Have you hear of...?

[MeccasMocha]

Hi
My name is James. Im a Californian livng in England for the next 9 months until July. Recently my girlfriend sent me a giant bag of coffee beans (my favorite blend from home called Pony Express by the Thanksgiving Roasters) and there is only one proglem...I dont have a grinder. Now Ive been reluctant to ask any of my housemates because, for one they mostly drink tea, and two I did ask my housemates and they said go to Asda and pick up an electric one. Now the problem with electric, as many of us may be aware, is that they are seldom burr grinders and if its a blade grinder my time would be better spent smashing the beans myself with a hammer. The truth is, Im not just looking for a burr grinder, but a specific brand of grinder. If anyone can help me locate any Spong brand grinder I would be indebted to you dearly. If I had my druthers it would be a No. 1 or the hand held model, but any Spong model will do. Ive checked ebay and plan to continue doing so but Im trying to keep the cost as low as possible so certain listing in the US or Australia begin to lighten my wallet a little too much when you consider shipping costs for a piece of cast iron. Any help at all would be appreciated even if only to say sorry cant help ya but good luck. Okay...seems like a fun site we have here and Ill keep everyone ahead, abreast, and afoot of my adventures...cheers!
James

[luca]

Re: Have you hear of...?

Hi James,

It sounds like youre aware that this is an australian webpage, but I just thought that I should mention it. toomuchcoffee.com is a european and UK site; you might have better luck there.

What do you want to use the grinder for? The nemox lux, and other similar grinders, are fantastic for all non-espresso methods of preparation. I think that you guys get access to a grinder called a "MiniMoka," which is basically a lux but with a heavy-duty, stepless worm adjustment that would make it perfect for espresso. All of these grinders are electric with conical burrs.

Cheers,

Luca

[MeccasMocha]

Re: Have you hear of...?

Thank you for responding. I will look into these things. I may settle with an electric grinder, but as far as my finances and personal taste go, I might be able to get the Spong grinder for less and it ultimately is the one Im looking for...but beggars cant be choosers as they say. What kind of grinder do you use?

[luca]

Re: Have you hear of...?

I am using a rancilio rocky, but Im very, very seriously looking to upgrade it to something with stepless adjustment. This is what I use for espresso, french press and vac pot. At work, I use mazzer majors an a mazzer mini and at my new work, Im not sure what Ill be using, but the grinders that we have around are a brasilia competition grinder, a mahlkoenig K30ES and a mazzer kony. Kaanage has lent me his lux grinder to travel with for french press and it was superb for that.

Rice bought a zassenhaus manual grinder and it was exceptionally disappointing - cracked the beans and delivered a plethora of different particle sizes. On the other hand, Tim Wendelboe, a former world barista champion, loves his zassenhaus turkish grinder for espresso.

You havent told us what method of preparation you need the grinder for. Espresso grinders will be more expensive than grinders for other methods of preparation.

Best of british,

Luca