This Thing Now: Handground Coffee Grinder Kickstarter | Tasting T

Preorder a smartly designed grinder for those fair trade beans

If you've ever spent more time than you'd like to admit frustrated with your manual coffee bean grinder's inconsistency and stubborn disassembly, you are not alone. So much so that when two coffee enthusiasts from Santa Barbara put the word out that they wanted to build a better grinder, thousands of people responded with ideas, drawings and even fully designed blueprints for a more efficient way to get that daily bean juice. Thus began a pretty impressive Kickstarter campaign for Handground, a project that met its goal of $35,000 after only 18 hours of going live.

Handground's crowd-sourced design promises to improve upon the most frustrating aspects of existing manual grinders. It uses the same technology as a camera lens: You can adjust your grind with a simple twist of the base, rather than feeling like you're taking apart a small car engine every time you change your grind from espresso to drip. Also, the crank is mounted on the side for stability, avoiding that awkward pat-your-head-rub-your-belly technique that top-mounted grinders invoke.

Plus, the grinders are sleek in design to perfectly complement your fashionable arsenal of gadgets. (The copper one in particular is worthy of barista envy.) However, time is of the essence to preorder a grinder for yourself, as the hours are ticking away until the campaign is over (tomorrow!). Place your order, then let your inner coffee geek rejoice.