Sunday, August 23, 2015

Specialty Coffee Gear: Porlex Tall Hand Grinder Review

Specialty Coffee Gear: Porlex Tall Hand Grinder Review

The Porlex Tall Hand Grinder is an affordable coffee grinder that is great for travel or home use. The stainless steal body means that it's very durable and it also makes it quite easy to clean. It comes with ceramic conical burrs that won't rust and should stay sharp for a very long time. The grinder is also very light (265g including the handle) so you can easily bring it with you wherever you go.

There are a number of reviews online, but I'm going to take the more objective perspective of someone who isn't trying to sell you anything. A good coffee grinder is arguably the most important tool in your array of home-brew gear, so you need to get it right. A lousy grinder means bad coffee.


After almost a year of daily (sometimes more) use, I would say this grinder is pretty impressive and is a great purchase for home-brewers who don't want to spend too much money on their first grinder. I was able to brew some pretty amazing cups of coffee using a Porlex and I still use it to grind fresh coffee beans everyday. This grinder is able to churn out an even grind consistency necessary for create an amazing cup of coffee, that is as long as you have all the parameters right

The hopper can fit up to 35g of coffee beans depending on bean density, so it will allow you to grind coffee beans good for around 2 cups at once. The total grind time will also vary from 2 minutes to 6 minutes depending on the amount of beans you want to grind and your arm strength. It's certainly a great way to exercise early in the morning.

As an approximate guide, here's how you can dial in on your favorite brew style.

Extra Fine (Turkish) = 1 - 2 clicks 
Fine (Espresso) = 3 - 4 
Medium-Fine (Fine-Medium?) = 5 - 6 
Medium (Filter) = 7 - 8 
Medium-Coarse = 9 - 10
Coarse (French Press) = 11 - 12

You can also find how the grounds will look like, based on number of clicks, in the picture below. The grounds were relatively consistent for finer grind settings which makes the Porlex Tall grinder great for pour-over and aeropress coffee but after around 8 clicks the grounds became a bit more uneven. The Porlex Tall grinder isn't that great if you're a French Press aficionado. 

Specialty Coffee Gear: Porlex Tall Hand Grinder Review grind size

Another concern that people have with the Porlex Tall grinder is how the handle gets worn out relatively quickly. Now, I have experienced this and I don't think it's a deal-breaker. If you hold it properly, the handle will stay on the grinder throughout the entire grinding process. 

This grinder is cheaper than what you'd get if you were to purchase an electric Baratza Encore (Php 8,250) grinder at just Php 2,400 and it's said to be a better alternative to the Hario Mini Mill. That said, if you're not looking to spend on a good-quality electric grinder from Baratza then definitely get yourself a Porlex. Your coffee will thank you for it. 

If you want to improve your coffee skills, let Michael Phillips, Director for Training from Blue Bottle Coffee, teach you how to brew an amazing cup of coffee.

Further reading you might like:

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Cheers,
Chef Jay

5 comments:

  1. The information in this blog is extremely useful for the people.

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  2. Thanks a lot for your information. Wish you best of luck.

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  3. Nice grinder machine. I just found out about this and regret not knowing sooner! Sounds amazing keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
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