If you want to get that natural taste of coffee that only manual labor can bring—it might take a bit of work on your part. Investing in the best manual coffee grinder on the market can get you that brew you’re looking for. Although convenience is key in our society, there’s nothing quite like the flavor of something handmade or produced with love—and a bit of labor.
To help you get that rich, natural flavor, a manual coffee grinder can take you out of your daily “grind”, helping you step back and focus on what’s truly important. Not only will it be able to slow down the rush of your day-to-day—but it will also taste so much different than just a normal coffee machine. In our guide today, we’ve brought together the best brand names and products under one article, the Zassenhaus Santiago being our Editor’s Choice.
After going through reviews from people like you and comparing feature to feature—from the grinder’s dimensions and white to the burr type, from the hopper and storage capacity to the warranty information—we have our final verdict here. However, before you skip right to the conclusion, make sure you go through the entire buying guide today to help you make the best decision. We’ve got a comparison table that puts all brand names and products side-by-side, we’ve taken you through in-detail reviews of each product, and finalized the article with a buying guide to help you choose the best manual coffee grinder.
More features: mahogany beech wood, grind adjustment, stainless steel burrs
The Zassenhaus Santiago has easily slid into the top spot for the best manual coffee grinders on the market.
Not only is it designed from a quality-style brand, but it is also hand-milled from one-of-a-kind European beechwood, which makes it especially perfect for grinding large quantities of coffee at once.
Backed by a 25-year limited warranty, the Zassenhaus Santiago allows you to be able to truly enjoy manual ground coffee for life. From its distinct features of beauty, technical precision and innovation, the Zassenhaus Santiago is known for its quality sturdiness, but also its elegance.
So, whether you’re grinding out coffee for the morning or spices for your evening meal, the Zassenhaus Santiago is a great addition to your kitchen to help hit all the flavors you could ever want. From its steel mechanism to its grinder, the inner workings are only matched by its outside design—with an attractive mahogany color with gold finishing details.
You can also enjoy the small box that catches the grinds as you manually create a tasteful cup of Joe. You also don’t have to worry about coffee sprinkling everywhere outside the unit, like you would with other types of manual coffee grinders. This is due to its high-quality construction and grind range—as fine or as coarse as you want it.
The Zassenhaus Santiago also features stainless steel burrs that can crush the beans and get the richness of flavor—every time.
More features: ceramic burrs, stainless steel exterior, rubber grip, grinding adjustment
The Porlex Mini Stainless Steel Coffee Grinder is designed simplistically—but with large beneficial results. Designed with premium Porlex burrs, used directly in the grinder, the laser-etched mechanisms create an efficient machine.
The Porlex Mini Stainless Steel Coffee Grinder is our most delicately-made but efficient coffee grinder. Designed with detail in mind, the newest patented design of the connector associated with this edition helps prevent any slippage from the handle and prevent wear over the years.
The Porlex Mini Stainless Steel Coffee Grinder is backed by a 7-year guarantee, which is pretty self-sufficient when it comes to high-quality coffee grinders. You’ll definitely appreciate the quality of the material in its build—especially since it’s built-to-last.
With ceramic outer burrs designed to create the best grind and a stainless steel housing, the Porlex Mini Stainless Steel Coffee Grinder is especially easy to clean and maintain. The ceramic material also makes it much more durable than glass, which explains the extended warranty and produces less static than plastic versions.
The Porlex Mini Stainless Steel Coffee Grinder is also designed with a conical shape, which keeps its anti-rust properties in mind. They also stay sharper for much longer. This coffee grinder also comes designed with a rubber grip which not only makes grinding easier but also lets you attach the handle to the side of the grinder.
More features: burr stabilizer plate, ceramic burrs, heatproof glass, dishwasher safe, grinding adjustment
Whether you want to keep the style of your kitchen symmetrical or if you’re just looking for a great addition to your coffee accessories, the Hario Skerton Pro is rated as our Most Stylish Grinder on the market.
From its improved Burr shaft, designed with a stabilizer plate to its easy-grind adjustment screw, but not only does it look good, it also is highly convenient in usage.
The Hario Skerton Pro also has a design fit for personal or professional use—with an improved handle for greater ergonomics—for the at-home coffee aficionado or café barista.
The Hario Skerton Pro is designed with a 100 g capacity, making it quite capable of making one or two cups of joe. This manual coffee grinder not only gives you the satisfaction of keeping things traditional, but it also promises coffee grind consistency and sturdiness.
Stylistically speaking, the Hario Skerton Pro uses unique features like ceramic burrs, which means you don’t have to preheat your coffee beans. This also allows the coffee to get full, unadulterated flavors without having gone through a de-oiling process while grinding.
Although the full process might take a few minutes, you can combine the entire process by bringing the water to a boil while grinding the coffee.
The entire process is noise-free, which means you get the fresh espresso taste without waking up the whole family.
More features: stainless steel burrs, rust resistant, visible hopper, cleaning brush included, adjustable grinding
Dubbed as our Accessory-Included Grinder, the 1Zgrinder Manual Burr Coffee Grinder is lightweight and easy to use. Although it isn‘t backed by a very long guarantee (especially when compared to others on the market, it still is promised with over five years of life. This estimate is drawn from its material—with high harden stainless steel precision burr, its lifetime is multiplied six times the average.
With its double-bearing design, the 1Zgrinder Manual Burr Coffee Grinder boasts consistency with grinding, with a three axial correction cutter. If consistency of your coffee is important to you or your customers, the 1Zgrinder Manual Burr Coffee Grinder is great for preserving the original flavor of coffee and improve the purity and taste.
If you‘re looking for the least amount of effort with the manual coffee grinder, the 1Zgrinder Manual Burr Coffee Grinder is easy on the grind, giving you a comfortable and relaxed experience.
Its aluminum alloy body with a stainless-steel core is known for its anti-rust properties as well as easy-to-clean features.
The accessories included with this grinder are quite a few to name, including the Manual Burr Coffee Grinder, the portable bag, one set of instructions, a non-slip ring, and a brush.
More features: non-slip base, grinding adjustment, rust resistant, ceramic burrs, dishwasher safe, 1 oz hopper
The Kyocera Advanced Ceramic Coffee Grinder is a high-quality pick if you’re looking for affordability. Although you may think that great tasting coffee takes cash, the Kyocera Advanced Ceramic Coffee Grinder proves that notion wrong.
Using the features of a ceramic coffee mill and the unique and specific ceramic grinding mechanism, you can rest assured that you’ll be getting a cup of joe packed with flavor. Especially since the ceramic material protects the flavor of the grind, each cup you make will have the promise of fresh, flavorful, and pure coffee.
The Kyocera Advanced Ceramic Coffee Grinder also has a fool-proof grinding mechanism that boasts hardness and anti-rust properties.
This means, that, even though the Kyocera Advanced Ceramic Coffee Grinder only has a 1-year limited warranty, it still can promise an ultra long-life performance.
The manual coffee grinder also has an in-house grind adjustment that allows for fine to coarse grinds, making it possible for you to choose whichever make you prefer. The Kyocera Advanced Ceramic Coffee Grinder also comes with a non-slip base, that ensures stability.
If you are specifically interested in making Turkish coffee or grinding seasoning spices like salt, pepper, green tea, and sesame seeds, this is a versatile buy with its ceramic grinding mechanism.
The conical burr design also allows you to be able to focus on a range of various grinds, from French press to Turkish coffee.
More features: 15 grinding settings, 1.5-inch ceramic burr, removable hand crank mechanism
The Handground Precision Manual Coffee Grinder is a great, affordable, personal manual coffee grinder that has a variety of settings to give big-scale cafés a run for their money. As a high-quality, hand coffee grinder, the Handground Precision Manual Coffee Grinder is incredibly responsive in producing a consistent grind using the hand crank mill for any type of bean, which gives you versatility in your coffee-making.
The Handground Precision Manual Coffee Grinder has 15 adjustable settings, allowing you to choose the coarseness of your grind as well as the style—from Pour Over, Drip to Chemex, from Cold Brew to French Press, and from AeroPress to Espresso-
Although it’s a manual coffee grinder, the process is hassle-free, with a 40mm conical ceramic burr mill and a triple-mounted axle which makes it quite sturdy, even while it’s working.
The quality is also highly reliable, lasting five times longer than stainless steel blades.
The great thing about the manual coffee grinder? It is durable AND portable, allowing you to take it or place it anywhere around the kitchen. It’s also pretty quiet, making it an ideal mechanism for a family-oriented household.
The build is also easy to set up and tear down, boasting not only ease-of-use but also elegance.
If you’re looking at taking a step back in your morning routine and spending a few minutes to get a natural taste for your coffee, a manual coffee grinder might be the perfect solution.
Especially if you like that hand-brew taste but don’t want to keep dishing out the extra cash (and trip) to your local favorite coffee shop every morning, you can get a manual coffee grinder and keep it in the comfort of your own home.
However, before you just go and buy the first manual grinder you see, you should be aware of the various features and need-to-know pieces of info that can help you choose a grinder to best suit your taste in coffee (and daily schedule).
You might be considering buying a hand coffee grinder but are not sure about all that extra time you’ll be spending with manual labor.
However, not only will you be saving money and time with your very own grinder at home, you’ll also enjoy and appreciate the taste.
If you’re not yet quite convinced that your kitchen needs a hand coffee grinder, here are a few advantages of why you should invest in one today for a better coffee tomorrow morning:
Although you have some work cut out for you—it’s hard to beat a manually-ground, natural cup of coffee.
You might have just done a plunge and bought one of the manual coffee grinders you see here today. You might still be considering the purchase.
Familiarizing yourself about the various steps and processes on how to use a manual coffee grinder might help you feel a bit more comfortable about your ownership of one.
Especially if this is going to be your first invested manual coffee grinder, you’ll need to inform yourself about how to use one.
To help you out, watch this instructional and informational video:
Before you buy, make sure you have a closer look at the individual features of the coffee grinders. To help you compare one from the other—aside from our comparison table at the top of this guide—we’re going to name a few unique features that you should look into before you buy a manual coffee grinder.
Whether you’re working with a small amount of counter space or you want a good grip on things, the weight and size of the coffee grinder can make all the difference. It can also make a huge difference if you’re looking to store it within a cupboard or a small amount of cabinet space.
If you’re concerned with weight, aim for a lighter coffee grinder, like the Porlex Mini Stainless Steel Coffee Grinder, which only weighs about 8 oz. Although it’s small and doesn’t produce a whole ton of coffee, it is still is great for travel, compatibility, and being lightweight.
The great thing about manual coffee grinders? They make little to no noise when it comes to disturbing your housemates for an early morning coffee or late-night espresso.
Just because you want a quality cup of Joe in the morning doesn’t have to mean that it’s at the expense of your housemates or pets with a noisy coffee machine in the morning!
With a manual coffee grinder, you’re already making an educated decision to reduce your noise pollution here, so, kudos to you!
Especially if you’re into various types of coffees or if you have customers or guests that take their coffees differently, having various grinding settings and speeds can be a great feature to have in your back pocket.
However, there’s no point in having a ton of different settings if they’re not high quality.
The type of material can also make a huge difference when it comes to the durability of the material. Not only does a promised warranty matter at this point—you want something that lasts long and provides quality for years to come.
Once you get invested in a particular coffee, it’ll be tough to settle for anything else.
The capacity of the manual coffee grinder also makes a difference. You want to be geared up for a café full of happy customers with a machine that can get the job done.
However, with manual and portable grinders like these featured on the guide, you normally are going to be able to fill the grinder with anywhere between .7 to 3.5 oz, which is roughly 19 to 100 grams of beans.
With 100 grams of beans, you can fill up around 9 or 10 cups of coffee. Just for you to get an idea. In general, you’re going to want to go with a realistic size and capacity for your situation—whether you need a grinder for 1-3 people or 20.
Especially since you’re going to already be investing in a manual coffee grinder, you’ll want to get high-quality material that will last longer than its warranty.
When it comes to burrs—which usually take most of the beating—you’re going to have to choose between ceramic and stainless steel.
There are pros and cons to each—but both are quite good choices.
Let’s face it, you’re going to be grinding your coffee by hand—that’s not exactly user-friendly.
However, to make it as great of an experience as possible, you’ll want to have a compact size, a quality handle position, and thoughtful design.
To help you gauge user-friendliness, check out a product’s customer reviews. Familiarizing yourself about the process behind how each of the manual grinders works can help you become more comfortable with it and make the entire grinding process extremely user friendly.
Especially since you most likely are going to be using your coffee grinder for home enjoyment, you don’t want to end up spending a fortune on it.
There will definitely be a grinder that matches your budget. All you have to do is a bit of research on your part to make sure you’re not going over your limit.
Even though most electric grinders will generally be backed by a few years of a warranty, a manual grinder will have a large range of years—from none to seven, like with the Porlex Mini Stainless Steel Coffee Grinder or twenty-five, like the Zassenhaus Santiago.
The warranty that comes along with the grinder can dictate a lot to you about the quality.
Choosing the best manual coffee grinder on the market is quite the decision. To help answer questions you may have, here are our FAQs:
Normally, you start by taking it piece by piece apart. You can then, individually, rinse out the various pieces, starting with the handle and the hopper lid.
Pay special attention to the grounds catcher since it generally will have a bit of buildup of oil. This can easily be washed with soap and water.
For the smaller parts or the burrs, you can use a q-tip to scrub it out.
We definitely would suggest to stay away from an automatic dishwasher and stick with washing with soap and water by hand.
When you’re finished, simply put it back together after it dries!
Although you might have the patience to manually grind your coffee, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have the proper patience or time to work through this entire guide.
If you’ve skipped over the whole guide, no problem, we want to help save you time! Here is our verdict of the top three choices for the best manual coffee grinder:
The Zassenhaus Santiago is our Editor’s Choice for the best on the market for a number of reasons—and features like the quarter of a century limited warranty, the mahogany beech wood look and the mechanism features like the grinding adjustment and stainless steel burrs.
The Porlex Mini Stainless Steel Coffee Grinder is our number two choice—if you want to focus on the efficiency of things. With a conical nature, the Porlex is backed by a 7-year limited warranty and comes with unique additions, like a rubber grip and grinding adjustment. It is also built to last with ceramic burrs and a stainless steel exterior.
If you find yourself on a budget but still are a coffee aficionado, you can opt for our Budget Pick, the Kyocera Advanced Ceramic Coffee Grinder. Its features, like its non-slip base, grinding adjustment, rust resistant, ceramic burrs, and its dishwasher safe capability sets it apart from other affordable options.
We hope our guide has helped you choose the best manual coffee grinder for you and our morning regime.
