BY LUIS TREDICUCCI

Here at Pillar, we believe that the grinder is the most important part of a coffee bar set-up, this also applies to a home coffee set-up. Some domestic grinders on the market, as slick as they look, are often not equipped with sufficient burrs or components to obtain perfection on your kitchen bench, day-in-day-out. This has seen the development of some serious hand grinders such as the Comandante and Kinu grinders. That’s why we have teamed up with the home-brew king, James Perry, to word you up on the niche that is hand-grinding. Not just that, he’s also made a video on this that you should definitely check out!

A few takeaways for your instant satisfaction:

• Worka Sakaro Recipe: 18g / 20 Clicks / 99 degree water / 60g bloom / 300g in

• Tirra Estate Recipe: 15g / 27 Clicks / 93 Degree water / 250g in

“Essentially finding that finest point allows us to determine how the flavours are coming through, and then allows us to determine what we actually want to do with those flavours. Sometimes we want to make a little change, sometimes we want to do a radically different recipe just to experience a different side or flavour of the coffee” - JP

There are hundreds of grinder options for your home set up, however few of them herald the burrs to make your morning brew really shine. The quality of burrs isn’t solely evaluated by the burr material, but also the geometry of the burrs. However, within a domestic grinder, it can be a number of components, not just the burrs, that lead to the grinder’s failure or ineffectiveness. Hand grinders not only triumph over these electronic issues, but the enhanced mobility has lead to the popularization of hand grinders among serious home brewers world-wide.

One of the hand-grinders to dominate the market in recent years, and for good reason, is the Comandante. Not only does it tick all the ergonomic and aesthetic boxes, but their famed “Nitro” stainless-steel burrs are also rumored to rival serious industry heavy-weight grinders such as the Malkhonig EK 43. In blind tests held across the board, people have struggled to pick these two grinders apart. The price tags, however, can be picked apart from a mile away. With the EK43 coming in at $3700, and the Comandante only asking for $479, it’s no wonder home-brewers are opting for this hand-grinder. The reason the Commondante performs so well is due to the high-alloyed, high-nitrogen stainless steel burrs. High-nitrogen martensitic steel is extremely difficult to work with. However, when finished it is tough, highly wear-resistant, and has a high degree of edge retention. 

Our buddy, James Perry, does a lot of home-brewing with filter coffee through the Comandante. It’s, for this reason, we asked him to share some tips and tricks on how to use this bad-boy, to really get the most out of your cup. We sent him a couple of bags of our monthly filters, Ethiopia Work Sakaro and Costa Rica Tirra Estate, and asked him to have a play around, in hope of everyone getting a little closer to nailing their brew at home. He’s also made an awesome video on this, you can watch it here.

Wetting the filter he mentions “You can keep this rinsing water and use it to wash the dishes or water your plants”

18g Worka Sakaro / 20 Clicks / 99 degree water / 60g bloom / filling until 300g / 

His starting point is 20 clicks on the Comandante, which he mentions is quite fine, however, he prefers to start on the finer side and open it up coarser, in an attempt to maximize contact time and in turn, get the most out of the coffee. “When we are using finer grinds like this is it is actually harder for the water to saturate the coffee”.

“I love it when things go right!” - JP

He brews this coffee using his One-pour-post-bloom method (OPPB), meaning he blooms the coffee and then proceeds to continuously pour until he reaches his end weight of 300g. “The interesting thing about these two coffees is due to the roast density figure on the back of the packet being similar, they should come on at around the same grind size” - he mentions as he swirls from the center to the outside of the slurry. His brew comes in at 2:40min, which he’s pretty chuffed about. He then evaluates the sweetness, acidity, and body of the brew, keeping an eye out for any astringency that may occur if the grind is too fine. “I’m getting a slight bit of astringency here, I may open the grind 1-2 clicks coarser next time”.

All things considered, he is happy with his starting point “This is very clean, a lot of apricot and other stone fruit, very sweet” - he says, smiling and slurping the fruits of his labor. “To achieve more sparkling acidity I may drop the temperature back to 93 degrees, resulting in a lower extraction and perceived higher acidity”, he comments in his pursuit to optimize this coffee.

He proceeds to use the same method and recipe for the Costa Rica Tirra Estate, achieving the same end time. ‘This coffee has a CRAZY aroma, very berry forward and chocolatey” However, upon evaluating the sweetness, body, and acidity, isn’t quite satisfied with his brew. In the hope of optimizing this coffee, he proceeds to go off the chain! He opts for a very different approach, changing his brewer to the Origami, in tandem with Kono papers. His recipe was as follows

15g Tirra Estate / 27 Clicks / 93 Degree water / 250g in

This time around he changes his pouring method, to allow each pour to fully drain through before commencing his next pour. As he slurps the first sip of his new brew

“I love it when things go right!”. “This cup has a much more pronounced body than my first brew, the structure for me is much better, I’m getting clear chocolate notes, I’m getting clear berry notes” “Both are very delicious cups of coffee, but for me, this recipe just suits this coffee a little more”

“This kinda tastes like a dessert that you would have at a fine dining restaurant”  - JP

“Essentially finding that finest point allows us to determine how the flavours coming through, and then allows us to determine what we actually want to do with those flavours. Sometimes we want to make a little change, sometimes we want to do a radically different recipe just to experience a different side or flavour of the coffee”

In summary, starting at 20 clicks on the Comandante, on the finer side to maximize contact time and in turn, get the most out of the coffee. Making adjustments coarser if you are tasting any astringency. These two coffees both come on at the same grind size due to their equal roast density, however, in the search of heightened acidity and more clarity, a drastic change was made to the Tirra Estate coarsening the grind considerably and allowing each pour to fully drain. Some awesome knowledge from the coffee pro James Perry that we hope that you can all utilize on your next brew! If you wanted to check the video out, click here.