Too Much Coffee

There are only 2 coffee drinkers in our family. We make only 1-2 brews a day, in a stainless steel percolator. I grind beans, but our grinder died last week.
Rather than just buying the first that came to hand, I thought I'd do some research and found myself in this little part of cyberspace.
First decision: manual or electric?
A manual grinder seems like a greener solution and maybe longer-lived (?), but I have used a manual grinder occasionally in the past, and found them a bit tedious. I found a BELLUX COFFEE GRINDER at the Algerian Coffee Shop (£22.50) which looked good...
Whether manual or electric, any recommendations would be welcome?

Hi and welcome to TMC

How much money are you looking to spend on the grinder?

Starbucks Barista grinder aka Dualit ake Solis 166. £50 when I bought it, but that wasn't yesterday.

Wouldn't buy anything less and mine has lasted for years, well worth the money.

Are you the John Parrot? I like your punditry.

Welcome John

al_bongo wrote:Starbucks Barista grinder aka Dualit ake Solis 166. £50 when I bought it, but that wasn't yesterday.

Wouldn't buy anything less and mine has lasted for years, well worth the money.

That's exactly where I was going. I've had mine for over 18 months and have been impressed by how well it has held up to solid use.

Yes, very good grinders and our 'weapon of choice' for all things Aerobie/brewed

if you had to buy a manual grinder what would anyone suggest? i often think about getting a hand grinder for french press, I'm not spending another £150 just for the occasional coffee and it would be more convenient to use when visiting other people. But back when i last looked around at them i went looking for a zassenhaus grinder, nowhere sold them except for one who then informed me they had serious problems with the manufacturing quality and suggested i should wait till they had either improved or buy a different brand, they recommended a Peugeot grinder at the time, but i gave up with my search.

The hario hand coffee grinder looks nice but i have no idea where you can buy them in the uk

I got one of these. http://www.amazon.co.uk/La-Cafetiere-Bl ... 828&sr=8-2

Quite pleased with it. I posted elsewhere

Grinds evenly enough to make a nice, smooth cup of french press, with very little 'sludge'. Bit of a fiddle to adjust grind, but when you've got it right it works well. Gives at least as good a cup as my bodum burr grinder, and not sure if you'd get an improvement with an iberital MC2.

In terms of downsides, it does take a while to grind. Also, the drawer is slightly small - four desert spoons of beans is a bit too much for it to hold... For twenty quid, though, it's a very decent grinder imo, assuming you've got time to grind beans this way.

One more niggle I found - when adjusting grind, v easy to drop the bit that screws on the top into the grinder. It is then v awkward to remove it from there

Haven't tried it against by MC2 yet - got a cold atm, so not sure I could taste much difference Pretty pleased with the grinder, though I wouldn't want to grind more than two mugs worth in it (pref just one - but then I am selfish...)

Compared to the MC2, it turns out the grind is maybe marginally less even. More annoying, though, is that the La Cafetiere is less adjustable: it can go between too coarse and too fine in one adjustment slot.

Still, though, if I were buying a new grinder for FP, the price difference (and lack of mess, etc) would have me leaning towards the manual...

Has anyone had any experience of a Bellux manual grinder for espresso grind? I notice it is for sale and it has ceramic burrs.

John M