Members,
Grinder review
I have now had the grinder for one day. I have ground 5 batches through the grinder with several adjustments to the grind setting. Here are my results;
The grinder came in good shape with no problems in a US Mail box with plenty of peanuts with the handle separate from the grinder. The handle goes on easy and has two set nuts that adjust the grind while screwing on the handle. The tighter down on the shaft the first nut screws the finer the grind. Very simple after checking Tom's web site for directions...... I should have done that in the first place!
The first grind was too course and uneven. The second grind a bit better after adjustung the fineness of the grind. This morning I did three vac pots. I continued to adjust the grind to a finer grind each time until the last grind was "almost espresso fine" and very even. I was impressed. The 2009 El Alto COE migrated in the vac pot even with the very fine grind! Not all varieties of greens will do that. I will loosen up the grind a bit and make it a tad courser for tomorrow morning.
The upper hopper where you place the whole roasted beans will hold about one "dry cup" measure. That's about enough for two pots in my vac pot. The finished hopper, made of oak, will hold a bit more than the upper pre grind hopper located at the top with the grind handle.
With all that said I like my new grinder that my wife purchased for me from Tom. It is very attractive on my cabin counter top and does a very nice job of grinding for the vac pot, french press, or drip here at home. It is a hand grinder. It takes a bit of time so adds a bit to the morning routine. That doesn't bother me in the least. I know it is not recommended for espresso. However, I was amazed at the fineness of the tight adjustment and the results. I will probably get my final adjustment for the vac pot and leave it. The adjustment does take a bit of tuning. That grind also works for drip here at the Spain's. My electric goes out a lot here in the woods of East Central Ohio and having a manual grinder will come in handy. I like it! It's not for everyone, but if you are looking for a beautiful piece of kitchen wood and don't mind taking time to manually grind, I recommend the grinder. Not cheap, but very nice.
Feel free to ask questions and I'll do my best to answer them. Tom has no idea of my response in this thread. I have no obligation to him or his product. Jim
