A Hand Grinder Improved My Coffee - ZeroHero Z3 X-Fold Review
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About 10 years ago I finally realized that my blade grinder was a terrible way to grind coffee. I had plenty of coffee shop experience, but thought, “For home use, this is fine.” According to a barista friend, it wasn’t. So, I bought a Hario Skerton hand grinder and my coffee quality improved significantly. It was beautiful, and tedious.
But, it was the beginning of something.
I went down the rabbit hole of burr grinders. I had an obsession with Baratza and Mahlkonig. Well-built, beautiful grinders are the apple of my eye. (BTW, checkout my review of the Fellow Opus Grinder)
But in all that time, for some reason I never went down the hand-grinder rabbit hole … until now.
This is the Z3 X-Fold from ZeroHero
It features titanium-coated conical burrs, 56 individual settings for dialing in your brew, and a super sturdy, extremely smooth handle that’s been designed to reduce grinding effort by 30%. And it’s $75. Seventy. Five. Dollars. For this quality, I think that’s a steal. (Also, usually there’s a discount code on Amazon … yoooo!)
Let’s talk details.
A Timeless Style
Just look at the this grinder. Scroll back up, I’ll wait. I want my coffee gear to look good in my house for a long time. Take a look at other hand grinders on the market and ask yourself, “Would this look great in my kitchen for the next 5 years?” For most, they probably won’t. And if it won’t, don’t buy it. The Z3 X-Fold absolutely will.
Grippy and Durable Aluminum Alloy Construction
Many manual coffee grinders are made without the end user in mind. Not this one. The aluminum alloy body is strong and light, tipping the scale at just 586 grams or 1.25 pounds. The outer ridges provide a nice, comfortable gripping surface and the circumference is just big enough that hands of any size will have no problems holding on while grinding. You don’t need to put rubber bands on it to make it grippy (looking at you Comandante).
25 Gram Grinder Capacity
With a 25 gram capacity, this hand grinder is perfect for brews for 1-2 people. I usually make a 17:1 brew ratio pour over in the morning, and that it yields about 16 ounces of coffee.
38 Millimeter Burrs
The ZeroHero Z3 X-Fold rocks 38mm titanium coated stainless steel conical burrs. The titanium coating is generally found in a commercial setting and keeps the burrs sharper, longer. The burr’s 6 point axis design was developed by ZeroHero engineers to produce consistently uniform grind particles — important for making great coffee. The 38mm burr size allows you to grind easily and quickly.
The titanium coating is generally found in a commercial setting and keeps the burrs sharper, longer.
The burrs spin using an axle that is held in place at two points. That gives added stability to the main burr and allows it to grind more consistently. A wobbly burr would be bad news.
56 Grind Size Settings
Versatility to brew all types of coffee is a really nice feature of the Z3 X-Fold. With this grinder’s 56 size settings, small adjustments to get your coffee dialed-in just right are easy to make. I did find that if you want to repeat your brews you need to track your clicks. There’s not a dial that lets you quickly understand what your grind setting is.
Ergonomic, Foldable Handle With Walnut Knob
ZeroHero designed the Z3 X-Fold’s handle ergonomics in such a way that it reduces hand cranking effort by 30%. A sturdy, folding aluminum handle is capped with a handsome walnut knob that spins easily. It takes less than a minute to get your grounds from bag to brewer. That means if you need to make two batches, it’s no issue. Good for the home or for travel.
Low Noise Grinding
You won’t wake up your family with a hand grinder like this. It’s so quiet compared to electric grinders. For comparison, my Mahlkonig X54 is 70 dB and the Z3 X-Fold is xdbs. Honestly, it makes a really nice sound. (Watch the video above for proof.)
Easy Cleaning
The grinder is easy to disassemble and clean. No special tools are required. Don’t use anything abrasive when cleaning this grinder, you want a gentle wash with warm soapy water. I also highly recommend Grindz tabs, for easy cleaning and de-oiling. Pop one of those in between bags and do a full disassembly and cleaning every few months and you’ll be good to go.
The Grinder In Action - My Real World Results
Pour over
The Z3 X-Fold made excellent pour-over coffee. Of course, you’ll have to make small adjustments depending on the brewer you prefer, and the coffee you drink, but with a medium roast blend from South America, I was very content. With a lighter roast Costa Rican coffee, I did find that there were more fines present and had to make a couple adjustments, but it wasn’t a big deal.
French Press
The French Press coffee I made was great. What more to say there?
Espresso
OK, so the Z3 X-Fold hand grinder can make good espresso. It took me a couple tries to dial it in but it was really tasty! The downside? It took a very long time to grind 18 grams for espresso. I’m talking like 3 minutes of cranking. If you have that time, it’s worth it. If not, I would explore a hand grinder with a bigger burr set like the KINGrinder K4 which has 48mm burrs.
Areas of Improvement
I always let the companies I work with know that I will highlight areas of improvement or things I think are bad in my reviews. For ZeroHero’s Z3 X-Fold manual coffee grinder, I would improve the following:
Unnecessary Feature - I found the numerals on the dial of the adjustment knob to be fairly useless. Once you’re past 12 on the dial, does it even matter anymore?
Needed Feature - I don’t mind the internal adjustment but the Z5 which I’ll link to in the description has external burr adjustment. That would be a slight improvement that I would appreciate.
More Details, Please - ZeroHero’s manual is lacking in detail, especially around things like disassembly and cleaning. The font is also quite small.
Overall Rating: 9/10
Grind quality: 8.5
Aesthetics: 9.5
Ergonomics: 9
Value for money: 9
Where To Buy The ZeroHero Z3 X-Fold Hand Grinder
More Recommended Gear
Manual Espresso Grinder: KINGrinder K4 (48mm Burrs)
Grindz Grinder Cleaning Tabs
ZeroHero Mini Espresso Scale (Read the review)
Mahlkonig X54 All Around Grinder
