Comandante 4260113431627 Coffee Grinder, 18/8 Stainless Steel, Zebra

OK so its a load of money for a little grinder but there are some up sides:I have a La Pavoni espresso machine and needed a consistent grind that my Zazenhaus grinder was not able to deliver. This dose and also it is easy to alter grind and the selected grind stays put. The alternative was a powered machine and these are (for a decent one) significantly more money and massive my kitchen is tiny..so small one out.Using it is so nice, the beans grind with minimal effort and it is quiet and easy to fill. The lid/handle dose not come apart and the lid is plastic (one of my peeves) however the handle is lovely in the hand and the whole user experience is good. Better than any other grinder ive used, and way better than the Zazenhaus (wooden box type).The innards of the grinder are very well engineered and the wobble of the shaft is so limited i cannot see it. During grinding the grinds are very consistent with no lumps and dust is limited.There are some plastic components in this and that is a worry. My experience of plastic is that over time it tends to crack then fall apart so we will have to wait to see how this plastic performs. The plastic lid has some small cracks where the handle sits into it (so far nothing to worry about but will have to wait and see) the other plastic components lie inside the machine and it is hard to see if there are any cracks yet. It is a shame that these plastic components are present but i suppose if they had used a more expensive materiel the cost would have been even higher....!!The whole unit can be taken apart quite easily for a clean down and re assembly is as simple as disassembly. The grind unit has a spring click locking device (plastic....) which makes it easy to get back to your prefered grind (count your clicks etc on un doing the lock)The grind is consistent and it performs very well making very fine grind (Turkish type) up to grind for press etc. I have played around with settings etc to tune in my espresso and it is good at enabling this. The difference between one click and another can be enough to choke the pull of a shot (this may be one of the devices downsides as the adjustment is not that fine) but it is something i can live with given the general performance of the device.Using this device my espresso has become more consistent and on the whole much better. I would buy again (but i dont anticipate doing so...for a long time).Good for travel too as it packs small.Down sides are: plastic bits here and there, unsure of long term life of these. Grind adjustment is in quite large steps, handle / lid comes off as one unit which is awkward to pack if travelling. Only grinds about 30 g of beans in one go, but that is not a massive issue and it keeps the size down. The grinds are caught in a glass jar which is a bit fiddly to empty the jar is limited in capacity too but this keeps size down and is not a massive issue you could always get a bigger jar if you needed. or empty into one etc. I always grind when i need to make coffee so its not an issue.All in all a good bit of kit. Lovely in the hand, good grind great for espresso small, quiet and consistent. A bit pricey but worth the money.

A few little annoyances: -There are no instructions or user manual supplied. The grind adjust does not work as described on the manufacturers website which is not user friendly to find instructions as you have to wade through their publicised FAQs.Beans get stuck and jammed in the top where the handle shaft locates meaning a real faff digging out the offending beans with a pointed tool.My handle squeaked like an old rusty bike chain.The handle design makes neat storage of the grinder a wish away.Is it worth £200? Not as a grinder. My £10 and £50 portable grinders work just as well and store away neatly.Buy if you have more money than sense or if you would like to showcase as an extravagant accessory it’s a great buy.

This grinder by Comandante has to be one of the best hand grinders available. It is built very solidly, and so easy to adjust for different grinds and graduation of coffee beans. Very easy to clean and a joy to operate. The grinder comes with a spare vessel to hold coffee, great for travelling. My coffee has never tasted better,-----" expensive"---but worth every penny and would not be without it.