Comandante Hand Grinder: What’s the big deal?
Details make the difference, and there is a German company that has turned subtlety, attention to detail and precision into a symbol for the coffee world. They only make one product but they do it with such dedication and precision they really don’t need to expand their range at all. Of course, we’re talking about the Comandante hand grinder. Years ago, Bernd Braune solidified his engineering experience in platforms such as Intel and Apple by turning his expertise towards coffee; creating magic from the simple process of grinding coffee beans by hand.
When it comes to the Comandante hand grinder, there are three types of people: Those who have not yet heard of it, those who don’t understand why a manual coffee grinder should cause such a stir….and those who have taken the plunge and now understand perfectly. If you’re the final type of person; the chances are you’re completely committed to Comandante’s genius, and your friends all know it too!
So, what is it about Comandante grinders that garners such fanatic adoration from its users?
One of the key attributes for an exceptional cup of coffee is precision in grinding. It’s also something that is hard to achieve consistently, even for commercial electric grinders let alone smaller, manual ones. However, in the Comandante we not only find clean precision when we grind coffee beans, but with minimum effort; a couple of turns, a couple of clicks you will have everything that makes the foundation of the perfect cup of coffee. All this delivered in one of the most effortlessly elegant designs in the market.
The Comandante experience goes far beyond its function: in your hands you will have half a millimetre thick, precision cut wood selected from the Black Forest in Southern Germany. Comandante source only the highest quality materials for its components, including the sustainably grown, eco-treated wood they deem fit enough to carry their logo.
The nitro-blade burrs on the Comandante are exceptionally sharp and truly wobble-proof. The centre shaft of the grinder is set on double-axle bearings to hold the burrs in place so that the grind is uniform and although conical burrs on this hand grinder are small, they quickly cut through the coffee thanks to their impeccable sharpness.
But engineering without evolution would be meaningless, so Comandante have released a brand new and improved version of its legendary grinder. The Comandante C40 MK4 is a reimagining of a classic: A few seemingly small tweaks create a completely new and improved experience for the user. First, the completely renewed packaging, which is decreased in size but greater in content. It is now made from sustainable, recyclable materials and includes a brand new booklet explaining the grinder’s use, its history and its new features.
This time there will be no scares with the bean jar, since it is made of an indestructible polymer. This new jar is lightweight and travel friendly, as well as doubling up as a heat-insulated drinking vessel.
And of course, it would not be a cutting-edge innovation if its body were the same, so to reduce the waste of coffee due to clogging and stuck beans; the Comandante has a newly engineered crank-fitting and grind mechanism which allows the coffee to flow freely.
The truth is, that if you’re a Comandante sceptic there’s only so much that can be done with words to explain the hype (and price tag) of this cult phenomenon. Yes, there are many cheaper alternatives on the market that will work perfectly well for you. But until you gain first-hand experience of the Comandante you will only be able to guess at the poetry-in-motion that is the user-experience of this remarkable piece of engineering…..And that’s before you’ve even tasted the coffee it makes...
So tell me if you are ready to change the way you prepare coffee.
