I bought a very similar looking coffee grinder for $10 to $15 from the mother ship several years ago. It worked well until a plastic part failed. It’s hard to believe this item is worth $54.99.
Those cheap ones are a knockoff of Porlex. This grinder is well loved in 3rd Wave coffee snob circles.
Thanks! Would you happen to know if there is a plastic piece inside the ceramic cone? If my memory is correct, it was what cracked on my cheap knock off, rendering it useless. I will try visiting the Porlex website and Amazon.
Good information! I didn’t realize this brand is the original maker, and all the others are knockoffs. I’m in for one, now that I understand why it’s more costly. The cheap one’s seem to last a few years of light use, then something breaks. I’m on my 2nd one, and it doesn’t grind well. I hope this size will nest inside an Aeropress, like the others. I’ve been taking that kit camping and traveling for years, so i don’t have to worry about finding decent coffee.
I had a Delonghi brand (electric) that I got on clearance, years ago.
It is really solid built. And far quieter than some of the cheaper ones.
Should be advertised as cordless.
Great for camping or power outages, I guess? Don’t forget Sterno.
I’d take the handle off & hook my cordless drill onto it.
I enjoyed reading the ‘features’, obviously written by someone fluent with English…
So I can grind three people with this. What if it breaks after 3? Does the Woot warranty replace this if I grind too many people before the 90 days are up?*
Ahem
*theoretically
I think you can only grind 3 people per serving.
You’d have to clean it before grinding your next 3 people.
Just remember to ignore the small oval-like depression on the inside of the outer blade. It’s a mark when molding the blade to make your people-grinding experience even better.
Ok. But are you sure cleaning this so often* won’t make the ceramic blade rust?
*Theoretically
It’s legit…people usually start with this model and move to a higher end model. They can go up to 200 $ and people love them. You can’t go wrong if your without electricity too…I moved to using a power free lever action espresso machine …Make better espresso than any electric unit that i have owned.
The issue with this model is that the ceramic burr can break.
The beauty of this grinder is that it will grind for espresso which is something that most grinders just fail at…Until your paying 200 and up.
Ok, I got mine yesterday. This grinds much better than the knock off one I’d been using. Dialing in the grind is much simpler. The thumb wheel has a mechanism that clicks at settings for the burrs. I think 16 clicks from finest to coarsest grind. The instructions have an English translation, and read fine, unlike the ad text. This grinder slips into the plunger of an Aeropress perfectly.
Construction on this grinder is much better than the knockoffs. Specifically, the grinding mechanism is anchored to the body by 3 deep punched indents. All of the cheap one’s I had seem to have one shallow indent that eventually works loose, allowing the mechanism to spin in the body, making the grinder useless without some repairs. Ive never been successful gluing or anchoring the mechanism back, once it works loose. I’m not expecting a similar issue with the Porlex.
The ceramic gears should last without issues for the life of this grinder, unless you damage them by running the grinder backwards or try to grind something other than roasted coffee beans.
Thanks for the great review !!! I’m seriously considering grabbing one of these so i can take my Flair espresso lever camping.