After launching the ORCA Flat Burr Ghost Burr Hand Coffee Grinder, I received many requests to reduce prices, mainly from coffee enthusiasts and local roasters.
Coffee enthusiasts know what they want. Some prefer Flat Burr and asked for separate sales, while others wanted the Ghost Burr Grinder. I'm not surprised; the ORCA hand grinder is excellent, and coffee lovers wanted the cheaper ORCA grinder.
Small roasters wanted lower prices for ORCA grinder, which confused me. Then, a coffee-roaster friend shared a story: Someone got a free Mahlkonig X54 Grinder but didn't know much about coffee beans. They asked a local cafe for advice. The local cafe recommended a local roaster, and he later became a loyal customer of his local roaster.
After getting the high-quality coffee grinder, the lucky friend asked the local cafe two questions: 1. What coffee machine to buy? 2. What beans to buy? The local cafe patiently told him that he could buy a French press first, which is cheap and easy to use. As for beans, chatting with local roasters is the most convenient way. Should he choose blended beans or single-origin beans? If he chooses single-origin, which area (Ethiopia/Kenya/Panama/Guatemala/Costa Rica/Brazil/Colombia/Indonesia), which processing method (Natural/Washed/Pulped-Natural), which roast (Dark/Medium/Light), these problems are not a good choice for coffee novices.
This story is consistent with my observation that coffee beans (fresh whole beans) have not yet entered most people's daily lives. People have many convenient ways to drink coffee daily, including cafes, restaurants serving coffee, and coffee takeaways.Combinations like Coffee Capsules × Capsule Machines and Coffee Powder × Electric Coffee Filter Makers have also entered family daily life as a supplement to cafes. And, in supermarkets, many coffee beans were roasted six months ago, which shows that most people are not used to handling coffee beans at home.Only coffee lovers like to develop coffee recipes at home and even roast green beans.
But once people try processing coffee beans themselves—maybe they bought a grinder for fun or visited a local roaster—they most likely love making their coffee. Because freshly roasted, high-quality beans bring people so much freedom.
From selecting fresh beans (bean type/origin/processing/roasting/blending or single), then to grinding beans (freshly ground coffee powder made from a combination of different particle size distributions and particle shapes), finally to the extraction selection (Pour-Over/French Press/Espresso /AeroPress/MokaPot), each step increases the complexity and increases the freedom of human control, making it possible to explore and appreciate various natural flavors are full of fun.
If top-notch coffee grinders become more affordable, could it bring natural coffee beans into more people's daily routines and foster better connections between local roasters and communities? I'm not sure, but it's possible. So, I followed the suggestion and introduced a cheaper ORCA grinder.
Splitting the ORCA dual-burr grinder into two entry-level hand grinders—ORCA go Flat Burr Grinder & ORCA go Ghost Burr Grinder—cuts costs as much as possible while ensuring functionality and quality, allows people to experience the fun of ORCA flat-burr and ghost-burr at an affordable price.
Low price means lower manufacturing and material costs; I tried various approaches:
Failed attempt 1 - Plastic shell to reduce costs.
Although the hardness of the plastic material selected is very high, there is a sluggish feeling when driving the heavy stainless steel flat burr. I gave up the plastic shell immediately after trying it. The ORCA go version grinder is still made of all-metal materials, has a sturdy texture, is not easily damaged, and has the feeling of timely feedback.
Failed attempt 2 - Internal-click adjustment to reduce costs
For the internal-click Conical Burr hand grinder, you can see the space between the inner and outer burr with the naked eye. For instance, pour-over coffee is typically 1-1.5mm. But with the ghost/flat burr, you can't see this space between the upper and lower burr. So, the ORCA go version still uses an external adjustment component.
Failed attempt 3 - Burrs components cost reduction
I attempted to cut costs by removing the ORCA Flat Burr scraper, shrinking the burr sleeve diameter, and eliminating the pre-breaker. However, this caused issues. Without the scraper, fine espresso powder couldn't easily exit the grinder. Shrinking the burr sleeve caused coarse powder from the ghost-burr to get stuck. Removing the pre-breaker reduced grinding efficiency by at least 30%. In the end, these cost-saving measures made using the grinder frustrating. So, we kept the Ghost Burr and Flat Burr components the same as the original ORCA grinder.
In the end, I stuck to three things: ORCAgo version has the same burrs as ORCA, kept the external grinding adjustment, and used all-metal materials (stainless steel and aluminum alloy) for construction.
Also, we optimized the central axis, thickening it from 7mm to 9mm and connecting it to the lower burr. This improves concentricity, boosts pre-grinding efficiency, reduces leftover powder, and makes disassembly and assembly tool-free easier.
In the end, the ORCA go version manual coffee grinder has a unique flat burr and ghost burr, offering excellent performance, overall sturdy and durable, extremely simple to operate and maintain, and also at a low price. I hope everyone has fun and finds the joy of coffee.