The Origins of DF Grinders: From Ningbo to the Global Coffee Community
Three hours drive south of the dizzying skyscrapers of Pudong, crossing the third-longest bridge in the world, lies Ningbo, a city rich with scenic landscapes and a cultural heritage spanning over 8,000 years.
This is where, over the past five years, Bianca and Jorry Lei, a brother-sister team, have designed, tested, and launched some of the most compelling value-driven electric coffee grinders available today.
Ningbo, while steeped in history and natural beauty, also boasts the third-busiest port in the world, Ningbo-Zhoushan. This strategic location provides an ideal logistical hub for brands to distribute their products globally.
Hidden within an unassuming multi-level building is the manufacturing facility where every DF Coffee Grinder is produced to exacting standards. Each floor is meticulously clean, organized, and efficient. Employees focus on assembling the various components of each grinder, which undergo rigorous quality control checks and testing before being packaged, palletized, and shipped worldwide.
During a visit to their showroom, complete with a coffee bar for testing and demonstrations, Bianca and Jorrey shared the company's history. Bianca's background is in sales, while her brother is an engineer with extensive experience in designing and building coffee grinders. Their first and arguably most famous product, the DF64 Grinder, propelled the company into the specialty coffee community. At a time when the Niche Zero was a leading single-dose home grinder, the DF64 offered a more accessible price point and, thanks to its 64mm flat burr set, greater flexibility for users to experiment with aftermarket burrs, notably SSP burrs.
Early versions of the DF64 grinder were well-received but did experience some initial challenges. Customers were often willing to address these issues, sometimes through 3D-printed modifications, due to the grinder's exceptional value. Initially, we chose not to carry the early models due to concerns about these compromises (see our values here). However, the DF team has consistently shown a commitment to improvement, and later versions, like the DF64 Gen 2 Grinder, have addressed the issues identified by both customers and our team. A positive YouTube review by James Hoffman of Square Mile Coffee. Roasters also significantly boosted the grinder's popularity. You can watch the review were he compares the DF against other grinders here.
DF has also been open to rebranding, leading to white-labeled versions of their grinders under brands such as Turin, MiiCoffee, and Giotta that are available in different territories. Ironically, if you purchase a DF grinder under one of the previously mentioned brands, it will be a white labelled version of the original DF grinder, which has no brand displayed on its box (note: all of the grinders are practically mechanically and aesthetically identical).
Since the launch of the DF64, DF has expanded its offerings with larger burrs (DF83 v3), variable speeds (DF64V), vertically mounted burrs (DF83V Espresso and DF83V Brew), and the compact and value-oriented DF54 Coffee Grinder.
The team behind DF grinders are innovators at heart, so we anticipate seeing further developments and new technologies in their product line in the future.
