Heirloom Tech: Zassenhaus Coffee Grinder

Move over, Mercedes and BMW: here is German engineering at its finest.  It's an elegant, zombie-proof (as in, will continue to be useful after the zombie apocalypse) method of grinding coffee, from the finest Turkish grind up to a decent size for pour-over, if not quite French Press.

Yes, this is the Zassenhaus Turkish Coffee Mill, one of the finest pieces of coffee kit available for purchase.  Zassenhaus does make some other coffee mills (including the always-in-demand knee mill) but the shiny brass Turkish mill is the sexiest of the bunch.  While the wooden box mills summon images of hardy New Englanders on a chilly winter morning, the Turkish mill seems more suited for a charming square in Greece (or, uh...Turkey.)

But back to the zombie-proof aspect of all this.  Yes, this machine depends on the sweat of your brow to pulverize your coffee into very tiny, even particles (the quality of the grind is as good as you'll get from any powered grinder...probably better, since there is no motor to heat the grinds) but in exchange you'll never have to worry about the power being out.  You can travel with it.  You can have beautiful, even coffee grinds in the woods...or yes, after attacks by zombies or malevolent aliens have taken the power grid offline.  While your cell phones and videogame consoles lay dormant, undone by the lack of electricity and the near-complete breakdown of society, zombie-proof heirloom technology like this hand grinder will soldier on, unbowed.  Even if the breakdown of society has slowed the import of good coffee beans. 

And for that, we salute you, Zassenhaus Turkish Coffee Mill.