Whether you like to brew on the go or your counter space is limited, hand grinders can be a great way to get even finer control of your coffee crafting experience. In recent years there’s been a huge leap in manual grinders, not so much in how they work, but in their look, feel, fit, and finish. We’ve got three premium hand grinders to compare for you here so that you can find the perfect option for you!

How Do They Work?

Before we jump into our three picks, let’s talk a bit about how hand grinders even work. Instead of using power from an outlet, these grinders are powered by a crank that you manually rotate by hand. This crank rotates the burrs inside as beans pass through them, grinding your coffee. 

Aside from not needing power, another benefit of hand grinders is the quality of the grind considering the cost of the grinder. While these premium manual grinders aren’t cheap, they’re quite a bit more affordable than higher end espresso grinders, and they can produce some truly excellent grounds.

Let’s jump into our comparisons!

Bru Trek Hand Grinder

The Bre Trek is our first grinder for our list, and it’s an excellent one. With a large 40 gram bean chamber, you’ll be able to grind multiple shots or a hearty pot of pour over with just one fill. Speaking of shots - this grinder has a micro-stepped adjustment that’ll help you get the perfect shots even from trickier beans and unpressurized portafilters.

On top of all of this, the Bru Trek lives up to its name - its sturdy aluminum construction and no-frills exterior is perfect for taking it on your next backpacking or camping trip.

Saint Anthony Industries Millwright Hand Grinder

If you’ve seen any of Saint Anthony’s other products you know that one of their defining features is their beautiful design. The thing that truly sets them apart, however, is how that gorgeous aesthetic combines with their functional design and long-lasting components. All of this is true of the Millwright as well, which has titanium burrs with anti-wear coating that are built to last for years and years.

This grinder also features grind resolution fine enough for any brew method (including unpressurized espresso brewing) and even a burr stabilization system that helps provide better consistency. We love this gorgeous grinder and it really is the pinnacle of traditional top mounted crank hand grinder design in our opinion.

Fiorenzato Pietro Manual Coffee Grinder

If you want to go absolutely all-out then we’d recommend taking a look at Fiorenzato’s Pietro hand grinder.

This grinder features a flip out, side mounted hand crank that gives it a different feel from the other two grinders on this list. Its different shape is partly to accommodate its vertically mounted, massive 58mm flat burrs, which are more similar to a commercial electric grinder than the burr sets in the other grinders on this list. This design makes for the very best in consistency and grind quality that we’ve seen on this list, and it rounds its performance out with micro adjustments allowing for precision grinding, and an all aluminum and steel construction that is built to last many years.

This is an expensive hand grinder, but definitely worth it for the enthusiast who wants to stick with hand grinding for daily use with a higher end espresso machine.

We hope you’ve found this comparison insightful! Let us know what you think about these hand grinders in the comments, and check out the video below for more thoughts and to see these grinders in action!