Grind and discard a small dose to settle the burrs in, find Click Zero, then count up to a starting point for however you brew. Write the number down. Everything after that is taste — and taste is the fun part.
Day one: what's in the box
A C40 arrives with two bean jars — one glass, one polymer, so you have the best of both — along with the crank, lid, knob and a Comandante wristband.
Two things people often miss. The jars are not packaging: they're the doses, the storage and the transfer mechanism, and they're central to how the grinder is designed to be used. And the wristband has a second job as a grip aid, which you'll appreciate the first time you grind for espresso.
Your first grind
Grind a small dose of coffee and throw it away. Not because there's anything on the burrs — there isn't — but because a brand new burr set beds in over the first few grinds, and you'd rather that happened before your good beans arrive.
Then grind properly and pay attention to how it feels. That smooth, positive resistance and the sound of the burrs is your baseline. If anything ever feels notchy or gritty later on, this is what you're comparing it against.
Find Click Zero
This is the one piece of technique that makes everything else repeatable. Hold the grinder horizontally, close the burrs a click at a time, and find the point where the crank stops falling under its own weight. That's zero, and it's the number every setting counts up from.
Full walkthrough, for both C40 and C60: where is Click Zero on a Comandante grinder?
A starting setting for your brewer
From zero, count out to roughly here and adjust by taste:
| Method | Clicks from zero |
|---|---|
| Ibrik / cezve | 3–8 |
| Espresso | 7–13 |
| Moka pot | 14–20 |
| Pour over | 18–35 |
| French press / cupping | 25–35 |
Sour and thin means go finer. Harsh and drying means go coarser. There's more detail in our guide to grind settings for different brewing methods, but please treat all of it as a starting point and trust your tastebuds.
Days two to seven: build the habits
Three small things, and they'll be automatic by the weekend.
Weigh into the jar and flip it in. Faster, tidier and more accurate than pouring from the bag — see the Bean Jar Flip.
Write your settings down. Coffee, brewer, click count. Within a fortnight you'll have a reference more useful than any published chart.
Brush it out. Five seconds after each session, and the monthly clean becomes a formality.
The accessories most owners add first
Nothing here is necessary. These are simply the things people come back for.
- Extra bean jars. The moment you're brewing two coffees or prepping ahead, two jars stop being enough. Polymer 40g is the workhorse.
- A brush. A Long Neck Brush #6 kept beside the grinder is the difference between cleaning it and meaning to.
- Something to carry it in. A Tool Pouch for the bag, or a C40 Travel Bag if the grinder genuinely travels.
- A tray. A coffee tray gives the grinder and its parts somewhere to live on the worktop.
Everything is in accessories, and it all stays compatible — we design for backwards and cross-compatibility, so nothing you buy today is orphaned by next year's model.
Keeping it running
Clean it weekly if you grind daily, monthly if you don't: how to clean your C40, or the equivalent guide for the C60.
And if something feels odd in the first few weeks — a slightly off-centre cone, a crank that wobbles, fines in the grounds — have a look at seven things that look wrong but aren't before you worry. Most of them are design features.
Welcome
You've bought a tool that's meant to still be working in thirty years, and that's repairable when it isn't. Look after it, keep notes, and enjoy the coffee.
