The C40 is the everyday all-rounder, and the one most people should buy. The C60 Baracuda® is the larger, faster grinder for higher volume. The X25 TRAILMASTER® is the compact one built to be thrown in a bag. All three grind beautifully — the question is what your week looks like.
The three ranges at a glance
| Grinder | Built for | From |
|---|---|---|
| C40 Nitro Blade® MK4 | Everyday brewing at home, filter through espresso. The default choice. | £249 |
| C60 Baracuda® | Larger doses, faster grinding, heavier daily use. | £520 |
| X25 Trailmaster® | Travel, camping, the office drawer. Compact and hard-wearing. | £239 |
| C40 Lab Series | Choosing a burr character rather than a body finish. | £265 |
The C40: the one that started it all
If you've seen a hand grinder on a specialty coffee bar in the last decade, there's a fair chance it was a C40. The shape is unmistakable, and the reason it's endured is inside: the NITRO BLADE® burr set, a heptagonal conical burr developed specifically for specialty coffee, cut from a high-nitrogen alloy developed for the job.
In practice the C40 does everything competently and several things exceptionally. It handles filter grinds without complaint, goes fine enough for espresso, and holds its setting through a bag of coffee. It's also the grinder with the deepest accessory and spare-part ecosystem, which matters more than people expect over a ten-year ownership.
Buy a C40 if you brew one to four cups a day, want one grinder that covers every method, and would rather spend the difference on coffee.
Choose your finish from the Woods Collection, the Metal Collection or the Polymer Collection — the mechanism inside is identical, so this is purely a question of what you want to look at each morning.
The C60 Baracuda: when volume is the problem
The C60 is not simply a bigger C40. It's a grinder designed around a different question: what if you're grinding for four people, or dialling in all afternoon, or working a busy bar?
The larger burr set gets through a dose faster and with less effort per gram. The body is substantial in the hand in a way that makes long sessions genuinely more comfortable. And it holds a bigger dose, so you're not grinding twice for a full French press.
Buy a C60 if you regularly brew for more than two, you find yourself grinding twice, or you're using a hand grinder in a professional setting. It's available in Nautilus Blue and Stone Washed.
The X25 Trailmaster: coffee that travels
The X25 is the answer to a question the C40 doesn't quite answer: what do you take up a mountain? It's the compact grinder in the range, built to be packed, knocked about and used somewhere with no electricity and no worktop.
It is also, at £239 in Forest Green, the most affordable route into a Comandante — which makes it a genuine first grinder as well as a second one.
Buy an X25 if your coffee happens in tents, hotel rooms and offices as often as in your kitchen.
The Lab Series: choosing a burr, not a body
The Lab Series takes the C40 MK4 and offers it with a choice of burr sets, all at the same price. This is the range for people who already know what they want from a cup.
Nitro Blade — the reference. Balanced, versatile, the character the C40 is known for.
Tigershark — a newer geometry, developed for a different flavour profile.
Hammerhead — the third option in the series, with its own distinct character.
If you're buying your first Comandante, start with Nitro Blade. If you're buying your second, the Lab Series is where it gets interesting.
Still undecided?
Most people are choosing between a C40 and a C60, and the honest tiebreaker is volume. Two cups a day, C40. Four or more, or a professional context, C60. Everything else — finish, burr, knob, sleeve — is customisation you can add later, and all of it stays compatible.
Browse the full range in coffee grinders, or drop us a line and we'll talk it through.
