LHS Manual Coffee Grinder Stainless Steel Portable Hand Crank Coffee Mill Grinder Ceramic Conical Burr with Adjustable Coarseness for Home, Office or Traveling

Good for coffee. I tried for chaga. Killed it.
A plus is the spindle for the handle is the same size at a socket for a nut, which means it fits a drill socket

This grinder is designed for someone who wants a cheap no-frills way to grind their coffee beans without excessive fines (powder sized grounds) as commonly seen in blade grinders. For the price, this is a serviceable grinder for regular coffee (i.e. not espresso). Its grounds are not as uniform as a grinder with stainless steel burrs, but it works for most regular coffee applications (like cold brew, drip filter, French press, and pour over).

There are only 4 fixed settings: fine, fine-medium, medium-coarse, and coarse. [See the attached image with a centimeter ruler for scale: (left to right): fine, fine-medium, and course.] The size of the grounds appears to be uniform based on a cursory glance. However, if you like to precisely dial in the grind size down to the micron, this is not the grinder for you.

The biggest problem with this grinder is the 2 plastic stabilizers that hold the metal drive shaft in place. If you look at the customer images, you will see plastic parts broken into 2 C-shaped pieces. That’s a cracked stabilizer.

When I first used it, I noticed a squeaking which indicates a problem with the assembly. After the first few grinds, I also noticed the metal fittings on the shaft was grinding against the top stabilizer inside the hopper creating plastic spaghetti shavings. This friction shaved about .5 millimeters of plastic on the inside of the ring that holds the shaft in place. I was able to remove the plastic spaghetti with tweezers. The damaged to the top stabilizer didn’t negatively affect the function of the grinder. In fact, it shaved enough plastic off the stabilizer to stop it from squeaking, which indicates either the parts are misaligned or the opening in the stabilizer was too tight to allow the shaft to turn freely.

If the friction gets worse, I can easily see the plastic stabilizers breaking from regular use. Due to the plastic shavings in the first few grinds, I recommend either discarding the first few batches or brewing them using a paper filter method like a V60 or Chemex.

Like other manual ceramic burr grinders, grinding with your arms is going to take a long time (up to several minutes depending on your speed). However, the tip of the metal shaft is shaped like a hex drill bit. If you have a power drill, you could attach your power drill to the hex shaped tip of the shaft and grind your coffee in about a minute. This will probably wear the parts even more and shorten the life of the grinder.

It works, it’s easy to clean, and is durable, it’s just kind of a pain to do. If you have goals of getting superhuman strength or better arm muscles, buy this product. I would use it on the go, but I would rather spend another 20$ for a regular grinder. But does the job and does it well! Just is an arm workout

So if you’re like me, and making the switch from an electric burr grinder to this, you’re in for ride. I own another manual grinder, but due to the limited capacity of the container it attached to, found myself making horrible messes whenever I attempted to use it to make coffee for more than myself, so I relied on my electric grinder. But now that I’m moving and kitchen counter space is sought after real estate, I find myself forced to convert back. This burr grinder does the job, albeit not all too well.

It has 4 settings, all of which I’ve used. The burrs seem to be a bit small, so if you’re unused to a manual grinder, be prepared for an arm workout, because it takes about 6 minutes to grind coffee for a pour-over for two people. Also, I find that all of the settings, except for the largest, create an amazingly uniform grind, superior to any electric grinder or industrial grinder I’ve ever seen.

The finest setting is the most awkward, and grinds the beans down to a coarseness between that needed for Turkish coffee and that needed for espresso. I found that in making Turkish coffee with this grinder, the coffee turned out too gritty, and ultimately unenjoyable. Truthfully, I wouldn’t even consider using it for my Moka pot, out of fear of it clogging and making a mess. I really don’t care for this setting.

The second setting is quite a bit more coarse, and I find that it is perfect for my Hario v60, when used with a paper filter, but too coarse for a Moka. This setting is the reason why I rated this product so highly, because it creates the most amazing coffee when paired with the Hario.

The third a bit too coarse for a drip, but too fine for cold brew, but I find it works perfectly with my French press. The fourth setting is rather coarse, and unlike the other settings, doesn’t produce an amazingly uniform grind, but when paired with a sachet, this setting makes some amazing cold brew, but I haven’t used it much in the week that I’ve had it.

I would also like to mention, this is a product designed for use with coffee beans, not whole spices or seeds. If that’s what you’re looking for, then I suggest looking into something like a Krups Fast Touch, which can be purchased for cheaper than this product, and do the job you’re looking for. The burrs on this grinder are made of ceramic, and aren’t as durable as metal ones, but are huge part of the reason why this grinder is as affordable as it is, and they do their job well enough. They simply aren’t going to be able to grind down something as hard as an allspice berry, without bits of ceramic ending up in your cooking.

For my usage, I find this product to be almost perfect, and my only real complaint is the size of the burrs. I simply wish it wouldn’t take as long as it does to grind up the coffee I need for my morning cup.

I would definitely buy again.

Had high hopes, it did it’s job, grinded the coffee well. But it emits the most annoying SCREECHing noise ever. Woke up all my roommates. IT IS UNBEARABLE THE SOUND THIS THING EMITS. Especially first thing in the morning. Also it is impossible to get a good clean, you can only really clean the canister at the bottom, the top does not come apart, so you can just rinse with water, but can’t get into the gears and stuff.