Orjoecoffee Ceramic Burr Manual Grinder Black

This coffee grinder would have gotten a fifth star IF some instruction were included. There was nothing in the box to describe how to use and care for the grinder. I know, I should be able to use a coffee grinder...after all it is not the Hadron collider. However, I read in the product description on Amazon that the grinder was adjustable to produce rough and smooth grinds with variations in between. I had no idea of how to adjust it. I looked for switches or other adjustments but came up empty handed. Frustrated, I emailed the seller vmartini and the seller replied with these instructions:"I just noticed you need instructions for grind adjustment.Start with an empty grinder. Remove the top portion of the grinder from the glass grinds container. Remove the nut, crank, and locking bracket.Flip the top of the grinder upside-down. The burrs are now touching completely. Hold the burrs in place while you flip the grinder right-side-up.Loosely tighten the adjustment ring. Do not over-tighten – only go far enough to hold the burrs in place. This is the zero-point for the burrs, and the starting point for grind adjustment.The grind adjustment mechanism uses the notched collar to hold the setting in place. The grind settings here are based on the number of notches counter-clockwise from the zero-point. While holding the burrs in place, loosen the adjustment collar the appropriate number of notches for your brewing method.SingleV60/Aeropress: 2Drip cone: 3Metal filter/clever 5French press 7Set the grind in place with the locking bracket, replace the crank and nut."With these instructions (which I don't think are intuitive unless it came from Apple!), i successfully adjusted the grinder, which has preformed really well and makes excellent coffee using a Chemex brewing system. With instructions in the box, I rate it *****. With no instructions I give the manufacturer the four stars. With the instruction provided above, I highly recommend this grinder. It is far superior to my old electric, knife blade grinder. Enjoy your coffee...I do.

A quick take on this item is that it gets the job done grinding coffee beans utilizing a ceramic gear system that generates no heat -- heat that can distract flavor from the beans. Some users concern themselves with grind uniformity. Once set appropriately, this does not present a problem. Trial and error settings a few times means getting the appropriate grind. Time for a 4 cup (16 ounces) brew, course grind is about 4 minutes. What most reviewers won't tell you is that once the grounds are exposed to near boiling water they swell meaning that no grounds will slip by the plunger mechanism. One item of concern is that the nut attaching the handle to the grinder becomes loose during most any grind. This does not seem to affect functionality, but it remains a concern going forward. The best measure whether this grinder does a great job is the end result -- an excellent cup of coffee.This grinder does its job, but be aware that there are 3 almost identical grinder like this on Amazon:1) OrJoeCoffee is $36 -- free ship2) Tanors is $28 -- free ship3) Hario is $30 -- free shipThere is no marking on this unit indicating manufacturer. My hunch is that it's China. Either way, these appear to be identical except for the nut holding the handle. That said I'd now buy the Tanor and save $8.

Definitely is a learning curve. The washer kept falling into the grinder & the grinder kept loosening up & would fall into the ground coffee. The plastic "coaster" on the bottom of the glass falls on the floor because it really isn't snug enough, but not a huge problem. It's just going to take some getting used to, certainly more complicated then my elec. grinder, but I think I'm going to like it. It does take some time, more then 4 min, but the coffee it creates is excellent. It seems to be very well made (except for that too-loose "coaster".) You need a different mind set if you're going to enter into this zen coffee grinding mode. It's not something you want to mess with if you're in a hurry to get to work in the morning. However, you could always grind some the night before. I think it's a combo of the Starbucks coffee beans & the hand grinder, but this is about the best coffee I've ever made. So... back to the grindstone, heh.