about manual grinding
September 11th, 2021
We first discussed manual grinding when Climate Change came into focus with Greta Thunberg and her Friday-for-Future movement making their way around the globe. Once CoV-19-restrictions and Lockdowns started causing a decrease in commercial Sales but higher demand for burrs, we finally got serious about it.
It felt like a great opportunity to further focus on the core of each and every grinder, the burrs. While in the process of mulitplying the capacity of our burr production (which turned out to become quite a challenge for Marko, our very amazing Production Manager), Christian designed a handcrank-mechanism with matching burrs to be incorporated into our existing etzMAX-system. A manual grinder to directly grind from Hopper into Portafilter, environmentally friendly but without lacking any of the comforts electrical grinders usually provide.. our contribution to Climate Change. No cables, no waste, no noise (other than the breaking of beans), no to low static - and no weighing for those ready to invest in a (battery-powered) weight-based version. In terms of workflow, this really is quite an Upgrade, so even coffee lovers who have never given manual grinding any thought might enjoy this and should take a closer look .. walk up to your etzMAN, set the weight, turn the crank .. enjoy the smell, the sound and the process itself.
Simultaneously and while developing and testing burrs for the etzMAN, Christian finalized the etz-I-design, the I standing for Icon, Innovation, Inspiration, Incredible .. whatever you want it to be!
When in 2020 freight cost began to slowly increase (and finally exploded) and not to be dependent on overseas suppliers and prolonged delivery times, we agreed on completely tool and source parts and materials required to build our etz-I from Switzerland and Germany. With burrs and tubes being manufactured on our own machines in Liechtenstein, it`s where we also assemble and prepare the grinders to be shipped internationally.
The etz-I sets new standards in manual grinding, not just because of the unique geometry of our 32mm burrs and our RRB-mechanism (Rotating Ring Burr with Anti-Static-Jig) initially introduced years ago, when the SETTE (Baratza) was launched, but for its many exceptional features and simple way of use.
According to Elon Musk "Physics is the law, and everything else is a recommendation". That`s what we believe grinding is all about. Slow grinding moreover, brings out the best in our burr geometry cutting the beans (rather than squeezing them) in the most efficient and respectful way.
