Frequently Asked Questions
FAQ
- How can I best clean my grinder?
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- Please don’t soak your grinder in water, or wash it in the dishwasher - it isn’t dishwasher safe.
Body
- Your C40 grinder is a robust piece of kit, but of course it’s good to take care of it too. If you own a Nitro Blade grinder with a wooden veneer, then we recommend avoiding scratches and keeping it dry. If it get’s dirty, then a damp cotton cloth is enough, and we would recommend drying it immediately.
- You can care for the wood with a good, natural beeswax polish.
Burr
- We recommend simply brushing your burr and grinder interior clean. Our brushes can help you with that, and it’s also easier if you disassemble your grinder* first.
- Important for Ironheart owners:
please don’t use water to clean your burrs, the carbon steel isn’t stainless and should be looked after carefully.
- How often should I clean my grinder?
- We recommend regular cleaning of the burrs and interior to keep your grinder running smoothly and your coffee tasting fresh!
Grinder Care
- How do I disassemble and reassemble my grinder?
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Knob
- Your wooden knob has a simple push button closure in it. You can simply pull it off the crank, and push it back on - when it clicks it is correctly attached.
Crank
- The crank attaches to the axle thanks to a small magnet. Simply pull the crank away from the body. It helps if you hold the crank near the lid.
Burr
- Important: please don’t unscrew the three mounting screws around the burr - these have been carefully and precisely tightened by hand during production to ensure the correct calibration of your grinder.
- Disassembly: To remove the conical burr, simply unscrew the 3-pointed grind setting dial all the way.
- Be careful to hold onto the dial and the burr, so that you don’t lose anything!
- We recommend disassembling your grinder above a table or similar flat surface. - You can remove the cone, spring, washers and axle - for cleaning *link*, for example.
- Reassembly: it is important to reassemble the axle and washers correctly.
- The top washer should be inserted before the axle, with the raised edge towards the bearing.
- Attach the crank to help hold everything in place.
- Insert the bottom washer onto the axle, with the raised edge facing towards the bearing.
- With the spring reinserted into the cone, slide the cone back onto the axle.
- Whilst pushing the cone into the body of the grinder, screw the grind setting dial back onto the axle.
- Where does the red O-ring belong?
- - The red O-ring is a non-essential feature, designed to hold the lower washer in place during disassembly.
- Note: the red o-ring is no longer installed in any of the latest production models. We found that the grinders worked better without it. If your grinder didn’t come with one, there’s nothing to worry about!
- If you would prefer to keep your O-ring, then see the drawing below - it belongs between the washer and the spring:
- What grind settings are suitable for different brewing methods?
- WHAT ARE THE RECOMMENDED STARTING POINTS?
Whilst the perfect grind setting of course varies from coffee to coffee, here are some good starting points for you:
- 5–10 Clicks for Ibrik.
- 10–15 Clicks for Espresso.
- 15–20 Clicks for a Bialetti or stovetop coffee pot.
- 22–32 Clicks for a pour over filter coffee (depending on dose and brewer).
- 25–-30 Clicks for Cupping and French Press.
- 30–35 Clicks for a Karlsbad Coffee Maker.
- Aeropress? Well, that depends on your recipe ;)! - WHERE IS ZERO?
- Hold your grinder horizontally. When the burrs are open, the handle will turn and fall down to the 6 o’clock position. Whilst gradually closing the burrs / tightening the grind, click zero is the first available setting where the handle no longer falls (from 9 o’clock, for example). The burrs hold the handle still. (If you tighten the burrs even further than this, you are going to click -1, -2, etc., so to speak., so from zero you only need to open the burrs). As you open the burr from point zero, you can count the number of clicks to track your grind setting.
- Can I buy accessories and extras for my grinder?
- Yes! We have developed a range of care products and also optional extras to help you customise your grinder for you. Contact your local Comandante dealer to find out more:
BRUSHES: Our range of Barista Brushes are made of 100% natural wood and hair. We have a range of different brushes to help you keep your coffee bar and equipment clean. There’s even a beard brush ;).
KNOBS: It’s now possible to customise your grinder with our expanded range of different knobs. They are all made of 100% natural wood, and you can simply swap them over whenever you want to! (Please see FAQ > "How do I disassemble and reassemble my grinder?")
BAGS: Want to take your grinder with you? No problem, we have some bags for that! There is a range from simple cotton pull-string bags through to various luxury leather satchels.
BEAN JARS: Every Comandante grinder comes with two Bean Jars, but having some extras can be a great help! You can get extra jars individually or in 4-packs. Pre-portion your beans at home, for on the road, for on bar, or for competitions. The air-tight lids will keep things fresher for longer. - Can I buy directly from Comandante?
- We work with trusted partners all over the world to ensure that you can find a grinder near you. Check out our list of dealers here.
If you would like to become a Comandante dealer, please contact us here for wholesale enquiries. - What is the difference between the Nitro Blade and the Ironheart models?
- Whilst Nitro Blade uses a high-alloyed, high-nitrogen stainless steel, the Ironheart burrs are a carbon steel. The carbon steel achieves an even higher level of hardness. Thanks to a special process, we’ve achieved an incredible level of hardness for the burrs : 64-66 HRC.
Like Nitro Blade, Ironheart delivers an incredible grind consistency across all brew methods. With the carbon steel burr set, Ironheart simply offers added ease of use in the grind ranges for Espresso and Mocca / Ibrik drinks, so it’s a particularly good choice if you enjoy using those brew methods.
Please see the ‘Grinder Care’ section of the FAQs for advice for cleaning your Ironheart grinder.
General Use
- Does my Comandante grinder come with a warranty or guarantee?
- We design and build our grinders to last. That means that we don’t expect the grinder just to break through normal use. If something goes wrong, contact your local dealer or contact us directly.
BURR - your C40 burr is extremely hard. We developed our own very special high-nitrogen alloy to ensure that your burr will last a lifetime. - Is it possible to get spare and replacement parts for my grinder?
- Yes, of course! If anything gets lost or goes wrong, please contact your local dealer or contact us directly.
- My Comandante grinder is squeaking - what can I do?
- This can happen because we use 100% natural wood for our handles / knobs. Sometimes the wood can squeak in contact with the crank, but this is easy to fix!
• Remove the knob from the crank.
• Put graphite pencil shavings or a small amount of olive oil into hole on the bottom of the knob.
• Remount the knob onto the crank.
• Your problem should be solved :)! - I have a problem with the wooden knob / handle - what can I do?
- The connection between crank and the wooden knob is a simple push-click button. When reassembling the knob, push until it clicks. - If this doesn’t fix your problem, we are here to help! Contact us.
- I can see fines and boulders in my ground coffee - is this normal?
- This is of course unavoidable with coffee due to how it breaks apart during grinding, and you will always see this in coffee beds after brewing. However, the Comandante grinder does produce a remarkably low amount of dust in comparison to other grinders under normal circumstances, so the question is…
Is your grinder behaving normally?
The cone burr in the middle has been built as a “floating cone”. Unlike some other grinders, the cone has flexibility on the axle. Without load (when the grinder is empty) you are able to move the cone on the axle. But don’t worry - as soon as you grind coffee, the cone follows the centricity of the axle and the burr ring. We have tested this very carefully in our laboratory!
At Comandante, our tolerance for normal behaviour is as follows:
from 8 clicks and more, the burrs shouldn’t rub against each other. If the burrs still rub from 8 clicks or more, then Comandante will recalibrate the grinder for you. (Please also see "Where is click Zero") - My burr cone looks off-centre - is this normal?
- The cone burr in the middle has been built as a “floating cone”. Unlike some other grinders, the cone has flexibility on the axle. Without load (when the grinder is empty) you are able to move the cone on the axle, and it may sit ever so slightly off-centre due to the spring. But don’t worry - as soon as you grind coffee, the cone follows the centricity of the axle and the burr ring. We have tested this very carefully in our laboratory!
- My grinder’s burrs are touching - is this normal?
- Is your grinder behaving normally?
The cone burr in the middle has been built as a “floating cone”. Unlike some other grinders, the cone has flexibility on the axle. Without load (when the grinder is empty) you are able to move the cone on the axle. But don’t worry - as soon as you grind coffee, the cone follows the centricity of the axle and the burr ring. We have tested this very carefully in our laboratory!
"But the sound of the burrs touching sounds uneven?”
When the grinder is empty, the burr cone can sit slightly at an angle compared to the outer burr - you may notice this due to a rubbing sound at finer settings. Don’t worry! Your burrs won’t damage each other. This can depend on how the burr cone is sitting on the spring, and also how clean your grinder is. (If your grinder has collected a load of coffee dust over time, it’s probably worth cleaning your grinder! See the cleaning section above).
How do I know if it’s a problem?: Once you have cleaned your grinder, free of coffee dust (including the underside of the burr and the grind setting dial), re-insert the cone. There are 6 possible positions for the cone due to the hexagonal fitting on the axle. If the burrs still rub from 8 clicks or more in all 6 positions, then Comandante will recalibrate the grinder for you. (Please also see "Where is click Zero") - My crank ‘wobbles’ on the axle - is this normal?
- Yes, the loose connection between the crank and the axle is actually a deliberate and very important design feature, so you have nothing to worry about :).
• The loose connection is necessary to ensure that it is easy to remove and reattach the crank and lid. If it was tighter, then this would be more difficult. (We tested this during the design process to find the perfect fit!)
• The ‘loose’ connection has absolutely no effect on the axle and the burr mechanism. And certainly no effect on grind performance. There is only a positive effect on how easy it is to use the grinder!