Timemore C2 Review

Timemore have built quite the reputation and following in the coffee world with their collection of amazing value coffee products. The mission is to produce high-quality coffee equipment that is affordable so everyone can enjoy great coffee, after a Timemore C2 review, it looks like they’re succeeding.

The Timemore C2 outperforms its price point for drip coffee and French press. High build quality and accurate burrs make it a great budget option. While it lacks the accuracy needed for espresso, all other brewers will be very pleased with the results.

There is always a lot of factors when choosing a grinder so we’ve gone into the details of our experience with the C2 here.

At a Glance: Timemore C2 Review

1. 38mm Stainless Steel Burrs

High-quality burrs that excel at grinding at the drip coffee range. Superb consistency and distribution of coffee grounds leads to excellent flavor in the cup.

2. Textured Aluminum Body

If you plan to take your grinder on the road, weight is everything. So, the aluminum body of the Timemore Chestnut C2 grinder is a great feature is it keeps the grinder lightweight and perfect for travel.

The textured outside not only looks good but also feels nice in your hands as your grind.

3. Incredibly Fast Grinding

No matter what setting you use, the mechanism is very smooth so you can enjoy quicker coffee grinding with minimal effort.

For context, if you’re on a coarse French press setting, you can grind 1g of beans per second. This is insanely fast for a manual grinder.

The bean hopper is large enough to make it fairly easy to put your beans in. It holds 30g of coffee beans which is comfortably enough for 1 and maybe for 2 depending on your brewing method.

As an added bonus, the Timemore C2 grinds incredibly quickly. So if you have a big coffee-drinking family and need quite a lot of grounds, it won’t take all morning.

Adjusting the grind settings is simple enough – there is a grind adjustment knob located under the burrs. The only downside is that there are no numbers on the dial. Instead, it works off a ‘click system’ broken down by a series of dots as you can see here:

So, to find your preferred grind settings, we recommend turning the knob fully clockwise until it can’t turn anymore. This is the finest setting and, from there, you have to count the number of clicks as it gets progressively coarser. If like us you’re easily distracted before caffeine, you may want to find your settings and never change them. 

As a guide, Timemore offers up their suggested grind size. Depending on your exact coffee maker, this may just take a little playing around to get it spot on: 

• Espresso: 7-9 clicks
• Pour Over: 13-16 clicks
• French Press: 18-26 clicks

Whilst a little frustrating, the lack of numbers is a common issue on most manual grinders – they’re not really designed for flipping back and forth. Instead, they are better for sticking to the preferred grind settings for one person and one style of coffee.

The textured aluminum is modern, minimalist, and feels great whilst grinding.

There are some plastic bearings on the inside to help stabilize the burrs. Whilst some coffee experts really dislike the use of plastic near their coffee, even the most premium coffee grinders tend to contain plastic somewhere. This helps cut down on the weight, increasing portability.

At 7.6 inches tall and 2.05 inches in diameter, it isn’t exactly a compact grinder. It also weighs just under 1lb so it isn’t the lightest either. That said, it’s hardly bulky and if you wanted to throw it in your bag for a weekend away it isn’t going to eat up all your space.

The thin aluminum helps keep the weight down but won’t offer the same protection as stainless steel. So the Timemore Chestnut C2 isn’t ideal for long-term travel where it’ll probably need to deal with some rough handling along the way. Instead, there are many other more premium coffee grinders up to that task (like the 1Zpresso J Ultra).

It’s also available in white or black if you prefer. But, for us, the grey textured option is comfortably the best looking.

Those 38mm stainless steel burrs do an excellent job at coarse and medium settings. So, it is superb grinder for French press, drip, pour over, or AeroPress.

However, it starts to struggle at the finer espresso grind size settings. So, if your preferred coffee maker is a Moka pot or espresso machine, you would be better off thinking about a different grinder option.

The steps are also too large to really dial in an espresso properly without messing around a lot with the dose and tamping, not ideal.

There are limitations on all manual grinders. So without spending quite a bit of money you won’t find one that works well across all grind sizes. If you don’t brew espresso, this will work very nicely for you.

Timemore Chestnut Xlite

The Chestnut Xlite is their top-of-the-range grinder, a slight upgrade on the superb Chestnut X that won so much praise including the Good Design Award 2020.

The new handle design and non-slip silicone base are added to the high precision dial and superb burrs for a top-end coffee experience. It also comes with a top-end coffee price.

Timemore Chestnut C3

Visually, the C3 looks the same as the C2. But it’s been upgraded where it matters most: the burrs.

So you get better grind consistency, a wider range of grind sizes (including espresso), and slightly better flavor in your cup. And they’re almost exactly the same price.

Intrigued? Read our in-depth Timemore C3 Review to learn more.

Timemore Chestnut C3 ESP

The Timemore C3 ESP is a specialist espresso version of the C3. You get far greater precision with 30 clicks per rotation compared to 16 on the regular C3. As the regular C3 only has 1 setting that works for espresso, you really need the ESP version if that’s your brewing method of choice.

This is also available in “Pro” form. The “Pro” is added to any C3 grinder with a foldaway handle rather than the regular one. Most of the Chestnut C3 models come with the “Pro” option and may be better for those who travel.

Timemore Chestnut C3 Max

The Chestnut C3 Max, maybe predictably, has a larger capacity than the C3. The max dose is 30g rather than 25g.

This may not seem like a lot but if your standard dose is 27g then it makes all the difference in the world.

Timemore Chestnut C3S

When you see the “S” added to any of the Timemore C3 series, it means it’s the updated model. The differences are minimal, but it does have a silicone base which is where the “S” comes from. Also, the plastic internal parts have been replaced with stainless steel.

Does it make a big difference? No, but some people are very picky when it comes to plastic and their coffee so I guess there’s a market there for it.

It’s easy to disassemble. And cleaning the coffee grind chamber and burrs couldn’t be easier – there is a soft brush included which you use to remove any leftover coffee particles. This helps to dislodge them and a blow of air (either a gentle blow from you or using an air duster) will knock the particles right out.

Just take care to only use the brush/air when cleaning, not water. The use of water can damage the burrs, can cause rust, and ultimately will shorten the lifespan of your grinder.

The earlier versions of the grinder had a slight issue with static. But they have come a long way since then and changed the material of the hopper which has solved that problem. So your Chestnut C2 won’t get clogged up.

The grind consistency across the full grind range is very impressive for the price. While its pretty tough to use to dial in espresso shots, all coarser brewing methods work pretty well.

The big downside now is that the Timemore C3 is the same price and a better grinder. If you can find the C2 at a big discount and you’re looking for a grinder for drip coffee then absolutely go for it.

As good as it was in our Timemore C2 review, the new C3 should be the grinder you look to get now.

Don’t forget to Buy Your Chestnut C2 Hand Grinder Today

Matt Woodburn-Simmonds

Matt's coffee obsession started in 2006 when working as a Barista. A tendency to turn up to work hungover kickstarted his coffee journey which quickly turned into a love affair. As he moved on to work as a Restaurant Manager and Sommelier, the obsession continued to grow. Now, his passion is helping others to enjoy better coffee at home.