Rosco Mini from the Portapresso

Hi all,

One of the many things I enjoy in coffee is the hand grinding process. For hand grinder, we are very familiar with Hario Mini and the Hario Skerton, and we also have the Tiamo hand grinder - looks suspiciously similar to Hario design. Then there is plethora of antique hand grinders - the box mills, the brass turkish grinders, etc. In my opinion, one thing that most of these hand grinders lack is the build quality and precision. Very often there is some wobble in the burrs that cause inconsistent grind sizes in the coarse range and the non-sharp ceramic burrs(modern hand grinder) crushes the beans instead of 'cutting' through them. These reasons are exactly what draws me to the Rosco Mini from Portapresso, Australia.

Pic from Portapresso

The Rosco Mini is machine-cut from a piece of brass stock, and the grinder body is cut precisely to ensure (or at least close to) perfect alignment which eventually maximize the performance of the grinder for consistent grind.

Pic: The hero of the day - my Rosco Mini

The first impression I received the Rosco Mini is "damn, this is some serious weight!" With the compact foot print that is close to Hario Mini, it actually packs at least 3 times more dense than the Hario, at 1kg! And you may have already noticed, the Rosco Mini is a very shiny and elegantly made grinder. It's probably the most beautiful coffee thing that I've put my hand on!


Using the grinder

Setting grind size:
This is, in my opinion, the strongest feature on the Rosco Mini, of course next to its beautiful design. With the engraved-marking on the grinder body, it delivers the most precise & REPEATABLE stepless(repeatable yes, stepless yes, but not repeatable stepless) grind setting on all the grinders I have used so far. The grind setting is adjusted by turning the lower grinder body to the desired setting. The distance between each step is measured by the opening of the inner and outer burrs by 0.05mm. This may sound a little technical but once you get your hands on the grinder, it's very intuitive to use, at least to me.

Pic: The grind setting. The top seems like a double shadow but it's actually the reflection.

Bean loading:
It's done by unscrewing the top and invert the grinder to pour the beans in. Very easy especially if you single dose.

Grind effort:
The grind effort is debatable and a very subjective topic. But I find it relatively easy to grind because the diameter just fits into my hand nicely, allowing a firmer grip. Another plus is the Rosco Mini is noticeably quieter when compared to OE Lido, which is already quiet by itself!

Grind retention:
As expected, there is almost no grind retention on the grinder, probably about 0.1g of coffee maximum from the first ever grind. Subsequent grinding will yield much closer to 0.0g retention. No kid! Ocassionally when time are bad where there's lots of static, it will retain about 0.2g at the bottom part. But that's about it.

Pic: The bottom of the grinder

Maintenance:
Given the beautiful appearance of the Rosco Mini, inevitably some level of care needs to be given to keep it in pristine (read: gold shiny) condition. I did not realize the importance of keeping the grinder free from any water drops for the first few days. Thus some dull water spots quickly formed. But luckily, these spots are easily removed by some light-polishing & buffing. Now I am happy to report it's been almost 2 weeks and the Rosco Mini is still a piece shining gold.

Grind time:
At the espresso grind, I found that 10g of beans takes about 70 turns of hand cranking (from start till the handle spins freely). Can be done about 30 seconds, a reasonable speed I would say.

Pic: The Lido is BIG compared to the Rosco Mini, more so than it looks in the picture.

Pic: Credit to Coffeesnob forum for the pic. Just to show where the Rosco Mini stands in term of size.

Conclusion:

The Rosco Mini is a top notch performance and looking really sharp! Repeatable & stepless grind setting, plus the look, is probably what sets it above most other grinders for me. The only downside I could think of is the price, but honestly, this is an almost-perfect grinder in my book. I would definitely buy it again and recommend it to others, if financially allows.