Niche. I’ve been loading the portafilter manually recently before working out some sort of stand for it. I’ve used a ½″ funnel, the type that fits into the filter basket and leaves a ring in the grinds when removed. ;) Why not see the difference rather than just worrying about it. I do have an un labelled decent type funnel. No grinds are escaping and the heap works out fairly central just needing some gentle side taps to even them out. Currently I am then tapping the lot down by tapping the entire portafilter down firmly on the mat twice. That can leave the grinds a bit out of level so may try omitting that. It’s not easy to keep the portafilter level when tapping like that. Doing this compacts the grinds more at the base of the filter basket and that will affect flow rates even when the lot is tamped.
Then my usual. 2 slope leveller set to leave a couple of mm for a calibrated tamper. Probably leaving more if I omit the taps.
I didn’t try and run my Niche in. Just used it. Static problems didn’t take long to reduce. Initially grinds stuck to the side of the can so tapped the entire can down to dislodge them. That turned out to be an extremely bad idea but by the time I found that static had dropped somewhat anyway. I think taste takes longer to settle but gross effects not all that great a weight of beans,
Flats - well they take time to run in as well. My Mazzer Mini E burrs were new. A couple of kg of beans reduced clumping. Taste - not sure but suspect less change with use on flats. It’s not a bad idea to check and see if the burrs need shimming on flats. One mini e I bought went back as it didn’t behave and suspect that was the problem. New and significantly cheaper than they usually are.
Ceado. I had an ex showroom demo 64mm. No clumping but had been run in. Available as a newer model appeared. Not really suitable for weighing in so sold on. Weighing in on these and others? Well use hopper on and a different grinder setting will be needed for the same results. LOL I wonder what that does to taste?
Influencers and Niche. I would point out that Niche has taken rather a lot of grinder sales. I have seen comments worry worry some get sold used. Given the numbers around that is hardly surprising and way way more are in use, I’ve had mine for a couple of years. The mini e is coming out again to do a side by side comparison. I get near zero retention on that as well but brushes needed, A little more trouble however it can always produce a central heap thanks to the stand and the funnel. A weight on the beans reduces bean bounce and prevent grinds finishing up in the rubber lens hood puffer or scattering around the grinder.
