#commandantegrinder

I've been on holidays for two weeks, our bush, camping. I came home to find my Comandante C40 had arrived, exciting. I'd received a few messages while I was away from fellow coffee dudes that there was some concern over the C40 with regards to quality control and operation.

Proud Mary stated that they were happy with their shipment here to AUS. I decided to not read too far in to it until I'd had a good play with my unit.

Previously I wrote about these grinders after having some hands-on at the expo in May. While the unit's I was able to use were prototypes, they were a great insight in to what was coming our way. Both espresso and filter coffee was great at the expo from the C40 and C20.

I unpacked my unit and the first thing I did was inspect it. Checking bearing/shaft play, adjustment, cranking, etc.

The manual recommends breaking it in with rice. I broke mine in with 150gm of coffee at various settings.

I'm very please with my unit, it grinds very well, very fast, and the quality of the unit is what I would expect for this price (almost $200 delivered AU).

I ran off a few grinds after break in, comparing to my Baratza, pretty good, especially for a hand grinder.

Remember, this isn't a Robur, or a Ditting, it's a HAND grinder. It's leaps and bounds better than almost all hand grinders available, especially in the price range. Friends of mine are comparing the grind quality to the OE Pharos. That has got to say something for this unit.

It's very fast. I've just gotten back from two weeks of grinding for two coffee's, three times a day, on my Porlex, Wow I have some serious arm muscles now. The C40 grinds probably 4x faster than the Porlex (at a guess). I can grind up 15gm in about as many seconds.

There is NOTHING better than the sounds of burrs cutting coffee, without a motor drowning out the sound. I love hand grinders, I sometimes bust out my old Spong because the sound is just so awesome.

Things that annoy me about the C40 but I can get over it:

- It's heavy (like just shy of 600gm!) but that adds to the quality feel and makes it far easier to operate and grip

- Static build up in the glass jar (give it some taps, or swirl the grinds to free them up) and static build up on the burrs and adjustment nut (pack a very small brush with your kit)

- The leather pouch that is soon to be available. I'm annoyed that it's probably (guessing) going to cost almost as much as the grinder hahaha, I want it.

Before you write the C40 off because of a negative thread on a forum, make sure you break it in and make adjustments.

One last thing, I found the plastic lid that is part of the crank was sitting crooked, I just rotated it a little and now it sits perfectly flush.

This is a hand made product, I doubt any two unit's are 100% identical.

Result in the cup has been excellent. I instantly noticed a far nicer extraction with excellent flavour and body compared to the porlex after returning from camping. I only wish the C40 arrived the week before I left on my trip!

Without being scientific on the grind distribution/particle size, I'd say it's very good for a hand grinder and very good even compared to similarly priced elec grinders.

At particle sizes for filter brewing (med-fine to coarse), it's excellent. I brew mostly for Aeropress, CCD, V60 and syphon. It really is a good unit for these methods. I've not yet personally tried it for espresso. I will maybe give it a go, but it's certainly not why I bought this grinder. I bought it for travel.

The C20 is probably going to ship next. This uses the same size burr from memory, and will fit inside your aeropress just as the porlex does. It uses a unique "top of grinder" adjustment method and has a really lovely adjustment feel, precision.

While it is unfortunate that some C40's have some issues, I have no doubt that Comandante will be looking in to it right now. Proud Mary in AUS have stated that if anyone has a problem with their C40 to return it for a refund. Easy as that.

I'm back home after the Melbourne International Coffee Expo and WBC, and WAC, and DrBC (drunken brewers cup) phew! Just want to talk quickly about something awesome. These hand grinders. I'm a heavy user of hand-grinders, I take my porlex everywhere, I even brew on the plane.

I bumped in to Comandante at the show, not only are these guys excited, and awesome, but they are super keen to show their wares. This grinder is seriously next-level.

Think precision components, precision fit, and flawless operation. Steel, race bearings, classy design, amazingly easy to use.

The first thing I notices is the handle has a LONG shaft coupling. No more wobbly handles! Then the magnetically attached timber handle knob, which can stow away inside the grinder. Bean hopper lid, removable grinds canister/jar, all steel construction.

Secondly, I picked it up and could spin the grinder whilst holding the handle, seriously, like skateboard wheels. You could paint walls with this thing.

Feels so solid, well made, and just exceptional to look at. The burrs are hardened steel with optional titanium coming. The adjustment is so extremely precise it's almost a fantasy. Lovely notched adjustments on an amazingly engineered main shaft (on the C20 in the bean hopper) and traditional notched adjustments on the C40 (under the burr).

The C40 is the bigger of the two models, it's 'fatter', has a stunning timber veneer wrapped around the housing (choice of timbers coming) and laser etched "Comandante" logo. Solid timber handle grip (custom sizes to suit your hand/grip will be available), large 40gm capacity hopper, 40gm capacity 'glass' and threaded grinds container (jar).

The C20 is the smaller, thinner, all-steel-looking unit (looks kind of like a grenade of some sort), easy to grip and operate. SAME burr set as will be avail in the C40, almost everything the same, except the burr adjustment is in the top under the hopper lid, an easy to adjust collar with amazing notched feel. No screwy settings here. I know what you are wondering.... and yes... it fits inside the aeropress (like a porlex does).

The bottom grinds canister just slides inside and is easily removed after grinding.

Actual grinding on these is a pleasure, I tried both and was shocked at how much easier it was than any other hand grinder I've used (yeah I've used a LIDO too). As you grind you can hear and 'feel' the cutting, rather than just a bunch of breaking/smashing/crushing like on a porlex or similar ceramic burr hand grinder.

I'm really very excited for these guys. Their product is exceptional. For someone that is very much in to attention to detail and quality, you won't go further than these grinders.

Price was labelled as around $120. Twice as much as the current plastic, wobbly, ceramic burr grinders on the market, or maybe as much as two (2) kg of roasted specialty coffee.

They will be available from Proud Mary in Australia in around six weeks. First shipment will be around 1000 units, I do not expect to see them on shelves for very long.

If you are in Perth and are keen, get in touch, perhaps we can organise a group buy.