My Niche Zero arrived in record fast time last night. I then utilized @DavecUK ’s great video on calibrating the grinder upon opening. There were however no grounds in the grinder (from quality control testing). But as the burrs were now out, I recalibrated anyway. Btw, its so easy peasy to get to the burrs.

Anyway, I worked to dial in a bean that I had tried before (not my go to favorite but it was all I had around). Its a medium-dark decaf of unstated origin. It has rested about 1 week in a sealed bag, then frozen in 4 ounce mason jars. I ground the beans from frozen.

However I was only able to dial in the beans (to flow using a 1:1.5 ratio - 16.5 in, 24.0 out in a 18g IMS basket, 9.5 BAR) at a Niche setting of 5.0, which is only 5 marks from 0 (finest). This does not leave much remaining room for finer grinding. I had thought the bean would dial in at 20, but at 20 I got a gusher! Any solutions to this low grinder setting issue (with only 5 number marks apparently remaining until I at my finest grind)? What are your experiences? Is this normal? Is it a problem? How do I fix it?

Fyi, my Lelit Elizabeth is blind basket set at 10.5 BAR, which had optimized my shots when using my Eureka Mignon. But my shots thus far struggled to get up to 9.5 BAR, and only got there once I got close to a 5 mark on the Niche.

Also, grind retention was initially huge but reduced to minimal after about 4 shots. I expected that, as the grounds were filling various spaces within what was a pristinely clean grinder. So no concerns on the retention front, at this early stage.

As for work flow, I initially tried dosing straight into the basket using a funnel, the coffee grind spray from the chute created quite a mess. I’d quite like to be able to dose straight into my basket or portafilter/basket. Has anyone been able to do that, without spraying grinds beyond the funnel? I was able to do that with my Eureka Mignon, and rotate the basket to ensure even distribution. I was (with the Mignon) able to have the basket reasonably below the chute exit while doing that. With the NZ, I suspect that I might be able to reduce the outward spray by raising the basket higher (much closer to) the chute. But that might cause chute clogs. Any answers to this, other than: “just use the cup”?

One other issue arose. When I grind into the cup, I place the basket on top and then invert. I thought that the grinds would all fall into the basket. However some of the grounds remained in the cup, even when inverted. I then tried a solid downtap, which still left some grounds. It took a combination of solid downtap and two (2) taps to the top of the basket to ensure complete grounds transfer from cup to basket. Is this usual? Is that what I will need to do? What do you do?

The above might be a static electricity issue, as the grounds sure do cling to that cup! I have not been RDTing, as @DavecUK indicated that this is a no-no with the NZ, as it will result in increased grounds retention and other issues. Do I have a static electricity problem? How do I solve it?

Fyi, I have still been WDTing once all of the grounds are in the basket, as the grounds did seem to be evenly distributed or level enough for tamping. So I have been WDTing, then bottom tap, then tamp with a 20 lb spring installed in my EazyTamp. Flow distribution looks fine using my bottomless portafilter. Have not yet sufficiently evaluated taste, as it was late evening.

My wife is now jealous of my NZ girlfriend. So I will need to pay more attention to her and less to the NZ girl. 😘

Any help with/suggestions for the above NZ learning pains will be gratefully appreciated.

its just newness and you chose a hell of a bean to dial in with lol

the static will slow down as the burrs season, you will get irregularities till then, decaf needs a really fine grind,

Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

Once i went down to 6 for a decaf. 5 is ok I guess no need to worry.

Static is also my problem especially for beans straight from freezer. I just keep tapping the grind cup until it’s empty.

With my Niche, after dosing into the supplied cup I give the sides a couple of taps and tap the bottom a couple of times on my counter top and that seems to dissipate any static. Grinds regrdless of size, always come out whether tipping into a portafilter or Clever Dripper/V60. Having said that, I have been using it for just over a year now so as others have mentioned, I guess it is because the burrs are well seasoned. I always grind beans from frozen too.

Zero will be no where near burr touching, so don’t worry about that. Grinding from frozen causes moisture to condense on the beans, so you might get less dose consistence, more retention and other things. The burrs do need to bed in…and they are very hard. I will improve markedly up to 5kg, then slowly improve over the next 10. The burrs are good for about 750 Kg

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    DavecUK

    One other item that I have noticed. The grind speed is quite slow, with the control disc in place. I have not timed it (I will), but it seems like a solid minute. This being said, I understand that there is benefit to slower RPMs, due to lower heat generation.

    I understand that the disk is there to reduce popcorning and to provide a steady grind pace/flow. In actuality I notice that very little gets ground in first 20 or 30 seconds, and then the pace significantly picks up. Definitely not an even flow. Not sure why this happens or if it is a good thing or not?

    Should I remove the disk or just be patient? I’m fine with this for just my 2 shots in the AM. But if I had guests, the slow grinding pace would slow the overall production pace down.

    BTW, this mornings cappuccino coffee tasted pretty good, with good body and mouthfeel, and good length of taste. It also had the chocolate and caramel notes that I like. And a couple of notes that I didn’t like, which is the bean. But great that I can finally extract these flavours 😋

        I will shoot a video, with a timer next to it, tomorrow AM, and post it.

          dfk41 I do not think the flow control disc adds anything to the time spent grinding

          I think it does. However, it’s not significant. As Dave said before many times, either way, you can grind away with the Niche, prep, tamp etc and the machine might not even have recovered yet. 👍

            If some coffee clings to the cup after tipping into the portafilter you can just use the brush.

            JHCCoffee it should be grinding from the get go. Check the nut holding the pop stopper.

            (Personally, I’ve found a lot of issues can be fixed by checking the nut that holds the portafilter.😀)

            • -Mac replied to this.

                dfk41 Does not sound right, unless it is down to the burrs being new. Mine grinds at the same rate from start to finish. I do not think the flow control disc adds anything to the time spent grinding. This was tested by our host ages ago and I am sure that was the conclusion.

                DavecUK Problem solved. Thank-both. The nut was a tad loose. It must have loosened during my initial tests, as the grind time got progressively slower. I tightened the nut, and now the bean grind is consistent and constant, with 16.5 grams of fine grind ground in 35 seconds. Does that speed sound about right?

                Also, interestingly the static grounds cling has dissipated. I’m wondering whether the slippage of either the nut or the disk (due to insufficient nut tightness) was generating static.

                And while this may or may not have had any impact on the above, I was not using frozen beans.

                Thanks all. What a Forum!!🙂

                    The grind seems a tad slow, usually it’s around 20 - 25s for 18g of Espresso grind, if memory serves me right

                    But with no idea of the coffee, naked portafilter shot videos/times, videos of it grinding a dose, voltage….I really can’t comment more….

                    I’ve also never ground freezer temp -19C coffee, so perhaps that’s normal?

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                      tompoland (Personally, I’ve found a lot of issues can be fixed by checking the nut that holds the portafilter.😀)

                      Same with driving, but with the nut behind the steering wheel ;)

                        DavecUK The grind seems a tad slow, usually it’s around 20 - 25s for 18g of Espresso grind, if memory serves me right

                        Hi Dave. Thanks for offering to help.

                        The 16.5g frozen decaf bean grind ran 30 seconds to empty the hopper and then another 15 seconds (total 45) until the last of the grounds flowed out (with no remaining retention). It was a medium dark decaf of unknown origin, that was frozen after 2 weeks rest. The grind setting was 4.75. Here is a link to the grind video: NZ Grind. It should become active in 1 hour.

                        My shot was 16.5 in, 24.3 out. 10 BAR. 95C. 8 seconds bloom pre-infusion. I didn’t see the shot time, but the flow seemed neither slow or fast. I am guessing that it ran about 30 seconds. I accidentally deleted the shot video, and its a pain to recover. The shot was balanced but didn’t have significant body/mouthfeel, strength, flavour or length. As per my recent post, I think the coffee is stale.

                        Irrespectively the grind should not take so long.

                        Thoughts? Possible solutions?

                        Thanks Dave!

                            Just food for thought, are niche sending out a batch of NFC discs with smaller holes than original, my niche is one of the originals without NFC disc, I had been using my own 3d printed one, about 6 months ago I decided to buy an original one and was not that impressed, found the flow was much slower than my printed one and grinding times and grind consistency would vary from shot to shot, in the end went back to my 3d printed one.

                              ken0062 ust food for thought, are niche sending out a batch of NFC discs with smaller holes than original, my niche is one of the originals without NFC disc, I had been using my own 3d printed one, about 6 months ago I decided to buy an original one and was not that impressed, found the flow was much slower than my printed one and grinding times and grind consistency would vary from shot to shot, in the end went back to my 3d printed one.

                              Thanks for sharing that experience, ken0062. And yes, aside from s l o w grind speed, I’ve also been experiencing unexplainable shot time variation, from shot to shot with the same bean, recipe, etc. Ofcourse, this could be the operator 🤪 (me).

                              Might you email me the 3D printing file, the 3D printer model name/# and whatever else I’d need to send this to my local 3D printing shop. Email address is Julian Colman with a dot in between at gmail dot com.

                              My disk is brand new (came with my brand new NZ). It’s worth a test, just for the heck if it.