There Are Pandas, and Then There Are Pandas.
And this isn't either of them! The Pandas we're talking about here, are watches, not bears. And what got me thinking about them (again) was a link posted this morning by @cm.rook who pointed a few of us to the very attractive (and not terribly priced) Yema "Rallygraph" Panda which, in it's most traditional arrangement, looks like the one on the left, but can also be had in the version on the right: The model on the left is a true Panda, while the model on the right is called a reverse Panda. The reason for that distinction is clear--Panda bears, only come in the first arrangement. Now at this point, everyone should be thinking about the most well-know Panda, The Rolex Panda, which is actually a Daytona, and among Rolex Daytonas, the most famous of which is the Paul Newman Daytona, which was famous first, because it was Paul's, and second because it sold at auction for $17.8 million (US Dollars). The story of that auction is well-known so I'll only...
Nov 8, 2019
Sounds like you enjoy your beans ground well. You also mention grinding with blades. Give a conical burr grinder a try and prepare your mind for explosions. It doesn't even have to be ceramic— your grind consistency is going to improve by long jumps and dolphin dives.
Sincerely, Conical burr grinder advocate
I would totally recommend an adjustable hand grinder. It's super cathartic to have to manually grind your beans before brewing, and you avoid the issue with burning them like cheap electric ones do.
I have the following one and it produces really nice results, especially for the price. The grinding chamber fits about 35g but it's just a matter of grinding multiple times if you're brewing a lot of coffee. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JOMO5FA/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Just remember, most of the coffee industry moves towards finer grinds and not towards coarser grinds and the physics of how conical burr grinders work make consistency in coarse grinds more difficult anyway without a stronger level of stabilization. (hence why the Hario Skerton has it's own mod to accomplish this)
That being said, I'm with Breadagression, if you're really going all the way to French press, it's going to be hard to notice the difference. Bad brew method = bad brew.
Also, I disagree with the others, a French press isn't necessarily a bad brew method, you just have to learn the proper technique (and a French press coffee is a much harder technique to get the hang of than a drip). The agitation process of brewing a French press becomes extremely important because you no longer have that continuous flow of water to agitate it. Take a spoon and paddle it in the press in a fore-aft motion (not swirls!), then turn 90 degrees and repeat. Do this every now and then to ensure that the grounds don't settle for too long at the bottom of the press. Before you plunge, give it a nice big swirl so that the grounds get suspended completely in your coffee before being pressed down by the plunger. And remember, the more you agitate, the shorter you steep (so that's some efficiency for your daily morning routine there).
I would definitely consider trying to RMA it if that's the problem.
I also own a porlex and a skerton so from the perspective of the actual grinding and needing to hold it down I think it's far superior. The amount of effort in stabilizing the rotational torsion is far greater than forcing something down. I did 200g for cold brew in about half the time it would have taken me with the skerton.