Porlex Ceramic Burr Hand Grinder
Today I visited Market Lane Coffee and purchased a Porlex ceramic conical burr hand grinder in preparation for my trip to Malaysia where I intend to brew all my own coffee in the hotel.
The unit is made in Japan and features 100% stainless steel body with ceramic conical burrs and burr carrier. The Porlex units seems to share the same burr set as the Kyocera and Hario Skerton hand grinders - from research online, they have interchangeable burrs. It is capable of grinding rocks to Turkish fine.
Initial impressions show at that at extremely coarse grind settings, there is a lot of play or wobble in the burr carrier leading to extremely inconsistent grinds. For a french press setting expect to find a fair few fines in the grind. At finer settings the burr carrier becomes more stable and hence results in a more consistent grind setting. When grinding you need to keep a solid hold of the hand crank and the bottom canister as it isn't secured in place by screws or threads like the Hario or Kyocera.
Grinding 10 grams of coffee at paper filter pour over grind setting yielded 1.8 grams of fines when sieved through a metal mesh tea strainer. The fines were extremely fine, almost finer than Turkish setting!
This unit seems to be a very capable unit and I hope it serves me well in Malaysia while I am away. For $55 it's a bargain compared to the much more expensive Hario Skerton and Kyocera hand grinders