesn't take off... The coffee world does not need another half-baked pseudo-scientific thing to get used incorrectly)


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Power Freak said:


> (And I really hope that particle distribution app doesn't take off... The coffee world does not need another half-baked pseudo-scientific thing to get used incorrectly)


Nothing against having a simple to use, accessible, method for analysis, but as yet it is very hard to find any data on different particle distributions (as opposed to being able to grind fine enough for a given purpose) & cup quality. It's piss easy to identify an objective difference between grinders, much harder to get that to repeatedly show as a consistent preference in the actual brew.


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## Power Freak (Dec 14, 2018)

MWJB said:


> Nothing against having a simple to use, accessible, method for analysis, but as yet it is very hard to find any data on different particle distributions (as opposed to being able to grind fine enough for a given purpose) & cup quality. It's piss easy to identify an objective difference between grinders, much harder to get that to repeatedly show as a consistent preference in the actual brew.


My main issue with it is 2 people will compare their results, using different reference objects, different light conditions, etc. Then there'll be all these crazy claims going round that a little wilfa grinder is "better" than an ek due to 2 random internet folks app results.

(Not intending to be a slight towards the wilfa or the ek with that example!)


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Power Freak said:


> My main issue with it is 2 people will compare their results, using different reference objects, different light conditions, etc. Then there'll be all these crazy claims going round that a little wilfa grinder is "better" than an ek due to 2 random internet folks app results.
> 
> (Not intending to be a slight towards the wilfa or the ek with that example!)


Any tool can be misused. But objective tools don't know "better" or "worse", some human will have a horse in the race & be keen to show why their thing is in some way magic and that will happen with, or without tangible data. Already has & will continue to do so. Sure, some things might be legitimately preferred (grind range, grind speed) in certain circumstances (the spectrum of coffee brewing covers a lot of circumstances).


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## Blackd0g (Apr 24, 2019)

hmm im in the market for a hand grinder for a La Pavoni which one would you peeps recommend for espresso grinds?


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## MediumRoastSteam (Jul 7, 2015)

Blackd0g said:


> hmm im in the market for a hand grinder for a La Pavoni which one would you peeps recommend for espresso grinds?


Hand grinder? Or any grinder? What's your budget?


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## J_Fo (Dec 24, 2017)

Blackd0g said:


> hmm im in the market for a hand grinder for a La Pavoni which one would you peeps recommend for espresso grinds?


I think all the grinders in the video (apart from the Porlex) will do the job, it's definitely worth a watch if you haven't already.

Personally I'd avoid hand grinding for espresso on a day to day basis, as it's quite hard work... I'd definitely suggest trying it first anyway


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## DanB (Aug 28, 2018)

He's definitely grown on me. He made an interesting observation about the Aergrind- essentially that for espresso there was a narrow window between too coarse and too fine.

With my Feld2 I am generally delighted but I had observed a similar issue dialling in but always attributed the gush/choke to the idiosyncrasies of my prep and La Pavoni. It's hard to be scientific as reproducibility is the challenge with the Pav. I've recently moved to motorised big flat burrs for home espresso so we'll see.


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## Mr Kirk (Oct 5, 2017)

I use my rok set up every day at work and it no effort grinding. 16g in 45 sec at a nice steady pace.


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## Power Freak (Dec 14, 2018)

Blackd0g said:


> hmm im in the market for a hand grinder for a La Pavoni which one would you peeps recommend for espresso grinds?


If you can stand the (lack of) ergonomics the OE Pharos is, in my opinion, the best value espresso grinder on the market.


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## the_partisan (Feb 29, 2016)

Though well made I somehow find JH's reviews lack the important details? He seems to take the easy route of just describing more or less facts which you would figure out within 30 secs of using any of the grinders.

I'm pretty happy I got my Kinu M47 for €225 when it first came out though!


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