Fresh Ground Tool: Pharos Coffee Hand Grinder

[spressomon]

For those that are addicted to the taste of the freshest ground coffee: The Pharos hand powered coffee grinder is just amazing in every way! I was having issues with my Capresso burr grinder when camping out of my Land Cruiser...so it was the perfect excuse to try the Pharos.

Its been getting home counter duty time as it grinds even more consistently than my Mazzer Mini! 50 easy turns to espresso bliss

No connection other than I bought one and I'm 100% pleased with the product in every way! And they nailed the design! And its made in Idaho!

http://www.orphanespresso.com/OE-PHAROS-Hand-Coffee-Grinder_ep_636-1.html

Dan

 

[4xdog]

Yep, very cool design. Thx for the post.

Don

 

[kb7our]

OYB!!!!!

 

[spressomon]

I've been using it everyday, several times a day :coffeedrink:, since I received it and its just fantastic. It grinds more consistently with better resulting espresso flavor than my Mazzer Mini grinder...and the Mazzer isn't exactly chopped liver if you know what I mean.

If you have any kind of appreciation for well designed and constructed products like this you'll find yourself wanting to use it as often as possible.

There's something incredibly satisfying how easily it just slices/grinds through coffee beans; Its kind of a visceral experience!

 

[Redline]

And its made in Idaho
Dan

Made in Idaho, now that's 'cool beans' :sombrero:

 

[Honu]

I was looking at the Lido also for camping ?
Curious if you looked at that also ?

Congrats of course

Read about this on the big long HB thread
Any thoughts on the beans in or grind out ? Seems some had words about that part with the grind being tough to get out ?
Or does it work OK and HB folks are just being to finiky ?

Very cool grinder though for some reason I thought they were more like $400+ or did the price come down ?

 

[spressomon]

The Lido is certainly more compact and would be fine for drip or FP but would tax my patience for espresso I'm afraid. Especially when serving up a half dozen or more capps in the morning and then again for espresso after lunch like I do on some of our forays.

Bean retention hasn't been an issue so far; OE added a slick low surface tension plastic funnel some time ago to make getting the grounds out of the chamber even easier. The rubber plug seems to bother some folks but again not an issue here given all the other performance benefits not found in any other grinder to date...YMMV.

I've run about 3/4 elbee of Brazil/Bahia/Fazenda/Progresso through it plus some other Yemen blend and it just works great. And no clumping either! I'm not partial to SF type roasts so I haven't tried it on the dark oily stuff.

I went back to my Mazzer today... and tomorrow I'll be putting the Pharos back into front line duty The flavor profile difference is much bigger than I would have imagined using the same bean and espresso machine (Pasquini Livia 90)!

I wish I could justify a new Olympia Cremina manual to push it totally over the top!

 

[Honu]

thanks I am pretty laid back about little issues so doubt the stopper etc.. would bother me thats why its tough cause some of the HB guys are overboard critical so hard to tell what is real issue or not sometimes on that forum

good to hear the flavor profile improved I was wanting to get a MAHLKÖNIG K30 Vario and still will once $$$ is more fluid hahahah
but the hand grinder is very reasonable so might have to check one out

the Olympia would be a fun setup I quit trying to justify and purely come up with excuses now hahaha

I still have to dig my pasquini out and rebuild it or sell it as is or something ? and use that money to do something else coffee with like the MAHLKÖNIG vario lucky I am happy with my Elektra still the grinder needs some new love though so maybe this would be cool my Bday is this month so that might be the perfect Bday present hahahahah

thanks again

 

[Honu]

updates and thoughts ?

 

[spressomon]

Still loving it! Used it on the 2nd camp outing this past weekend and although it takes longer to make 4+ morning caps using the Pharos than the inverter driven Capresso I was using the quality of the grind/resultant espresso is without compare. And the way the Pharos grinder just 'slices' through the beans still brings a big grin to my face each time I use it.

And it really does do a better job for espresso grinding than my Mazzer Mini! That DOES bum me out a bit!

No regrets whatsoever.

 

[Honu]

my mini needs new blades hmmmm really tempted to get one

Thanks

 

[spressomon]

I should qualify "better" than the MM for you: The particle size seems to be more consistent. This is a non-scientific comparison between the grounds rubbed between my fingers; I have not looked at them under a loop. The resulting grind with the Pharos using the same beans is also fluffier than the same beans ground in the MM. The difference it makes in espresso shots pulled from either the mypressi or my Pasquini Livia 90 is consistently fruitier with a softer but deeper/enhanced flavor profile/depth of flavor than the MM. The MM shots however seem to consistently have a bit more "edge" or bite whereas the Pharos shots are a bit more "rounded" but with more levels of flavor. Maybe different acidity from the consistency or lack of coming in to play?

BTW: There is zero static issue with the Pharos in any of the climates I've used it to date including where we live at 5,000' with 10-30% typical ambient humidity levels of late spring and summer.

Its not that the Mazzer Mini is bad, because it has served me very well, but for my palate the Pharos is just better. Hope this helps...

 

[mervifwdc]

Nice looking bit of kit! And does'nt need to be plugged in which is good too.

 

[verdesardog]

$250.00 for a coffee grinder? Are you kidding me? some people just have way too much money!

 

[dblosch]

Are you kidding me? some people just have way too much money!

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tact