Review: Cafflano Krinder – handgrinder.

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Cafflano is a manufacturer of coffee brewers that are specifically designed to use anywhere. At home, at the office, on a field trip and even in the airplane you see the Cafflano brewers pop-up. The only thing that was missing, was a Cafflano Krinder to grind the coffee with. The company decided that that was going to be their next project and after a long period of designing and testing, the result is the all new Cafflano Krinder. Will the Krinder stand out aong other handgrinders? Will the Krinder be worth your money?

Cafflano Krinder: Background information.

Beanscorp has started the production of the Cafflano products in 2013 and their product line now consists out of four coffee makers: Cafflano Klassic, Cafflano Kompact, Cafflano Go-Brew and the Cafflano Kompresso. In just 7 years they have managed to sell their products in over 80 countries using a simple but beautiful mission:
Develop, manufacture and provide quality coffee gear that are Simple, Innovative, Economic, Convenient, Sustainable and Portable for all coffee lovers! One thing, however, was always missing on all the social media posts of their products: their own grinder. Cafflano decided they too wanted to develop a hand grinder and it should be affordable, durable, portable, easy to use and, if possible, rival the top segment of the hand grinders.

I received my Krinder in Juli after my buddy picked it up in Seoul. Because of COVID, the company couldn’t send it to Europe so we decided to pick it up ourselves which is one of the perks of flying for an airline.
Before we get on with the review itself I’d like to point out that I will base my review on the following aspects: price, grind results and handling. I did do a comparison with other hand grinders but I will not do a ‘best hand grinder’ review.

Cafflano Krinder: Unboxing the grinder.

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The Cafflano Krinder comes in a simple box that holds all the information you will need. From the front, the handgrinder is easily spotted and already you can see the typical Cafflano design. On the back of the package you will find pictograms on how to use the grinder in order to grind your coffee.

When you take the grinder out, you will find a user guide at the inside back of the package, describing how to install the grinder for first use, as well as a description of all the parts that are included. The Cafflano Krinder consist out of a body, a jar (which can hold up to 30gr of coffee), adjustable grind size wheel, rubber cap that is also a grip coaster and a detachable rotation handle with a knob.
The grinder comes with metal conical burrs and weighs only a meagre 295 grams, making it the lightest grinder in the world.

Using the grinder for the first time.

Setting up the grinder is super easy and it’s up to you how you want to set the grind-size. The first way is to take the rubber cap off of the grinder and rotate the adjustment wheel to the desired number (I use between 12 and 14 clicks for pour over for example). The second way is to install the rotation handle with the cap on. Now push the handle forward so that the metal pin is pushed away from the rotation wheel and adjust the grind-size. This is a way that’s convenient when you’re in a spot where you don’t have a lot of room.

How to grind coffee with the Krinder is also up to you since there are again two ways to grind. The first way is with the rubber cap on the grinder. This ensures that no beans can pop out of the grinder while grinding. If you grind this way, be sure to hold the grinder in two hands since it wont be able to stay still on any surface. Now if you’re in the office for example, you might want to consider putting the cap underneath the grinder, making it a anti-slipping coaster. This way the beans can possibly pop out of the grinder while grinding, but the grinder itself will remain steady.

The first time I used the grinder I was having a little ‘trouble’ getting the cap pressed down into the grinder. When I then watched a Cafflano YouTube video on the grinder I realized that the cap will have a little ‘open’ edge while it’s on top. Grinding with the grinder is just like any other grinder out there. It’s important to move both hands while grinding and to keep having rotation momentum in order for the grinder not to jam. Mind you that the holding knob is designed specifically to fit in the palm of your hand. Holding it the other way around will make it feel awkward. After grinding I found that the coffee grounds were pretty static to the jar below and I had to tap the jar for the remains of coffee to out. Cafflano also mentions this in their video by the way, so it is not a ‘new’ thing.
The first thing that pops into my mind when grinding coffee is how bad are the amount of fines that come from the grinder? Fines can make your coffee taste bitter and clog up your brewing process time severely. I decided to do a fines test with a Tiamo handgrinder ($40), the Minos handgrinder ($120), and the Cafflano Krinder ($99)

What about the fines?

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Testing fines between handgrinders is a great way to determine if the amount of fines live up to the price you’re paying for the grinder. If you pay $200 for a handgrinder but it gives off tremendous amounts of fines, you will likely toss the grinder in a cabinet and never use it again.
I tested the three grinders with a V60 grindsize, an Aeropress grindsize and an espresso grindsize.
I used the same batch of coffee for all grinders. I took 10gr of beans and, after grinding, sifted the ground coffee for 15 seconds. I then weighed the amount of fines on a scale.

Results on the Espresso grinding:
(The results are very different from the V60 and Aeropress grind and I am aware that the Espresso results need to be looked at as just a measurement. It says nothing about the quality of the espresso itself since I didn’t pull shots with it.)

Tiamo handgrinder: 7.7gr of fines.
Minos handgrinder: 7.1gr of fines.
Cafflano Krinder: 7.1gr of fines.

Results on the V60 grinding:

Tiamo handgrinder: 1.9gr of fines.
Minos handgrinder: 0.2gr of fines.
Cafflano Krinder: 0.8gr of fines.

Results on the Aeropress grinding:

Tiamo handgrinder: 1gr of fines.
Minos handgrinder: 0.2gr of fines.
Cafflano Krinder: 0.2gr of fines.

The grindsize results.

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As you can see, the Tiamo handgrinder is severely lacking in terms of fines. On all three tests it didn’t do nearly as good as the Minos or Cafflano. The Minos ($120) and Cafflano ($99) are very competitive in terms of fines. Only in the mid-range does the Minos have less fines.
On a side-note: I would not recommend grinding espresso with these handgrinders. It’s tiresome and a lot of times it will feel as if the burrs are slipping (Cafflano) or the top-knob of the handle (Minos) pops off because of the pressure that’s applied. The Tiamo often times doesn’t even grind the beans, forcing you to tap the grinder so the beans settle in.

Cafflano Krinder: Pro’s and Con’s.

Every product has it’s Pro’s and Con’s. So does the Cafflano Krinder. I have been using the Krinder for three months now and although I’m very positive about the grinder, there are some things that I don’t like.

Pro’s:
First off all, the Krinder is everything you’d want in a grinder. It’s lightweight, easy to carry along, looks nice and gives great grinding results to boot. I love how the handling of the Krinder is tailor made for travelling people.
– The way Cafflano designed the handle and how to stow it is superb. It makes the grinder even more compact. The handle wont come off during travelling either, so you wont lose it either.
– The holding sleeve on the body provides ample grip to make grinding coffee easy as you stand up.
– The way you can adjust the grind-size is easy as well with clearly marked numbers on the adjustment wheel. You only need to pay attention when you want to turn the wheel passed the number 8 in order to reach the V60/Aeropress/Siphon grind-size.
– One of the best things about the Cafflano Krinder is that it is super easy to clean it out. Just by rotating the adjustment wheel to fully open, you can take the burrs out and clean them. This will also make it super easy to replace the burrs when they’re dulled for example. Cafflano has outdone itself with this.
– The grind results are great and I’ve brewed many great brews using this grinder. This is due to the fact that the axis of the grinder is super sturdy. There is no room for wobbling of the burrs like you see with many other grinders and this is a BIG pro!

Con’s:
– The thing that sets me back most is that when you grind harder beans, the holding pin of the handle pops out or the adjustment wheel. This causes the grind-size to change. Although it doesn’t happen with softer beans, it is something to keep in mind when grinding. Cafflano says the top should prevent it, but it clearly fails at times. The other thing Cafflano advices is to slightly pull on the handle while grinding, but I guess I’m not doing it like I suppose to.
– The next thing that bothers me is the top cap. A lot of times the top cap will come up a bit making the handle rub against it while grinding. It doesn’t affect the grind-size results but it is still bothersome that it wont just stay put. I now push the cap fully into the grinder so that no ‘open’ line is visible between the body and the cap. This doesn’t go very smoothly so it takes a little effort.
– The third thing is the static of the plastic jar underneath the grinder. The smaller particles tend to stick to the bottom, so you’ll need to tap the jar in order for all coffee grounds to come loose. This doesn’t bother me so much since I always tap my hand grinders after grinding but I do feel I should mention this.

My verdict on the Krinder:

If your budget is around $100 and you’re looking for a good handgrinder, the Cafflano Krinder is definitely an amazing option. The interior of the grinder is super sturdy and there is no room for the burrs to wobble. The grinder is lightweight, easy to handle and is very compact.
The downsides that I mentioned can be overlooked and in terms of the handle popping out of it’s position, it could be me handling the Krinder wrongly. But I’d like to hear from you as well.
What I do want to say is that the Krinder, in my opinion, is certainly way better than the cheaper handgrinders out there. Even in it’s own price range this grinder has a lot of Pro’s compared to the competition.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask them!