I don’t drink a huge quantity of coffee. On average, probably 1.33 to 1.5 cups per day …. by which, obviously, I mean sometimes 1, sometimes 2, occassionally either 3 or none.
My objective is primarily to get a really nice drink, the maximum % of the time I can. It isn’t about experimentation, or fine tuning, for the hell of it. It’s simply that I want a really nice cuppa, every time (if I can).
I have both hopper-fed and single dose grinders and for me, single dosing is just so much better. Why? For a start, the single dose grinder is just a much better grinder. Also, more expensive so it should be. So I can discount that factor. But workflow-wise, I don’t have a problem with single dose.
The benefits, to me, are that I can switch beans, usually to decaf if drinking coffee in the evening. Also, I can switch from espresso to, say, V60, and back, very easily. Finally, and it may come back to the quality/price of the grinder again, I find the real key to meeting my primary objective (best cuppa I can, as near 100% of the time as I can) is consistency and repeatability - the closer I can get to doing the same thing (weight, grind, prep, tamp pressure etc, the closer I can get to repeatability and I get (from weighing notes) FAR more consistency in weight of ground coffee with the single doser.
Result - I rarely use the hopper. Last time was months ago.
But ultimately, it’s “horses for courses”. The above suits me. That doesn’t mean I necessarily think it’ll suit everybody else. For those that prefer hoppers, fair enough. If that’s what you like, it’s what you like. For me, single dosing all the way and if it does prove to be a fad and everybody goes back to hoppers, I guarantee it’ll be everybody except me. 😀