Customer Reviews

Toastess DLCG559 Coffee and Spice Grinder, Stainless Steel

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've only used this Toastess coffee grinder twice so far and to be honest its the first coffee grinder I've ever owned. I did a lot of research before deciding on one for coffee beans for my French Press. But the Toastess' price, 12 cup capacity, and the grind settings helped me finally make the decision. I definitely like that you have the option to set the consistency of the grounds - the directions recommend one notch above coarse for a French Press and that seems to be sufficient for the press. Removing the lid and cup to clean are really easy; although, the grounds, even at a coarse level seem to get pretty sticky under the blade after running the beans through. Best to use some sort of brush to wipe and clean out the grounds. Also, the cord winder on the bottom is definitely convenient and I like its small footprint on the counter.

One thing I have noticed as slightly strange, is when I remove the stainless steel bowl to clean, there always seems to be a few crumbs of grounds that somehow find their way through out the bottom, around the mechanism that rotates the blades. Really weird - must be escaping somewhere around the blade in the bottom of the stainless steel cup. Not a big deal to just brush out with a rag, but odd nonetheless.

Another thing I was concerned about was the noise, and this isn't nearly as loud as I had anticipated. It also has a self-timer, so once you push "Start," it only last 4 or 5 seconds and it turns itself off, so there's no guess how long you should hold the button down.

I have no comment yet on how long the motor will last of course, but I guess I'm not really expecting it to last forever seeing as how it was only $40.

So, for the casual coffee drinker who likes to use their own beans, and isn't snobby about having a machine by a fancy manufacturer, I definitely recommend this machine.

well if you like to grind your beans for Espresso this is the grinder for you - I have owned several and by far this beats them all - I wish I had found this one long ago - it is all most automatic - well you do have to put in the beans ;o} - - you can set the amount of beans and how fine a grind you want and in less that than 60 sec you have the correct grind - no powder and the grind is cool (in other blade grinders the grind gets hot and loses some flavor) - with other units you have to guess how long to grind - - all the other units i have had will make a lot of powder as much as 1/2 of the load - not this one - it's seems to be the blade design - I would assume it would also do great on regular size grind - the uint can be set from corse to fine - and it feels soild - and it has a manual cord winder in the bottom - I like the idea of "Manual" it seems the first thing that breaks is the "Auto-winder" - This is a six star unit

I've had a number of coffee grinders over the years and this is the best of the blade grinders.

A number of features make this unit a joy to use. It has a cord winder built into the base and cord management is a breeze. And it has both a timer and a control for the coarseness of the grind. But best of all, it has a removable bowl & blade so that they can be washed either by hand or in the dishwasher. This means you can easily and safely grind spices or coffee and clean it thoroughly so that there is no cross contamination of flavors or odors when switching from one job to another!

It works very well - as well as any blade grinder we have ever used. It's built sturdily and it is a bit larger than the typical, small, simple blade coffee grinders.

It is noisy when grinding hard spices like whole pepper corns, but that's a minor item.

This is really versatile!

Jim

I used for grinding spices and seeds (flax seed). it looks neat on the kitchen counter no dangling cords. Since it is stainless steel it is easy to clean and does not retain any odor.

It worked great the first time I used it and I would have given it five stars. For the second use my wife tried it but it did not work; it was totally dead. Since being not one to return things for a refund, I took it apart for troubleshooting. What I found were Two springy contacts that probably were not making electrical contact so I bent them out for better electrical contact. That solved the problem. I recommend this gadget for DIY people only otherwise have a favorite fixer in mind for a possible fix.

This is third grinder I have tried in last 3 months and it is a keeper. It is loud but I love that you can pick the consistency of the grind. I like the removable cup. This one is worth the money.

The first month I thought this was awesome and then it wouldn't grind every time I pushed the button until it finally stopped after 3 months. Apparently I can't return or exchange it so I would not recommend this grinder.

Upon opening the box I'm surprised by how big the unit is. Overall it's about twice as big as your average coffee grinder. I really like that the grinding bowl is removable and it's necessary with it's size.
Big problem, it's very loud! I'm wondering if there is something wrong with the one I received. When it's running empty it has a loud metallic rattle, which does not happen when the metal grinding bowl is removed so it's not the motor.
I'll update later.

Update:
We've been using this grinder for spices, flax seeds, and coffee for a while now. I also wrote to the company, Toastess, regarding the noise it was making. To start, here is the reply I received:
"I have tested a few units from stock and this metallic grinding noise seems
to be normal. You shouldn't hear the metallic rattling when grinding coffee
or spices.
Regards, (R)"
I was impressed that the response was prompt and personal. I wrote back saying that when grinding something I don't think the noise is gone, just muffled/hidden by grinding and that it's a loud grinder. I didn't receive another reply, but then again I didn't really ask a question in my second email. Strangely, I tested it empty recently and it seems the sound is not as bad...

Pros:
-Solid feel
-Removable grinding bowl (this was a big one for me, it means easy cleaning and taking the contents to other places in the kitchen)
-Timed grinds: this makes it easy to get exactly the grind you want every time and allows you to walk away while it's grinding and do something else
-Good price for the features
-Fast: 5-10 seconds for most anything
-Powerful: I turned peppercorns into a pretty fine powder in about 10 seconds (finer than I was able to get with our old grinder even after a very long time)
-Cord winder: tidier counters

Cons:
-Loud! Way louder than our old grinder, but maybe that's the price you pay for fast and powerful
-Big: You can't tell from the pictures because it's significantly longer than it is wide, it's taller than a lot of simple grinder too
-The two setting for coarseness and quantity feel gimmicky,especially the slider, a simple knob with 'time' on it would be smoother and more simple
-Missed beans: a few times when grinding a larger amount (not totally full) of coffee it strangely made most of the coffee pretty evenly ground while leaving a few beans untouched

Overall I'm totally happy with this grinder and would pick it again. I wish I had known it would be so loud, but it's speed balances this out.

I like the way it shuts itself off and I do not have to hold down a button until I think it is finished. It is always completely ground as well.

I have used an inexpensive ($20) Mr. Coffee grinder for a number of years. It has minor annoyances as others have noticed such as, the difficult cleaning, having to hold down the lid for grinding, the cord storage, etc. So, when I saw this, I thought it would make my life a little easier (I am a retired male, who wants to make my life as comfortable as possible).

Now that you have the background, here is what I have found. First the mechanism that you wind the cord back into the unit is stuck and won't unwind or rewind. I am fearful of forcing it, as I am I may break it. This means the cord length isn't adjustable. Luckily, it is stuck at just the right length for my use.

My next issue is that it has grinding settings for 2,4, 8 or 12 cups. Yep, you got it; I brew 6 cups for my self every morning. That simply means I will have to play with the grinding settings for me to get the correct grind fineness.

On the plus side, it cleans easily and I like that once you push the button it grinds and stops automatically.

In addressing other reviewers comments regarding the use of the unit, it states in the directions do not use for more than a minute at a time and let it cool down for 4-5 minutes after each use. This would mean that if you were grinding a fair amount of coffee,let's say for a week or so, (I grind only one pot at a time) you would have to stop and wait for the motor to cool or risk burning out the motor.

The directions also state not to grind any spices that have moisture as the machine is not designed for this use (including things like cinnamon sticks).

Finally, the directions state that you can freeze coffee beans for up to two months and the unit will grind frozen beans. I have a distrust of any coffee grinder manufacturer that states you can or should freeze coffee beans. There are plenty of websites that will tell you why this is not a good idea.

Overall, I will keep the unit and play around with the settings. However, my trusty, old, cheap Mr. Coffee will be kept in reserve.