I think me posting that I was still satisfied with my Hario MM-2 small wooden grinder on April 24, 2020 and then ordering a Timemore Chestnut C2 grinder only weeks later – that sums up how quickly upgrades on home brewing gear has been during the Enhanced Community Quarantine for everyone. If you’ve been reading this blog, you already know I’m just a coffee consumer so take whatever my thoughts/opinions are about this grinder with a grain of salt, or coffee if you want to be cheeky about it.

In case you were wondering, yes this does click when turning

Now, I wasn’t even considering buying a Timemore C2 when I was looking at options to upgrade my grinder. I was initially keen on getting a Porlex Mini, but it wasn’t available wherever I was looking at during that time. I then moved on thinking about how I’ll explain to my wife that I dropped more than Php 10,000 for a Comandante C40 MKIII Nitro Blade (Jesus, it sounds like a product name for a knife). Long story short, I saw someone post about the Timemore Chestnut C2 on their IG story (I forgot who it was, sorry whoever you are), checked the price in Lazada, and immediately bought it. See, the price is not at the middle of the Porlex Mini and the Comandante, it was actually lower than the Porlex (or at least the price of it from the shops I was checking). You can see why it was an easy decision.

The first thing I noticed was how fast and easy it was to grind coffee with the Timemore C2. I literally broke a sweat trying to grind some Kenya beans (from Lakbay Brew) with my previous Hario MM-2. It will still stop grinding with the Timemore C2, but not as frequent and hard as the Hario. Adjusting the grind setting was also easier with the Timemore C2 where you just have to turn a knob at the bottom rather than needing to take a couple of parts and eyeballing stuff. The Timemore C2 is a step-grinder, and from what I’ve read the steps are bigger compared to the Comandante. In my experience, the difference in the drawdown when brewing was noticeable when you adjust by one click.

My first ever grind with the Timemore C2, this was either at 21 or 20 clicks

The grind itself is of course more consistent with the Timemore C2 compared to the Hario MM-2, but it’s not perfect. There’s no issue with medium fine/fine settings, but as you go coarser you’re still going to get some finer grinds though nothing as bad as what I was getting with the Hario MM-2. With the Hario, even when I thought I had already grinded medium fine, I’d still end up with some rocks in my bed after brewing. When I adjust further, the bed becomes muddy and of course the coffee becomes too acidic. The Timemore C2 is stabilized, even though it’s supposed to be made from more cheaper materials than their more premium grinders, while the Hario MM-2 was wobbly AF. I even tried adjusting the Inner Burr alignment with the axle to address this on the latter, but it was still a struggle.

It feels better to grind with the Timemore C2, not just in terms of the smoothness when turning the crank, because it feels natural to hold the grinder in your hand as you’re grinding (if that makes sense). Not only was the Hario MM-2 bulky, it was also small. It was sometimes painful on my wrist holding it down while grinding. The Timemore C2 is not as slim as the Timemore Slim, but it’s also not too wide that it will take some effort holding it in one hand while grinding. However, the Timemore C2 does have a small capacity and sometimes 20 grams of beans is almost pushing the limits of the hopper.

Cleaning the Timemore C2 is easier. I just use the brush that shipped with it to remove particles from the bottom of the burrs as well as inside the canister. Deep cleans are also relatively easy. Cleaning the Hario MM-2 was a literal chore and needed the involvement of a small screwdriver to deep clean it.

Overall, I am satisfied with my Timemore C2. It’s about Php 500 more than the Hario MM-2 so it was an easy upgrade. However, I’ve only been using it for two months and I’m upgrading from something that performs so bad, so of course I will be satisfied with it. Is it durable? We’ll have to find out. I did do one thing that you’re not supposed to do with it early on, caused a bit of a panic, but Timemore PH on IG actually replied to my DM and guided me with some troubleshooting to figure out the problem. It has been working well since then. Take-away there is that Timemore PH has good after-sales support through social media.

This is a popular grinder right now, and that’s because of the price-to-performance ratio. I wouldn’t have been brewing so much recently if not for it. It’s also made me open to trying more special beans because I’m confident I won’t screw it up so much. For me, unless it absolutely disintegrates, I am now satisfied with my grinder. I don’t need an electric grinder, I actually like grinding manually now, and I don’t need to upgrade to that Rambo Knife sounding Comandante from my Timemore Chestnut C2, for this year at least.

Again, these aren’t the thoughts/opinions of a professional in the coffee industry, but more for a normal consumer/neophyte home brewer. You may want to read this review by the Coffee Chronicler for a more professional look at the Timemore C2.

TL;DR: Easy to upgrade to the Timemore C2 because of the low price. Performance is definitely better than my old Hario MM-2. I’m not really qualified to review this, take my positive view of it with a grain of salt.

Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored by Timemore or Timemore Philippines. 

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