If you want a simple, easy-to-use, and easy-to-clean coffee grinder, the Timemore Chestnut C2 is the ideal hand grinder. If you enjoy coffee, freshly ground beans could be ideal for you in the morning, with lunch, and before bed.
I may sound mad, but for folks who rely on caffeine rather than alcohol, freshly ground coffee beans make a far greater impact than anything else.
I like to grind my coffee, and I’m happy to get up twenty minutes earlier to do it. Another advantage of automatic coffee grinders is that they include a coffee maker, which can be a little more expensive.
So, the best solution is to purchase an espresso maker and a coffee grinder separately. I sought a manual coffee grinder that was not too hefty and compact enough to fit on a shelf.
That’s how I came to buy the Timemore Chestnut C2 coffee grinder. This was a low-cost haul, and the results were satisfactory.
The Timemore C2 grinder is always noticeable while reading a coffee forum or watching an Internet barista brew coffee. The grinder’s pace and work can be compared to a Ferrari’s.
The C2 Grinder is now on the market, and people on Instagram and Tiktok make many latte videos using the Chestnut C2 grinder. So, in this section, we’ll go through each stage of why the Timemore Chestnut C2 grinder is worth the hype.
Timemore C2 Review and Rating
Customers Rating: 4.7/5
Expert Rating: 3.85/5
Our Rating: 4.2/5
About Chestnut C2 Grinder by Timemore
These manual grinders fall between the entry-level and premium levels. The Chestnut C2 hand grinder offers a high-quality steel construction and burr and a low-price tag.
This distinguishes the hand grinder from all other manual grinders in the coffee industry. Timemore C2 steel coffee grinder is a step up from ceramic burr grinders due to its grind settings and provides the best performance among premium-quality grinders.
When you compare the Timemore Chestnut C2 grinder to the Capresso Infinity Plus or the Oxo Brew Conical Burr Grinder, you can readily see how much less expensive the stainless-steel grinder is.
The Timemore Chestnut C2 grinder holds around 20 grams of coffee beans. You may operate it with 50 to 60 revolutions; it will take no more than three minutes to ground the coffee beans thoroughly.
The Chestnut C2 grinder’s handle has a knurled finish that makes it easy to operate, and there’s also a grind adjustment knob to ensure that the coffee is precisely shaped.
Timemore is a Chinese company founded in 2012 by a group of coffee enthusiasts. They have branched out to western and European clients and have been a popular name. The Timemore Chestnut C2 manual coffee grinder has 4.7/5 ratings on Amazon.
So the coffee grinder, for its aesthetics and multi-purpose use, is getting famous among coffee lovers in the country. Timemore is known for its Timemore Black mirror, a coffee scale, and a range of coffee grinders, drippers, and pour-over kettles. The grinder was designed to give excellent value for the money you are going to spend.
The Design of the Timemore Chestnut C2 Grinder
The Timemore Chestnut C2 comes in different colors, and you can purchase it in all white or have three other darker shades of grey, black, and silver. The knob, stabilizer, and handle of the grinder also vary with the grinder. The Chestnut Grinder comes with a manual, crank handle, a travel bag, a cleaning brush, a plastic lid, and the grinder part in a box.
The design of the hand grinder has a minimalistic approach, and it is made of aluminum alloy and is good to complement any other coffee maker.
The body has a textured surface, making it distinctive from the other expensive burr grinders and is to grip. So if you ask me, the grinder passes the aesthetics compliments on my behalf and looks cool on the shelf and my countertop, besides my coffee machine.
The grinder is reliable and lightweight and feels like a quality piece when you hold it. The machine comes in a standard size of 16 cm x 6 cm, and you can grind 25 grams of coffee at once, which is more than enough for a single serving of coffee.
You can easily get brewed coffee with these measurements of a hand grinder. But if you want something with a larger capacity, then we recommend using the C2 Max from Timemore, which will accommodate 30 grams of coffee beans.
The Chestnut C2 is made up of aluminum and plastic and weighs around 0.7 pounds, or 465 grams, to be precise.
The design is pretty compact and can also be used during travel. The coffee grinder comes with a travel bag to start with. But if you want something smaller to fit into an Aeropress, we recommend using the Timemore Nano. These are specifically designed for travel.
The build quality and materials of Timemore Chestnut
The Timemore Chestnut C2 grinder has a more consistent price range for such technically grind fine beans. This may be because they added plastic and aluminum to the body of the coffee grinder instead of a fully stainless-steel metal body.
But the plastic is made of viable parts like the knob and stabilizer, which are made of PCTG plastic (poly cyclohexylendimethylene terephthalate glycol). This plastic is a clear polymer with very high gamma stability.
The plastic stabilizers inside is solid and durable and will last a long time. But the main body of the manual grinder is made up of 100% stainless steel and aluminum metals.
The grinder is not fall-proof, and if you drop it, the crank pommel, adjustment knob, or stabilizers might break; these parts are made of PCTG plastic. The plastic is BPA-free, extra durable, and food safe.
Timemore Chestnut’s Capacity
The grinder can grind almost 20 to 25 grams of coffee beans that is better than premium quality grind results. This amount is perfect for one single-serve coffee cup. You have to turn the knob clockwise until you can not turn it anymore. There are some different settings for each of the grinders.
Once you reach the finest settings, you can turn the knob and hear the clicks; thus, it will get coarser with every click. You have to count the clicks for the coffee to reach its full potential grind size.
- 25-27 clicks for Moka Pot or French Press
- Pour over 18-24 clicks
- 10 to 14 clicks for espresso
You will start with the finer ground size and go with the coarser size. First, go in the clockwise direction and then in the anticlockwise direction. Timemore does not recommend going for 0-6 clicks as it will decay the burr sharpness.
The Timemore Chestnut C2 might state that it’s meant to grind coffee beans for espresso, but the grinding size is never that precise, and it’ll take a long time to reach that ground bean size even with more expensive burr grinders.
Parts of a Chestnut C2 Grinder
The Timemore Chestnut C2 grinder is made up of five distinctive parts:
- Handle
- Lid:
- Body
- Scale and
- Container
Here we’ll be including more important functions of the manual grinder, like the stainless-steel burrs and the textured aluminum body.
Burr Quality
The Timemore Chestnut C2 grinder comprises a 38mm stainless steel conical burr premium coffee grinders. Timemore designed the burr, which has been improved over the years.
The burr settings are sharp and aggressive on the coffee beans, and it takes a few seconds to get them to your desired consistency. The grinder is one of the fastest on the market, with coarser settings than most manual grinders. The price tag of the stainless-steel burrs is higher than the ceramic burrs grinders.
- 1 gram of Coffee Bean= 1 second
- Twenty grams of beans, set at 15 = 38 seconds.
- Twenty grams of beans, set at 13 = 46 seconds.
Textured Body
The burr and hand cranks are made of stainless steel. The burr is designed to stay stable and be of consistent grind size. The handle spins pretty smoothly and has dual bearings on the mounting.
The inner burr comes with a spring load, which is also added to maintain the grind size. The hand feels and the weight of the Timemore Chestnut C2 might feel different than the other premium-quality grinders.
Still, the grinds result is more than acceptable compared to the premium-quality grinders. The company focused more on the bore quality rather than the aesthetics.
The dual bearing stability has contributed to the stability of the grinder. The burrs might lose their sharpness over time in the full grind range, but the springs will work fine, and you must be careful enough while using the machine.
Grind Consistency
The Timemore hand grinder is consistent from the first day of use with its grind adjustment
and grind sizes. But if you’re busy in the morning, we recommend adjusting the grinder settings once and finding the grind size you want. And then never change it again for a good quality grinder.
You’ll be disappointed if you’re looking for an espresso grind size. The Chestnut C2 is perfect for grinding coffee for Moka pots, French presses, and pour-over coffee.
But you can make preferred grind espresso eventually; ensure you have maximum time on your hand. The same high-quality burrs will perform the same way and maintain stability throughout life. The burr has no small parts, so inconsistency has no problem.
The grinder performs quietly and will give you extremely fine particles of coffee beans. The Timemore Chestnut C2 grinder outperforms all its competitors as premium hand grinders.
Coffee Beans Grinding Quality and Experience
As we mentioned earlier, Timemore Chestnut C2 maintains its overall ground quality. The 18-segment click is good to go with pour-over coffee. You might notice a few larger pieces, but the overall bean ground size is the same.
Even with a finer ground setting for number 24, they are perfect for French press coffee. And if you compare it to other coffee grinders, they do it in higher settings. The Timemore Chestnut C2 is more suitable for manually brewed coffee than automatic coffee makers.
Is Timemore Chestnut Suitable for Espresso Grind Coffee?
The Chestnut C2 version is not entirely suitable for espresso grinding, and the stainless steel burrs are sharp but not precise enough to suit espresso.
But you can get a replacement titanium burr with better grind quality and consistency and a finer espresso setting grind. So upgrade your Timemore Chestnut C2 to Espresso Coffee.
Cleaning
The Chestnut C2 is easy to clean, and the grinder comes with a cleaning brush
for manual cleaning. You can wipe out any residual coffee grounds before every take.
You can also do a deep clean every weekend by disassembling all the parts of the lightweight hand grinder. You can also clean the V60 filter and the pot in this way.
Unscrew the knob on the coarser part until it gets off. Then remove the burr to do a thorough cleaning. The company does not recommend the grinder be washed with water directly.
Features of the Timemore Chestnut C2 Hand Grinder
Here we are including some of the incredible features of the Timemore Hand Grinder:
- Easy to use and clean.
- The grinder is pretty quiet, and you don’t have to spend hours and a lot of strength to grind the coffee to a perfect size.
- The grinders weigh less than a pound, so they are perfect for traveling and hiking. You can take the travel pouch to go with it.
- The adjustment knob is flexible and can turn it with different grind settings. The small grinder will fit anywhere in your kitchen.
- This is ideal for new coffee enthusiasts and perfectly complements your French press or coffee maker.
- Ball-bearing and spring loads are used to keep the machine a lot more stable than usual.
- The consistency of the ground size is perfect with the C2 grinder, and it is worth the value of its price range.
Advantages and Disadvantages
We are including some of the best facts about the Timemore Chestnut C2 Grinder.
Pros:
- Thirty-six adjustable steps with a wide range of grind settings.
- Best for medium to coarse grinding consistency
- smooth and easy to turn.
- Dual bearing stability.
- Higher speed with grinding.
- Moka pot, French press, and pour-over coffee are the best options.
- Lightweight
Cons:
- No numbers on the grind adjustment dial.
- It has plastic parts.
- Aeropress and espresso grind size settings are not recommended.
Final Verdict
With a price of less than $100, this manual high-quality hand grinders is one of the finest for a grinder. I believe the Timemore Chestnut C2 is an excellent manual grinder for the price and quality. The coffee grinder is ideal if you’re tired of your ceramic burrs grinder. Compared to other ceramic grinders on the market, the Chestnut C2 will provide a superior grinding experience.
