Hario Ceramic Coffee Mill

Specifications:

Manual coffee mill grinds beans to your desired texture
Ceramic conical burrs ensure a precise, uniform grind.
Nonslip rubber base keeps the mill in place during grinding.
Ergonomically designed crank handle detaches for compact storage and easy travel.
Stepped grind adjustment mechanism is easy to use and change

Product description

Style Name:Skerton

In Japanese, HARIO means "The King of Glass". Since its founding in 1921, this Japanese company has been manufacturing glassware of the highest quality for general consumers and for industrial uses. This hand grinder has been designed by Hario to provide coffee lovers with an inexpensive means to have freshly-ground coffee, even while traveling with a light load.

Other produtc info from buyers:

The Skerton Pro was the 3rd grinder I’ve owned. I was using the JavaPresse before the Skerton, which is a lot cheaper.

I decided to try the Skerton hoping it would be lower effort. I found the JavaPresse slippery and over time was worried I was hurting my wrists.

The Skerton seemed much better at first but just like the JavaPresse as it wore it’s internal parts it becomes more and more difficult to crank and the grind consistency started to get worse. The ceramic burrs are very durable but the plastic parts do wear and the shaft has more play in it after a year. When I first started using the Skerton I was mostly grinding for French Press. I would always have fines in the coffee but figured that was just how French Press was. Later I started using a 3 cup Moka Pot and a Hario V60. Both of these kept the fines out of the coffee but the inconsistency did affect flavor. But the big issue is when using the finer grinding settings particularly with lighter roasts the grinder tends to jam and the physical effort goes way up.

Before the Skerton and JavaPresse I had a $40 electric burr grinder. I might say the Skerton is better than electric grinders at that price point.

After getting a six cup Chemex and feeling like I was really in danger of giving myself an RSI from grinding I switched back to an electric grinder in the $100 range. The Skerton is absolutely no competition to the new electric grinder, the electric one at that price point produces a much much more consistent grind.
After reading what seems like hundreds of reviews for various mills and grinders, I settled on the Hario Ceramic Mill. I love this product! As others have pointed out, it's very well made, as well as easy to use and clean.

The thing is, if you're planning on brewing more than a cup at a time, it does take time and frankly can wear you out. I've been using the mill to grind coffee for use in a French Press, which highlights another shortcoming that has been mentioned by many reviewers. That is, when using it to grind coarser coffee (as for a press), the grinds can be inconsistent in size. That seems to be a result of two things: when you loosen the burr enough to produce the larger grinds and then turn the crank, the play in the axle moves the shaft back and forth allowing grinds of different sizes to get through.

Here's what I did. Removed the crank handle and replaced it with a "connecting nut", which is basically a nut about one inch long that fits the shaft. The size you need is metric 6 (or M6). It cost me $1 at a local hardware store. When I'm ready to grind the coffee, I put in the beans, put the cover on and attach my cordless drill to the connecting nut. It used to take more than 6 minutes to grind enough coffee for three cups by hand and now it takes no more than 90 seconds. Another benefit of this method is that the constant downward pressure of the drill on the shaft while grinding (as opposed the side to side pull of the crank) results in grinds that are very consistent in size - even when producing a course grind for a French Press!

Obviously, don't go full-speed on the drill. A slow and steady speed will do the job and not damage the beans or the grinder. Another tip is to hold the jar in one hand and the drill in the other while grinding rather than putting the jar on a counter. It can "wiggle" a little bit while grinding and your hands act as shock absorbers during the process, making it much easier.

Price: $41.24