I'm someone who absolutely loves camping gadgets, and the opportunity to field test them. I am also a barista; I love great coffee, and as this is coffeegeek, not camping geek, I'll have to be a little biased on the coffee side.
In short, this grinder isn't entirely practical for home use. It's hard to get your hand around, and to get a consistent grind, you have to be sure to not press down on the handle, or you'll end up with larger fragments of the bean as the finished product. That being said, it is an adjustable ceramic burr grinder for $20, and it produces a far more consistent grind than a blade grinder. Camping with it works quite well; as long as you measure your doses and your water properly, you can enjoy a press of good coffee virtually anywhere. At first, it takes a bit of technique and finesse to get used to it, as I've said, it can be pretty awkward, but I've managed to work out a system to make it fairly manageable.
There are a few simple design flaws that could easily have been remedied by the makers (who, by the way, are a camping utilities company, not a coffee company). The burr is held in place by a piece of semi flexible plastic, and when it flexes, (for instance, if you push down on the handle) the burr changes and so does the grind. Dramatically. Add to this the fact that the handle is removable, and requires some pressure to keep it in place as it grinds, and you've got my biggest complaint. Another flaw is the lack of a handle to keep the body stationary as you grind; it is fairly hard to get my hand around, and it is easy to lose contact with whatever is being ground into.
All things considered, though, it's a semi-practical solution for a fresh cup of coffee while camping. Obviously, at $20, it's not a Robur or Mahlkonig, and if you're expecting that type of quality wherever you are, it can't help you. But until I can find a better lightweight, adjustable grinder, this one is going in my pack alongside my press. |
