A month ago, I bought a Kinu M47 Hand grinder, a ‘premium’ coffee grinder from a German company with over 25 years of coffee & spices grinders production. This post is my honest review.
First Impressions: What’s In The Box?
After a long time waiting on customs to release the grinder (I ordered it directly from Kinu while living abroad in Bolivia), I finally picked up my new hand grinder from FedEx.
It came packaged in a clean, and good looking cardboard box with some Kinu Branding all around.
The grinder is protected by a dense dark foam. Overall the packaging is good and it didn’t suffer one bit traveling all the way to South America.
Inside, you will find;
- Kinu M47 Grinder Body & Base
- Detachable Grinding Handle
- A piece of metal designed to help remove the Burrs if needed
- Black & White User Manual in English, German, French, and Spanish
- A ‘Grinding Preset’ Sheet designed to note & record your grind size settings for each coffee beans / roast
Detaching the M47 from the foam, the first thing that came to my mind was: “Damn, that grinder is heavy!”
In fact, it weighs 1150 grams / 2.5 lbs, for me, that’s a good thing, I like well-built things, and it feels very very solid.
However if your main goal with his hand grinder is traveling, there might be lighter and smaller options out there.
Setting up the M47 & adjusting Grind Size
Before first use, you will simply have to unscrew the knob at the top of the grinder, and pass the handle through the drive hub.
Now the grinder is ready, but you still have to set the grind size.
For me, it came at 0, where basically the burrs are closed and you won’t grind anything.
To change the coffee grind size, you simply have to unscrew the locking knob a little, and then start turning the numbered wheel:
As you turn it, you will hear & feel little clicks, not unlike a stepped grinder. But if you did want to adjust it between two clicks for extra fine adjustments, you can do that.
It goes really fine, from Turkish Coffee zone, a good espresso range, all the way to drip coffee & french press.
Grinding Experience
As I mentioned before, the M47 is pretty heavy, for me, it feels nice, I like the metal coating they applied, it is soft and feels very premium.
Kinu added a black ‘knob’ to make it easier to handle and grind with, I find it a nice addition which you won’t find in other grinders like the Orphan Espresso line, or Commandante.
The Handle has a curve which makes it very ergonomic, you won’t ever touch your other hand with it.
Having big sized burrs for a manual grinder, you should grind 15 grams of coffee beans in about 30 seconds.
It feels right, and you won’t need much force to grind your coffee beans.
Coffee Grounds Recipient
Kinu chose to use magnets for the bottom recipient, so it doesn’t require any screwing and is easy to attach.
In case you are wondering, magnets will not lose their attracting power over time.
It has the right amount of force so that the base will not get loose while grinding, and it looks very nice.
I have a couple of things against it though:
Static Electricity & How To Fix It
The metal made recipient tend to attract coffee grounds so that there will be some amount left inside, even if you tap on the bottom:
This is a common issue with several grinders, it can be fixed using the so-called Ross Droplet Technique (RDT).
Just add a one to two drops of water for 14 to 20 grams of coffee beans, this will raise the humidity of your ground coffee beans and drastically reduce this static effect.
One magnet fell off
This one might only be my specific unit, but after about two weeks of use on, of the four magnets on the base detached itself.
I used a drop of superglue to put it back into place.
Now I’m guessing this is not something that will happen to all units, but I thought it was worth mentioning considering the price-tag of this hand grinder.
The magnet now sits somewhat lower that other magnets:
Overall, While it looks nice and easy to use, the choice of material might not be the best, and for me this is the only ‘weak’ part of the otherwise perfect M47.
Grind consistency
I did not yet use the M47 for espresso, but only for Aeropress, French Press, Moka pot & Pour over.
While I will not comment on grind consistency for espresso, the espresso range is very fine and large enough.
I know La Pavoni & Spring Lever machine users who are getting great results with it, and these are the most demanding espresso machines when it comes to grind size adjustment and consistency.
You can see it in action on a few Youtube reviews (check this video), Baristas are using it without any issues for espresso.
There is a bit of clumping as with any grinder really, nothing to be concerned about.
Precision, Swiss-engineered burrs do the job extremely well, and you get a grind consistency that is comparable to high-end professional coffee grinders, in a much smaller form factor.
My overall Review after one month
Overall, I am very satisfied with the Kinu M47.
I was looking for a relatively portable quality grinder to pair with my Aeropress, something that will last decades.
The 47 mm Burrs make it easy and fast to grind your beans, and the overall experience is very pleasant.
It does not come with a travel bag, which would have been nice to see as the thing is so good looking you won’t want to scratch it by throwing it in your luggage.
Although I have some reserve on the recipient as I mentioned earlier, these are not deal-breakers and I feel confident recommending it if you have the budget for it.
Great review. Any guide as to what you find works for grind settings?