The 1ZPresso J-Ultra is the only hand grinder actually worth its price — and this is the hill I’ll die on

Sometimes I really loathe testing hand crank coffee grinders. Not because I loathe hand crank coffee grinders — actually, quite the opposite. My personal grinder is a hand-powered one. But because it means I have to grind a lot of coffee, and it really hurts my arm after a while.

But not the 1ZPresso J-Ultra. Even when I was grinding on the finest setting, I could rotate the crank with very little bicep distress. Is that enough to make it one of the best coffee grinders? I think so.

Although ease of use is, obviously, very important, I also take into consideration more technical parameters like retention, grind uniformity, and static. Well, you’ll be pleased to know that the J-Ultra passed all those tests with flying colors. Could the J-Ultra replace my Comandante? I think the answer is a big fat yes. Find out everything in this 1ZPresso J-Ultra review.

1ZPresso J-Ultra review: Cheat sheet

• Who is it for? Serious coffee lovers who mostly drink the same brewing method
• What does it do well? Pretty much everything
• What does it cost? $199 / £199
• What are its weaknesses? Top heavy — can fall over with the slightest breeze

1ZPresso J-Ultra: Specs

1ZPresso J-Ultra review: Price & availability

The 1ZPresso J-Ultra hand grinder is pretty affordable compared to rivals. The J-Ultra is $199 from Amazon U.S. and £199 from Amazon U.K..

Considering 1ZPresso’s top-of-the-range grinder, the K-Ultra, is $249, the J-Ultra’s $199 price is quite pleasing. The main difference is that the J-Ultra isn’t as versatile as the K-Ultra, but it’s fine for every day usage. In short, you can get a more specific grind size with the K-Ultra, but I found the J-Ultra met all my needs.

1ZPresso’s most budget-friendly grinder is the 1ZPresso Q Air at just $69 — but it is super compact. At the other end of the spectrum, Comandante’s iconic hand grinder, the C40 MK4, is a massive $277, and I’d only recommend that for serious coffee lovers.

I think $199 is a great price for the J-Ultra. It’s objectively a fantastic grinder.

1ZPresso J-Ultra review: Design

The J-Ultra is basically identical to the K-Ultra. Both grinders have a foldable handle and a carry case, so makes them a perfect option for people who travel often. There are only two main differences: the K-Ultra has a black handle and the J-Ultra has a gray handle, and the K-Ultra has a white dot on the grind adjustment ring, and then J-Ultra doesn’t.

Both the J-Ultra and the K-Ultra have the magnetic catch cup and a fabric covering on the shaft.

Inside the 40g (approximate) capacity top chamber is the 48mm stainless steel burr, which is adjustable using the external ring adjustment. Adjusting the grind was much easier on the J-Ultra (and K-Ultra) than the Comandante C40.

While I love the design for the most part, I will note that the J-Ultra is extremely top heavy and prone to falling over should it not be on a stable surface.

1ZPresso J-Ultra review: Grind adjustment

Like the K-Ultra, the J-Ultra has a very easy grind adjustment. Unlike the Comandante C40, you don’t have to take off the catch chamber and adjust the grind size from the burrs. There’s an external ring, marked with numbers 0-9, that means you can adjust grind size and check where you’re at easily.

Obviously I’d still recommend checking the position of the burrs before adjusting, but it’s good that the adjustment ring is so easy to use.

1ZPresso J-Ultra review: Performance

As with all coffee grinders, I analyze four main areas: ease of use, static and clumping, uniformity, and retention. Uniformity refers to the consistency of the coffee grinds: are there some massively bigger than others, despite being ground on the same setting? Retention refers to how much coffee sticks inside the grinder.

Ease of use

As with the 1ZPresso K-Ultra, the J-Ultra is incredibly easy to use. Given that the grind adjustment uses an external ring rather than internal burr control, it’s much less intimidating for new users without sacrificing quality.

I didn’t struggle to grind finely, unlike the Comandante C40, which was the world’s most painful bicep workout. Even when I ground on the finest setting, I could rotate the crank easily.

1ZPresso’s grinders can be dismantled without tools, too, so you’ll be able to get into the crevices for cleaning and maintenance easily — but more on that in the ‘Storage & maintenance’ section.

Static & clumping

Just as with the K-Ultra, the J-Ultra has minimal clumping. I would be happy to use the coffee straightaway for anything from pour-over to espresso.

Static, however, is another question. While it’s physically impossible for grinders to have no static, I would recommend tapping the burrs onto the catch chamber after grinding. I found that the J-Ultra had about the same amount of static as the K-Ultra. If you’re after a coffee grinder with very minimal static, however, I would recommend the Comandante C40 instead. There’s something about its ‘Nitro Blade’ burrs that minimize static more than other grinders.

Uniformity

Uniformity refers to how consistent the coffee grounds are. To test this, I ground coffee for different brewing methods (fine is for espresso, medium-fine AeroPress, etc) and sifted the grounds through my Kruve coffee sieves.

I’m looking for big jumps from 0% to 90%, which tells me that all the grounds are the same size. Grind uniformity is essential for good coffee.

As you can see from the results, the J-Ultra is excellent at ground uniformity. There are huge jumps from 0% to 100%, which shows me that the 48mm burrs are exceptionally talented at crushing all beans to the same size. There was a little discrepancy between 500, 800, and 1100 microns on the ‘Medium’ grind setting, but this was the outlier. In general, the J-Ultra is very uniform.

Retention

To test retention, I weighed out 20g of coffee using my Wacaco Exagram Pro scale, one of the best coffee scales. I then ground the coffee to a medium grind size and weighed the amount of coffee in the catch chamber.

Here are my results.

As you can see, there’s very little retention. The first time I tested, there was absolutely no retention whatsoever. This performance is better than the Baratza Encore (1.5%) and the Sage/Breville Dose Control Pro (2.15%). Compared to hand grinders, the J-Ultra performed better than the K-Ultra (1.8%) and much better than the Comandante C40 MK4 (2.75%).

This is the lowest retention grinder I’ve ever used, and I’m supremely happy with its performance here.

1ZPresso J-Ultra review: Storage & maintenance

1ZPresso offers a 1 year warranty on its grinders, which is the same as Comandante’s. However, with careful maintenance, I’m sure the grinder would last you a lot longer.

Speaking of maintenance — 1ZPresso specifically advises against getting the grinder wet, so I would only clean it with a dry cloth or the provided brush. You can take most of the grinder apart for easy cleaning, which 1ZPresso tells you how to do in the product manual. I found it really easy to disassemble the J-Ultra, and I wouldn’t particularly call myself handy.

I love 1ZPresso’s grinders because they come with hard shell carry cases, making them ideal for traveling, but 1ZPresso also sells a $20 cylinder case for even more compact transportation options.

1ZPresso J-Ultra review: Verdict

I think the 1ZPresso J-Ultra is the best hand grinder for most people. While, no, it doesn’t have the super precise click adjustment you’d find on the K-Ultra or the Comandante C40, the J-Ultra is everything a casual coffee lover needs and more.

At $199, it’s one of the most affordable hand grinders (of this quality) around. Although you save $50 versus the K-Ultra, the differences are truly minimal for most people. I recommend the J-Ultra over the K-Ultra for everyone except grinder evangelists, who may promptly tell me I’m wrong for recommending the J-Ultra.

Overall, the J-Ultra has everything you’d want on a premium grinder: perfect grind uniformity, incredibly low retention, major ease of use, and great appearance. Just don’t breathe on it too heavy — it will fall over.