Timemore’s Chestnut Slim Hand Grinder

The Chestnut Slim grinder from Timemore is a really high spec, but accessibly priced, hand grinder which we’ve been thoroughly impressed with in our testing. The following relays our experiences with the Timemore Chestnut Slim, but if you’d rather experience it in video form, head straight to the bottom of this piece or click here.

An Overview
Equipped with 38mm hardened stainless steel conical burrs, these are designed primarily for filter brewing, but there is also an option to upgrade the burr set to Timemore’s ‘Spiked to Cut’ stainless steel burrs, or their 6 point titanium coated burrs if you want to prepare your coffee as espresso. The solid metal chamber of the Chestnut Slim means that the drive shaft is held securely in place and offers that bit more durability and an improved grind profile versus the Timemore Chestnut C2’s moulded plastic chamber.

Weighing just 430 grams, the Slim can be conveniently disassembled and broken down into component parts for travel – and that’s all made even easier using the included travel case. At just 45mm in diameter, it also fits perfectly inside an Aeropress, and the wooden handle is removable, saving even more space. It then magnetically clicking back into place when you’re ready to grind. 

The outer casing of the grinder has a diamond patterned knurled finish, providing a textured grip, which makes the grinding experience that little bit smoother and ergonomic. The design of the handle and bearings inside the driveshaft all contribute to a very smooth grinding action, and we’re really impressed with the speed of the grinder – when grinding for a single cup V60, we’ve consistently been able to grind 15g of coffee in around 20 to 25 seconds without breaking a sweat. 

Grind Adjustment & Recommended Settings
The grinder can be adjusted by fully closing the adjustment dial to the ‘zero position’, winding it all the way around clockwise until the crank handle ceases to move and then counting the clicks back to your desired grind setting

When it comes to dialling in for specific brew methods, there are some really useful jumping off points mentioned in the instruction manual that comes with the hand grinder. These are useful in guiding you before you settle on your own preferred grind settings for whatever brewer you’re using to make your coffee,  but we have also trialled the grinder to establish our own suggestions:  

Aeropress (1 minute steep): 16 clicks
Aeropress (2 minute steep): 19 clicks
V60 (single cup 15g): 18 clicks
V60 (two cup 30g): 22 clicks
Clever Dripper: 20 clicks
Steepshot: 15 clicks
French Press (500g): 24 clicks
French Press (1 litre): 27 clicks
Chemex (1 litre): 32 clicks

The maximum capacity of the Chestnut Slim is around 28g of whole bean coffee at a time if you’re using lightly roasted, dense beans. Any more than that and you’re really starting to push what the chamber and the grounds bin are capable of holding.  

Additional Features
With narrow hand grinders, it can be tricky to get your beans into the grinding chamber tidily. Timemore have made this a little easier by mounting the stabilising arms deep within the chamber, making this process considerably easier. We’ve found that weighing into the grounds bin of the grinder also makes it easier to load your beans more efficiently.

Another particularly thoughtful element of the Chestnut Slim’s design is the fact that the burrs are recessed into the body. This means you’re able to balance the grinder on your counter whilst weighing out your beans – a really nice feature that isn’t present in every hand grinder. 

Cleaning & Maintenance
After grinding, you can use the included cleaning brush to sweep out any chaff or bits of ground coffee that might cling to the burrs because of static build up. The amount of ground coffee retained is fairly negligible and we haven’t found the need to updose to account for grinds retention in this particular grinder. 

Following a fair bit of usage, you’ll want to deep clean the grinder, which is also fairly easy to do. Screw the grind adjustment dial to the coarsest setting and as you keep spinning it will come off completely, allowing you to access the burrs inside. Keep track of the order of each component you pull out so that can assemble it again properly in the correct order. The instruction manual will help you out here if you get a bit lost, so we’d recommend holding onto it. 

Nicely finished, the Chestnut Slim enlists durable, quality materials that make for a high spec hand grinder. Nice to hold, smooth to grind with and super adjustable, it’s priced appropriately and accessibly compared to other hand grinder options of a similar spec, and very capable of making delicious coffee on the go or with very little effort at home, regardless of your chosen filter brewing method.

You can find the Timemore Chestnut Slim Hand Grinder in our Online Shop.

Timemore’s Chestnut C2 Hand Grinder

The Chestnut C2 is Timemore’s entry level hand grinder, but the small price tag gets you a grinder with a number of excellent features. We've also created a video that offers a detailed outline, which you can view at the bottom of this piece. 

An Overview
Coming equipped with 38mm hardened stainless steel conical burrs, these are designed primarily for filter brewing, but there is also an option to upgrade the burr set to Timemore’s ‘Spiked to Cut’ stainless steel burrs, or their 6 point titanium coated burrs if you want to prepare your coffee as espresso. 

Like its burrs, the C2’s crank arm is also made from stainless steel, whilst the inner chamber, grind adjustment dial and handle are moulded from plastic and the grinder’s casing is made of aluminium. Overall the grinder is fairly lightweight, weighing less than half a kilo, and can be conveniently disassembled and broken down into component parts for travel – made even easier using the included travel case. 

The outer casing of the grinder has a knurled finish, providing a textured grip, which makes the grinding experience that little bit smoother. The design of the handle and bearings inside the driveshaft all contribute to a very smooth grinding action, and we’re really impressed with the speed of the grinder – when grinding for a single cup V60, we’ve consistently been able to grind 15g of coffee in around 25 to 30 seconds, without breaking a sweat. 

The grinder can be adjusted by fully closing the adjustment dial to the ‘zero position’, by winding it all the way around clockwise until the crank handle ceases to move, before counting the clicks back to your desired grind setting.

Recommended Grind Settings
There are some really useful jumping off points mentioned in the Chestnut C2’s instruction manual, but  we’ve also trialled the grinder to establish our own suggestions on where to start for some of our favourite filter brewing methods:

AeroPress (1 minute steep): 16 clicks
AeroPress (2 minute steep): 19 clicks
V60 (1-cup 15g): 18 clicks
V60 (2-cup 30g): 22 clicks
Clever Dripper: 20 clicks
Steepshot: 15 clicks
French Press (500g): 24 clicks
French Press (1 litre): 27 clicks
Chemex (1 litre): 32 clicks

Additional Features
The maximum capacity of the C2 is 30g of coffee at a time if you’re using lightly roasted, dense beans. Any more than that and you’re really starting to push what the chamber and the grounds bin are capable of holding. 

One thing that’s particularly considered with this grinder is that the burrs are recessed into the body. This means you’re able to balance the grinder on your counter whilst weighing out your beans – a really nice feature that isn’t present in every hand grinder. 

After grinding, you can use the included cleaning brush to sweep out any chaff or bits of ground coffee that might cling to the burrs because of static build up. The amount of ground coffee retained is fairly negligible and we haven’t found the need to updose to account for grinds retention in this particular grinder. 

Cleaning & Maintenance
After a fair bit of usage, you’ll want to deep clean the grinder, which is also fairly easy to do. Screw the grind adjustment dial to the coarsest setting and as you keep spinning it will come off completely, allowing you to access the burrs inside. Keep track of the order of each component you pull out so that can assemble it again properly in the correct order. The instruction manual will help you out here if you get a bit lost. 

Overall, we feel that for the price of the C2 you get a really sturdy, nicely put together and reliable hand grinder. Nice to hold, smooth to grind with and super adjustable, you’ll be able to make delicious coffee on the go or with very little effort at home, regardless of your chosen filter brewing method. 

You can find the Timemore Chestnut C2 Hand Grinder in our Online Shop. 

Introducing the Baratza Encore

As our range of equipment and hardware continues to expand, our focus remains on showcasing products we’ve extensively tried and tested to ensure they don’t just complement, but elevate, your home brewing experience.

Sometimes that means introducing a new category of products, like water filters or storage canisters, whilst at others it means extending our existing range to offer greater choice.

With that in mind, we’re pleased to welcome the Baratza Encore to our fleet of coffee grinders. If you’d rather skip straight to a video version of this piece, it’s available to view here.

Dubbed an entry-level grinder, the Baratza Encore is perhaps underselling itself. Whilst it is the brand’s most accessibly priced grinder – and comparably priced to the much-loved Wilfa Svart – it’s a reliable and impressive countertop grinder for the home brewer. The 64mm hardened steel burr is hard wearing and produces a precise grind quality. Two colour options – black and white – allow you to choose a look that blends in on your countertop. 

Setting-up and dialling in
Boasting a small footprint (33.8cm x 14.0cm x 16cm (H x W x D)), the Encore is incredibly easy to set-up straight out of the box. Simply pop the rubber ring into the top of the burr set and affix the switch and you can begin grinding your coffee. However, as with any grinder, the first thing you’ll want to do is dial it in. 

Your grind size can be easily adjusted with a simple twist of the hopper. Following the 40 numbered settings labelled on the hopper, rotating towards the lower numbers will provide a finer grind, whilst twisting toward the higher numbers will coarsen the consistency of your grounds

The instruction manual in the Encore’s box offers some useful jumping off points for where they recommend setting your grinder for different brew methods. However, what these don’t factor in is your recipe (i.e. how much coffee you might be making with that specific brewer). We’ve therefore built on their guidelines to offer some more specific starting points:

AeroPress
1 minute brew time, 15g coffee to 230g water, inverted – Setting 12
3 minute brew time, 16g coffee to 250g water, regular – Setting 15

V60
1-Cup, 15g coffee to 250g water – Setting 14
2-Cup, 30g coffee to 500g water – Setting 20

Clever Dripper
25g coffee to 400g water – Setting 18

Chemex
60g coffee to 1000g water – Setting 32

French Press
45g coffee to 750g water – Setting 26

MoccaMaster
36g coffee to 600g water – Setting 25
75g coffee to 1250g water  –Setting 30

Whilst more specific than the manual’s instructions, we still view these as starting points. Each grinder will be calibrated slightly differently, so be sure to find the grind size that works best for you in the cup. You can find more detail on how to approach your grind size in this video.

Cleaning & Maintenance
Keeping your Encore clean is incredibly straightforward. Remove the hopper by rotating it to the coarsest setting and lifting it out. This will reveal the rubber seal and burr set below. Removing both, the stiff-bristled brush included with the grinder allows you to remove any built-up fines from the seal and the burrs.

To maintain consistently clean cups of filter coffee we recommend carrying this out at least once a week if you’re using the grinder on a daily basis, and monthly if you’re just using it at the weekends. 

Perhaps one of Baratza's most commendable and appealing qualities is their commitment to creating products that stand the test of time. As well as allowing for easy removal of parts for cleaning, the Encore has also been designed so that every part of it can be replaced with relative ease. This avoids the challenge of built-in obsolescence that many electronic devices face and helps ensure the product will be part of your home brewing routine for years to come. 

To find out more about the Baratza Encore, you can watch our video below, and find more technical information and shop the product here.