What's a good manual grinder to get for french press(coarse grind) coffee? I've looked around and everybody seems to be saying that the cheap (sub $50) grinders are horrible for coarse grinds but outside of a few very expensive grinders that aren't even available here in japan I haven't been able to find good recommendations on more affordable options(willing to pay up to $100).
I recently bought a Comandante C40 MK3 manual grinder. I'm totally new to the whole coffee at home game, so I felt like a bit of a twat splurging on what seems to be an expensive grinder and then all the other equipment. And whilst I literally have no frame of reference as to what good black coffee should taste like. I'm very very happy with the Comandante.
As far as I'm aware. The Comandante (£200) and the Kinu m47 (£300) are seen as the best manual grinders money can buy (Outside of some crazy £1000 big stationary one!). I think the better quality grinders are more important for espresso, as the extraction seems massively important for those. But with french press being immersion I've been told it's not as important. Especially after reading some of James Hoffman's notes.
Speaking of James Hoffman, I don't know if he has been mentioned in this thread; but I'm currently trying his French Press method, a lot of people rave about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st571DYYTR8
He also just released a video on cheaper (sub £70 i think) grinders and compared them all. Isn't Hario a Japanese brand? Maybe you could find one over there. It seems to be his favourite of the bunch and is more than capable of producing a good cup. He said he's going to be taking the best performer of the cheap grinders and putting it against the most expensive. So that should answer your question when it comes out :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLEBfom0mhM&t=
With his technique. As soon as the grinds start to fall and sit at the bottom. The extraction pretty much stops to a halt, as long as you don't bring them back up into the coffee. So getting an even extraction shouldn't be as important as something like a pour over? Those are his words anyway. I'm still getting my head around everything. Hope this helps either way!