Orphan Pharos alternatives

veganwithabeef

I’ve been toying with buying a pharos for a few weeks. One of my favourite coffee’s I’ve had from a conical was from a pharos my flatmate made me a couple years ago. I understand the hand grinder market has advanced quite a bit since the pharos first came around, so I was wondering if there are any more modern equivalents to it baring the HG-1 prime. I already own a hand grinder for filter and love the process of it, and I’m aware of the difficulty of grinding with a pharos. However I’m a bit wary of buying it now that its basically been discontinued.

Any advice would be welcome.

BrendaninBrooklyn

veganwithabeef If you are thinking hand grinder, for espresso using a conical look at Kinu; for filter using a conical look at Comandante; for both using flat burrs look at Pietro.

I own the Pietro and love it; I have a Kinu on order. I also have a Niche Zero, and in a few months will be adding a Duo with both burr sets. All of these are excellent for their purposes without breaking the bank.

Any in the cup improvements may occur (or not), depending on beans, technique, etc – with mid-tier 64mm grinders (Mazzer, Olympic, Option O, Zerno) or the very expensive offerings from Kafetek, Option O, Titus, Wug and a few others.

For me, the very small in the cup differences are not worth spending two to five times the price. Better beans make a much greater, readily distinguished difference.

FadedFrontiers

I’d be wary of buying one just because you had a great coffee with it, one of the best coffees I’ve had was from a very cheap electric grinder years ago - it could have been the beans, the brew method, pure luck or any mix of things that made it jump out to you at the time.

The Pharos like HG-1 will look impressive on your countertop and last years but for the money you’re likely to pay I’d say it’s worth going for a good electric grinder like the Niche Zero or Lagom Mini.

But if you want to stick to hand grinders then you may well get comparable in the cup performance from 1zpresso J series which also uses Italmill conical burrs like the Pharos but is generally smoother to operate.

wintoid

So you want an espresso hand grinder?

I’ve been through the hand grinder mill (geddit?). I was exclusively using hand grinders for 10 or so years. I had a Pharos, and found it pretty frustrating for espresso to get reliable shots out of my levers. I had it modded with all sort of mods, but still not terribly consistent. I’ve got an HG1 in my garage in a box. Subsequently, I’ve had much better espresso from my 1zpresso K-plus, or my Mazzer Omega, and would pick those over the Pharos or HG1 for espresso. The K-plus is good for filter too, although not quite as good as the Comandante IMHO.

I’m pretty much filter only these days, with the occasional Robot shot. I’ve also finally switched to an electric grinder, the Niche Duo, with which I’m very happy.

Hope this anecdotal information helps.

nickr

I have had a Pharos for about ten years and use it everyday and still love it. In comparison to the Mazzer E, I had at the time, the taste in the cup was a complete revelation. Now I only use it for filter and have no plans to replace it. One other thing I should mention, compared to other hand grinders, it’s fast.

Here is a slightly embarrassing video I made at the time:-