Zassenhaus hand-crank coffee grinders
Oh, what a pleasure it was to grind coffee beans for the first time in these two hand-crank, non-heat producing coffee mills from the venerable (since 1867) German company Zassenhaus.
The Lima is sleek and modern and comes in a single stainless steel and acrylic model.
The Brasilia is classic-kitchen traditional in design and is offered in four colors and two woods. Mine was made of beech, enticingly dark stained.
Both employ, beyond aesthetics and in their most important component, high-carbon conical steel burrs.
In terms of grind, both are infinitely adjustable, so you can produce the texture that best suits your coffee maker.
I ground in both for a French press and employed for each pot a coffee I thought would be typical and neutral enough for testing (rather than my customary dark roast): Ethiopian Moka Java.
This entire experience turned out to be pleasurable in all ways: a greater sense of participating in the making of coffee; the making, with no discernible difference between one grinder and the other, of really good coffee.
