GAVO Manual Coffee Grinder with Stainless Steel Burr – Coffee Grinder Manual with Adjustable Settings for Aeropress, Drip Coffee, Espresso, French Press, Turkish Coffee & More!

It’s harder than I expected to grind the beans but overall it’s alright. Also the handle keeps falling off.

I’ve been moving away from pre-ground coffee over the past year or two, and the electric burr grinder I have (which is a Braun so not a totally low end model) was becoming a hassle to grind for just one or two cups on a daily basis. After reading the detailed descriptions and reviews of other hand grinders in this general price range I went with this GAVO based on the reviews of consistent grinds. After using it a week here’s my review…

Grind size and consistency: I tried settings 2, 3, and 6 and found the size and consistency for each size was definitely superior to my electric burr grinder. I show the grind results for 6 on the left and 3 on the right. The few larger particles in the 3 grind are probably stray leftovers from the larger grind test. The flavor is also fuller and more natural using the manual grinder than the electric one, at least to my taste buds.

Grinder size: There were a few comments that the GAVO is too small. I think that is something that totally depends on how much coffee you’re making and the strength you want. I do a pour over to a 20 oz coffee cup and can grind the coffee I need for that with one fill of the jar. A caveat to that though is I do need to do two fills of the grinding hopper because the hopper only holds a scant 2 tablespoons while I need 4 tablespoons of coffee– but I see that as minor inconvenience. It’s super easy to take the top off to add the second helping of beans into hopper and resume grinding… and you don’t have to empty the jar in-between. It’s just a short pause to add the additional beans and continue grinding to get the full 4 tablespoons ground. Other brands seem to require you to screw and unscrew the cover and grinding handle between each use but the GAVO doesn’t– it just slides on and off which is a plus.

For reference, the collection jar holds about 4 tablespoons of ground coffee while the hopper holds 2 tablespoons of beans. You can use that to figure out how that works into how much coffee you need to have ground and go from there.

Grinding: The grinding is smooth and not hard (I went with the GAVO as the reviews overall seemed to indicate that the steel burs grind easier than the ceramic ones, and that seems to hold true here). One thing I did find however is you can’t overfill the hopper, else the beans will catch in the slots above the burr blades. You’ll think you are finished grinding even though one of the compartments is still full of beans. I did notice that beans still seemed to catch occasionally even if I was careful, but it seemed to get better the more I used it and the last few times I used it they flowed through nicely… so hopefully it just needed breaking in.

In short, I was tempted to rate it a 5 but the size of the hopper is a bit of an annoyance, and the size of the grinder makes it a little hard to hold while you grind; it’s easy for your hand to slip down to the size adjustment ring as you grind… so I am giving it a 4 (good, but could be a little better)

This thing feels super sturdy and grinds through coffee so much faster than my old plastic Hario grinders that always ended up breaking. I’ve only had it for a day so who knows, but I can’t believe how good it is compared to the others.

It feels heavy duty. I can grind through a lot of beans a lot faster than other handheld grinders.

Only 2 qualms so far:

1 – I wish it held more beans at a time. For my normal pot of french press I would fill the top part and grind through. That same amount of beans means I have to fill this grinder almost 2 1/2 times. This is a minor inconvenience significantly offset by how much faster this baby grinds the beans.

2 – I wish the handle was more rounded as it kept scraping my finger as I’d grind. Not a huge deal and I’ll learn how to grind without getting nicked by the handle. A very minor inconvenience.

Overall, I’m thrilled with this purchase and if I find a grinder from this company with a larger bowl to hold more beans per grind I’ll definitely upgrade and give this one to a friend.

Grinder is very sturdy and does not feel flimsy at all. The coarseness setting ring is very easy to accidentally move when grinding, but I learnt to hold the grinder higher up and did not have and issues since. It is very fast and takes very little time to grind enough for 1 cup. Loads faster than the JavaPresse.
Very pleased.