Customer Reviews

Universal Housewares Gourmet Cast Iron Coffee Grinder

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Hard to get a good grind, paint on wood is of poor quality and is coming off.
Need to turn the handle a long time to get any coffee.

If this "grinder" was ten bucks, it would be okay as a decorative item, because it's cute. If it doesn't arrive broken, like mine did. But it's so poorly designed and constructed that it's useless for the intended purpose. Actually, I think the intended purpose was to separate unsuspecting consumers from their money. The perpetrators never answered multiple e-mails. Save your money.

When the box was opened a strong lacquer odor was present and the grinder had to be aired out for several days. The grinder is crudely constructed and therefore, crudely grinds beans. The finest grind that could be obtained was course with some half and even whole beans falling through. Multiple telephone and email messages were not answered by the vendor/supplier.

Sadly this was ordered and delivered to me by a friend with good intentions. After arriving broken, it was glued with various glues so it would work. When my emergency supply of coffee ran out I tried to use it. TRIED to use it. Every other review with 1 star or less is true times ten -- after sitting on my shelf for over 2 years it still has an 'off' smell, and that's with some French-Italian roast coffee in it. I love coffee and I grind most of my seed spices fresh -- this is good for none of these purposes, Perhaps it works for a French Press, but I found while waiting for a real coffee grinder that a mortar and pestle worked very well as a pre-grinder, and when I first pre-ground and then put the coffee in this grinder it STILL let half beans fall through, so I ended up using one of my extra 'coffee' type grinders I use for other spices, and was one I use when power goes out for more than a week, or when camping, I could make coffee, but with this unit even pre-ground beans don't come out fine enough for anything but 'cowboy' coffee -- just boil it long enough and add the egg and it will work -- Right now it looks very nice on the top shelf of my book shelf. after two days, I broke down and bought a Black and Decker blade grinder at my local hardware store, and then bought a real conical grinder so I could switch easily back and forth between a medium grind a friend likes for normal drip, and a very fine grind that another friend likes for Italian pot espresso, and a Turkish grind that I love either as Turkish coffee or in my Melita drip cone. Like I said, this is a very pretty grinder, but should NEVER be mistaken for one -- it is decorative once you fix it. My friend had he same experience with the seller as others but gave up after several e-mails and three phone calls. She thinks it looks pretty too. But is sorry for thinking it was a 'real' 'miniature' working antiquie grinder that would be fun to use. If this were e-bay they would be off this list. If they said it was decorative and left it at that, then it WOULD be very pretty to look at if you did a good job of repairing it, and if they packed it better, you might not even need to repair it! I would even accept 'emergency manual coffee grinder for cowboy coffee' as being true. There is NOTHING 'Gourmet' about this item except the coffee I put in it-- and it was just peets coffee, hardly 'gourmet', just very good coffee for everyday use. Well OK maybe peets IS gourmet, but any way, buy this at your own risk -- I was tempted, my friend gave into temptation, and I started several days in some of the worst moods of my life. Two of these would make nice book ends. I work with metal as a hobby as an engraver and VERY basic gun smith, so I know how to adjust metal pieces, and burrs are generally a special metal shape, I'm not sure I would call what this has 'burrs', but they SEEM to function in that fashion, just not very well. The more I think about it, after a trip to the kitchen and the more I think about this two of these would make a VERY handsome set of book ends. I hate to write bad reviews, but I'm sorry I can't give zero stars.

This is not a Zassenhaus grinder it is a cheap in-exensive grinder that will work for a french press. That is what I wanted. I did not want to pay $100+ for a grinder. This works just fine for me. But I am not switching around grinds, if you are looking to switch from coarse to fine easily this is not the coffee grinder for you.

This multi-use grinder is sturdy and attractive but tough to adjust.
It's easy to use to mash up seeds and nuts, but hard to get the right
setting for coffee. I need to switch between grind size for French Press,
Drip, and espresso. This just doesn't do it. I can't get a fine grind for
the espresso.

The grinder lets whole beans go through the grinder. I returned this to the seller one day after receiving it, and never heard back from them. Finally, called them, and was told that they couldn't give me a refund because it was "used." How do you try a coffee grinder without using it? Was also told that if I didn't like the way it worked, I should contact the manufacturer, as "we just sell the products, we don't manufacture them". Company is hard to get on the phone and didn't respond to e-mail. I am totally disgusted.

I found the item to be as expected. Very workable and nicely manufactured. My only complaint is with the seller. Item was shipped very poorly packaged and arrived with broken hinge on the hopper lid.

Just received this coffee grinder and was very disappointed in quality. It DOES NOT grind beans -- well, maybe half of them. I won't have the opportunity to return it, so will consider it a nice shelf item until the next garage sale.

My machine was not assembled with much care and like some of the other reviews the hinge for the top was broken. I took my machine apart and did some sharpening to the "burrs" with a fine tooth file. The burrs in this grinder are cast and not machined, so the grinding effect is really caused by crushing whatever is fed thru. I also filed down the casting on one of the sides to improve the fit and make things go back together tighter and better. This resulted in a grinder that runs smoothly and has a fair bit of heft. I ground off the broken hinge and just use the palm of my hand to cover the top.

As others have said, this grinder would be all right for coarse ground coffee. I use it to grind dry beans and rice to make my own furrina style dishes. I'm sure it would also do well for various woody seeds and herbs. I like it and I'm keeping mine. It won't do an espresso grind.