Timemore · Dial-in chart

Timemore C3 grind settings

Name: Timemore C3 grind settings by brew method
Creator: BrewMark

Where to set the Timemore C3 for every common brew method — worked out from this grinder’s own dial curve rather than a one-size-fits-all chart.

Dial range0 clicks – 36 clicks

ScaleClicks

BurrsConical

Filter reference15 clicks

The shape of this dial

The top line is the universal grind index every BrewMark recipe uses. The bottom line is the C3’s own dial. The connectors show how one maps onto the other.

Where the lines bunch, the dial is compressed — small moves count for more

Settings by brew method

Start at the recommended setting, brew, then move within the range by taste. Sour or weak means go finer; bitter or harsh means go coarser.

Timemore C3 grind settings for espresso, moka pot, AeroPress, pour over, drip, Chemex, French press and cold brew
Method	Setting	Range
EspressoFine. Aim for a 25–30s shot and adjust from there.	9 clicks	8 clicks – 11 clicks
Moka potFiner than filter, coarser than espresso. No tamping.	12 clicks	11 clicks – 13 clicks
AeroPress (short steep)For 1–2 minute recipes. Go coarser for longer steeps.	13 clicks	13 clicks – 14 clicks
Pour over — V60 / coneThe reference point for most published pour-over recipes.	15 clicks	14 clicks – 16 clicks
Pour over — flat bottomKalita, Orea and similar. Slightly coarser than a cone.	16 clicks	15 clicks – 18 clicks
Drip / batch brewAutomatic brewers. Coarser to suit the longer contact time.	17 clicks	16 clicks – 19 clicks
ChemexThe thick filter needs a coarser grind to avoid stalling.	19 clicks	18 clicks – 21 clicks
French pressCoarse. Too fine here is the usual cause of a muddy cup.	22 clicks	21 clicks – 24 clicks
Cold brewCoarsest setting you have. 12–18 hours of contact.	25 clicks	24 clicks – 26 clicks

How much room you have to adjust

Espresso → filter7clicks of adjustment across the fine half of the dial

Filter → coarse11clicks covering filter through to cold brew

Curvesplineconical burrs, fitted with a monotone curve

That is the resolution you actually have to work with on the C3. Where the number is small, a single step moves the cup more than you would expect — so change one at a time and taste before moving again.

Dialing in the C3

The best-value hand grinder in circulation and the one most likely to be someone's first. Its range is usable across filter and immersion, with espresso possible but genuinely tedious. The C3 benefits more than most grinders from a few seconds of settling before you judge a shot or a pour — its distribution tightens noticeably once the burrs are warm.

Coming from another grinder?

Convert a grind setting to the C3

If a recipe quotes a setting for a different grinder, this maps it onto the C3’s dial using the same curve the chart above is built from.

The recipe’s grinder

Its setting

Converting between two grinders that are not this one? Open the full converter.

How these numbers were worked out

Every grinder gets mapped onto a shared 0–100 grind index, where 0 is espresso-fine and 100 is the coarsest useful setting. Five reference points on the C3 are placed on that scale — espresso, moka, filter, French press and coarse — and the settings in between are interpolated.

The C3’s five reference points have been checked against the manufacturer’s published grind chart and cross-checked against an independent source, and that check is written down in the repository. It is one of 46 models, out of 78, where that is true.

Because the C3 uses conical burrs, the curve between those points is fitted with a monotone cubic spline rather than straight lines. Conical burr dials are rarely linear, and the spline guarantees the curve never doubles back — a coarser index always produces a coarser setting.

The result is that “medium-fine” resolves to a real number on this grinder rather than a vague instruction. It is a starting point, not a guarantee — burr wear, bean density and roast level all move the target, which is why every row above gives a range as well as a number.

Free wall chart

Put the C3 numbers next to the grinder

Every method on one sheet, laid out on the C3’s own dial so you can see where the settings bunch up. Print it, pin it, stop reaching for your phone with wet hands.

Open the wall chart →No sign-up · Prints to one page

Take it with you

Or have the C3 chart emailed

The same settings, sent once, for when you are standing at the grinder and nowhere near a printer.

One email with the chart. Nothing else unless you ask.

Make these numbers yours

This chart is the same for every C3 in the world. Log what you actually brewed and it stops being — the app remembers the setting that worked for your beans and shifts the starting point toward it. Free on iOS.

Get the iOS app

Compare the C3

Side-by-side dial charts and a conversion table, so a recipe written for one grinder becomes a real number on the other.

Grinders that dial in like this one

Similar burrs, scale or dial range — which means settings translate between them more predictably than across the whole catalog.

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