Rating
out of 5
SNAPSHOT Review

These days, there’s dozens, if not hundreds of hand grinder choices available to consumers. The one that started it all – Zassenhaus – is still available and gives you that old world feel. The pioneer of the portable mini hand grinder, the Porlex Mini is still available. Hario got into the game too, with a small range of grinders that had so-so performance but competitive prices. New upstarts, costing as much as $350 or more from Comandante and Kinu are on the market, but are serious niche, specialty grinders.

Several years back, another company started up with the goal of providing quality hand grinders across the price range, from $75 through $180, and they’ve quickly become a favourite with the Internet and travel crowd. That company is Timemore. And this is a first look at their latest entry level grinder, the Timemore Chestnut C2 2020 model, which we purchased for the purposes of review about a month ago.

Out of the Box

As is the trend these days, the Timemore Chestnut C2 comes in an attractive package with care and attention paid to how it ships and presents itself out of the box. A dense foam bed holds and protects all the parts, cut out to the grinder and crank arm assembly shapes.

The Chestnut C2 comes nearly fully assembled, with just the crank arm detached. Inside the box you’ll find the grinder, crank arm, a soft brush and a tote bag, as well as an instruction pamphlet and authenticity certificates.

Timemore Chestnut Chestnut and Porlex Mini Timemore Branding Grind Selection Burrs Timemore Box Timemore Chestnut C2 Weight Chestnut C2 Grinder Crank Arm Lid Unboxing Previous Next

This is the latest version of the grinder, which has some changes from the original Chestnut introduced about 4 years ago: all good upgrades. These include:

  • better handle knob material
  • metal adjustment ring and better bearing set (old was a brass ring with plastic dial)
  • all metal grinds catch cup (previous had a plastic interior)
  • slightly improved connection between handle mount and grinder
  • better quality, longer lasting internal spring for the burr adjustment.

The C2’s burrset is not one designed or patented by Timemore (though they do have several burrs they have designed and patented, and use in their higher end products). That said, it is a very high quality 420 grade, HRC 58 hardness level steel burrset that uses a 5-axis CNC process to make a very precise cutting surface. These burrs are more advanced and much better quality than the burrs found in most sub $100 hand grinders.

Where the Chestnut C2 is very special, and blows away grinders like the Porlex, or Hario Grinders, or many other hand crank grinders under $100 is the design of the spindle and dual bearing axle system. There’s two benefits to their design. First, the burr set stays extremely steady during the 360 degree rotation of the crank handle, giving a very even grind output. Second, with the dual bearing system Timemore designed for this grinder, the “action” on the crank arm is silky smooth and very easy to turn. Here’s how it looks inside.

In fact, it is so frictionless in turning (without coffee) that you could easily spin the crank arm at high speed by just holding the grinder’s body and giving it a big of “english” in movement.

Dialing in a grind setting is very easy and repeatable. There’s a solid tactile series of “clicks” as you adjust the grind coarser or finer. Remove the grinds bin to turn the adjustment ring. The internal spring keeps enough tension on the burrs that it always adjusts to the right position. Timemore recommends that you dial the grinder back to the “zero” setting then adjust it coarser by counting your clicks anytime you want to do a different grind style (like press pot, drip, chemex, moka pot or espresso). 

Setting the Grind

Setting the grind on the Chestnut C2 grinder is easy, reliable and repeatable.

For grind settings, we found these suitable ranges for brewing methods:

  • Espresso: 7-10 clicks
  • Moka Pot: 9-11 clicks
  • Aeropress: 13-14 clicks
  • Siphon (cloth): 13-15 clicks
  • Pour Over (cloth): 13-15 clicks
  • Siphon (metal, glass filter): 15-16 clicks
  • Pour Over (paper): 15-17 clicks
  • Chemex: 17-19 clicks
  • Pour Over (metal filter): 18-20 clicks
  • Press Pot: 25-29 clicks

The fit and finish of the Timemore Chestnut C2 is absolutely first rate across the board. The crank arm and cap attach with certainty and a solid connection to the grinder’s spindle mount. The ribs up the side give the grinder a super solid feel when you’re handling it and cranking away at 100rpm. The grinds catch bin – all metal now – screws easily into the main grinder body and has a quality feel to it all.

The grinder is also very easily disassembled, and you can even buy some of Timemore’s high end, proprietary burr sets to install into it. Here’s an exploded view of the entire grinder assembly.

Fully loaded up to max in the bean chamber, the Timemore Chestnut C2 can hold around 22g of coffee. Need to grind more? Grind coffee in batches. The grinder weighs in at just over a pound: 470g. It measures 160cm tall with the crank arm in place, and is 60mm in diameter. At a pound, it’s not an ultra lightweight travel grinder, but it is light enough for all vacation travel.

Overall, a very impressive package, especially considering its price point.

Timemore Branding Timemore Branding I like that the company kept the branding simple and subtle, just on the bottom of the unit. More classy. Disassembled Disassembled Everything about this grinder is quality. Brush Brush Even the included brush for sweeping out the grind selection dial area is nice. Crank Arm Crank Arm The crank arm’s connection to the grinder spindle when made is nice and solid. No slip worry. Porlex Mini Porlex Mini Porlex Mini is about half the weight of the Timemore. Chestnut C2 Weight Chestnut C2 Weight Weighs in at over a pound, near 470g. Timemore vs. Porlex Timemore vs. Porlex The two grinders, side by side. Note the much smaller size of the Porlex Mini. Burrs Burrs Hard to see, but the hardened steel precision cut burrs are in there

Initial Use of the Timemore Chestnut C2

Like all grinders, the Timemore Chestnut C2 requires a full break in period to “season” the burrs. You can take this as gospel for all quality coffee grinders: if you think it does a good grind quality and output when the product is new, it’s only going to get better. My goal is to have at least 30lbs of coffee through this grinder before we do the full Quickshot Review we have planned.

With that said, even out of the box, the grinder produces a very nice looking grind from the moka pot level on up to press pot. For the full review, we’ll be putting it through sieve tests to find out the particle size ranges, but early on, it’s looking pretty decent, except for espresso.

I think the thing that impresses me most with the early use of this product is the “action” of the crank arm. Without coffee inside, it is glass-smooth with almost no friction at all. I hold the body of the grinder in one hand, give it a slight wiggle, and the crank arm can spin around at 150+ RPM if I wanted to. Along with that, the dual bearing axle system keeps the burrs very steady in their housing with very little wobble, if any.

I did run some timing tests with the Timemore Chestnut C2 after putting about 5lbs of coffee through the grinder. Here’s the results:

  • 38 seconds to grind 20g (max capacity) at 15 setting (pour over)
  • 46 seconds to grind 20g at 13 setting (aeropress)

These are good speeds. The burrset seems to feed and cut very well and efficiently, but by Timemore’s own words, it produces too many fines and varying particle sizes at the espresso end of the cutting scale. My limited testing does show this: it can easily grind for espresso, but the shot timings were inconsistent. It also takes a much longer time to grind for espresso.

All that said, if I wanted a true “off the grid” espresso solution, I think I’d be happy with this grinder paired up with a Cafelat Robot and a Jetboil water heating system.

Conclusion, For Now

One of the great joys of my job here at CoffeeGeek is that I get to discover and use exceptional products. For years and years, I was used to the idea that, if I wanted a quality hand grinder, I had to go with something from Orphan Espresso and their huge and heavy Lido models. The OE Lido does set a high bar on quality output, but it’s not exactly a good travel solution.

For a $85ish product (you can actually get it for as low as $50 if you really hunt around the Internet), the Timemore Chestnut C2 – Timemore’s entry level hand grinder – sets a very high bar. It blows away anything Hario is producing. It puts the originator – the Porlex Mini – to shame. The Chestnut C2 is more in line with competing products that cost $150, $200 and more. 

It’s not the lightest weight hand grinder. It is too big to fit inside an Aeropress plunger (the Porlex famously can do that); it isn’t ideal for espresso (though a burr upgrade will fix that). But it’s a pleasure to use, fast to grind, and produces a fantastic grind for drip, pour over, siphon, cloth brewing, Chemex, Aeropress, and press pot. 

I’m looking forward to the full review process for the Timemore Chestnut C2! In the meantime, if you want to check out the product, it’s on Amazon for $83US (and in Canada for around $115).

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