I pre-ordered the 63mm conical variant of these from https://gorillagear.coffee/products/gorilla-gear-roblack-burrs-71mm-conical?_pos=1&_sid=de7841d97&_ss=r&variant=40171553259608 which are made to fit the Niche Zero and other grinders that use the Mazzer Kony burrs that the Niche uses. Made by John Gordon in New Zealand and now supplying the likes of high end grinder manufacturer Titus. The burrs arrived late last week and I’ve just had my first three pours after putting a kilo of beans through for seasoning followed by a couple of sinkers while I sorted the grind size out. I’m impressed. From a Kenya AA bean medium/dark I detected more origin flavors than with the original burrs. The difference is more distinct than I dared hope for. The trade off is the very small loss of viscosity. Bear in mind that this is not a side by side comparison because I don’t have two Niche grinders. But when my sons Niche arrives in a few weeks I’ll ask him to bring it with him and run some side by sides with some Medium and Medium Light beans and will report back. The jury is out until then. Interested to know if anyone else has tried GG burrs.

Looking forward to a side by side comparison from you, I think it will be interesting and I’m sure more people will look at buying the burrs when they are more readily available. But for the price I guess people will have to see how well they work so I’m glad someone can do some testing for us

tompoland I’ll be interested in the results Tom.

Appreciate its too early to say, Tom , but interested indeed your experience of these in a niche (which i have) vs olympia moca sd (whch i might buy…) Would be a lot cheaper to buy new burrs! Thanks

Very promising! Look forward to hearing about the results, conscious these will be primarily for espresso but any pour over comparisons would also be appreciated as I know people gave the Niche a hard time for the fines it created especially on lighter roasts.

I also ordered the Gorilla burrs. WEEKS ago! After numerous delays and extremely poor communication from Gorilla I’m expecting delivery tomorrow. So a week or so I’ll have drawn some conclusions. I’m very interested to know your thoughts, @tompoland !

@tompoland Thanks for offering to complete the side by side tests, Tom. And looking forward to learning of your impressions, Grahamsphillips And anyone else.

TomR Tom I have poured a few shots from each grinder over the last two days, simply for when I have an espresso each morning. Bearing in mind that means an hour or two in between each grind so it’s not a side by side comparison which I find is the best method for taste comparisons. So take this with a pinch of salt but at this stage it’s a surprisingly close call to between them. I don’t know what miracles John Gordon has worked with his GG conical burrs, but they are mighty impressive. As you know, I’m still to do side by side comparisons with another Niche so I’ll add side by side comparisons with the Moca SD to the queue. Thanks for the idea, not sure why I didn’t think of it. In the interests of setting a realistic time frame expectation, the Niche GG burrs to Niche Kony burrs comparison is still a few weeks away because I need to wait for my son’s Niche to arrive (ETA two weeks) and then for him to come for a visit. But it will happen. For the Niche GG burrs to Moca SD, I can do that early next week when the beans I have resting are ready to go. I’ll post back here.

FadedFrontiers any pour over comparisons would also be appreciated sorry FF but I can’t help you with that, I have not the faintest idea how to do a pour over or even what it should taste like. I could do something with the Gevi 4-1 that is collecting dust at the moment but to be quite honest, I’m the last person you should listen to on pour over. re pour over: @lancehedrick are you in the building? You gotta gotta gotta try the John Gordon burrs.

Hi @tompoland I believe @lancehedrick is indeed expecting some of the GG burrs so it’ll be interesting to see his take esp as he’s not a fan of the NICHE with the stock burrs

Grahamsphillips good to know thanks GP. From memory (not always a good idea) Lance’s main point in his “one year on” review was that the NZ was not the all rounder be-all-and-end-all grinder that some were making it out to be. The Kony burrs in the NZ are certainly proven performers for medium-dark and dark roasts. And when people add milk to those type of beans, they excell even more. But yes, it will be interesting to see his review. I’m loving the GG burrs but their arrival coincided with a new batch of beans so the beans may be a part of the difference I’m tasting. So I’m looking forward to getting a second NZ to run the side by side comparison with the same beans.

Gorilla Gear burrs in a Niche Zero

Grahamsphillips

@tompoland I re-read your review of the MOCA SD yesterday. It seems to be coffee’s best kept secret (along with the ACS Vesuvius). If the NICHE plus GG burrs is genuinely competitive with the SD that’s hugely impressive. I must say I’ve had the NICHE for 2+ years and it really hasn’t skipped a beat in daily use..

Cuprajake

@tompoland speaking of the moca, is that the smallest burr set you have? and have you tried that burr size before,

tompoland

Cuprajake Hi Jake no, I have not tried the Ditting 64mm burrs prior to the Moca SD.

I’ve had smaller burr sets amongst this lot (last 2 years worth of grinders that I’ve bought and mostly sold while I was figuring things out):

Sunbeam Café Series EM0480 (38mm conical)
Porlex Tall ll (hand grinder)
Breville Smart Pro 2x (40mm conical)
Ascaso i2 Mini (54mm flat)
Eureka Helios 80 (80mm flat)
ECM V-Titan 64 (64mm flat)
Weber EG-1 (80mm flat)
Orphan Espresso Pharos
Niche Zero - 3x, long story, don’t ask (63mm Mazzer conical)
Kinu M47 Classic (47mm Italmill conical)
Quamar Q50 2x (54mm flat)
Fellow Ode (64mm flat)
Mahlkonig X54 Allrounder (54mm flat)
Mahlkonig EK43
Malwani Livi (fitted with 83mm Mazzer Robur conical)
Hedone Honne (DRM Hybrid 68mm)
Helor 106 (71mm Mazzer Robur conical)
Gevi 4-in-1 pour over (60mm flat)
Olympia Moca SD (64mm flat)
Knob hand grinder (47mm Italmill conical, titanium coated)
And now of course the 63mm Gorilla Gear burrs in the Niche

Current burr sets at the moment are in bold type above. For me it’s mostly about the burr geometry, then workflow and size of burr is not much of a consideration.

Apparently the Etzinger etzmax produce a superb espresso at something like 38mm. The only reason I didn’t buy one was that a retailer here in Australia (well respected and someone I’ve come to trust) told me that he got hurt after he sold a bunch of them and the motors burnt out. The warranties were not honoured (no idea why or whose fault is was) and so he refunded everyone at his own cost and was left with a bunch of burnt out grinders. Anyhow, at 38mm, the etzmax produces great espresso according to those who have them which reinforces the idea that my wife tells me, size is indeed not everything. Just a shame that the motors are not up to it by the sound of it.

Grahamsphillips

Link to the discussion in the NICHE facebook group if anyone is interested

https://www.facebook.com/groups/571008890139282

CoyoteOldMan

Grahamsphillips I’m not sure the ‘marker pen’ trick can work in a conical - they haven’t got the flat polishing surfaces of a flat burr. Curious to hear what you find.

Grahamsphillips

@tompoland have you played with the GEVI? I bought one too, and I’ve had a lot of fun with it, esp using it with the KONO and the TRICOLATE

tompoland

Grahamsphillips did a couple of pours when I first got it middle-ish last year. Amazing burr set and very clever machine. I intend to get back to it but just been busy with othrr stuff. It’s sitting in the office collecting dust at the moment which is a bit of a shame.

Would you be up for starting a thread on it?

Ahh, so many beans, so little time.

DavecUK

Grahamsphillips According to John Gordon (he of GG fame) its an alignment problem.. the GG burrs are far more sensitive to alignment issues (due to their geometry) than the original Mazzers. I’nm wondering if @DavecUK has any thoughts?

My thoughts are if the Mazzer burrs work, then the GG burrs should as well. I’m always wary of comments like the burrs are perfect so it must be the grinder…just doesn’t make sense, unless of course the Mazzer burrs don’t work either.

I often hear, it’s really difficult to use, but you can get superm results when you use it just right, or it takes considerable skill to perfect, but when you do… I always think, someone hasn’t designed something well!

Cuprajake

must admit some of the pics of these gorilla burrs dont look amazing, but im sure they will sort it

DavecUK

The Kony burr is a thing of beauty…works well too.

Grahamsphillips

@tompoland @DavecUK Thread on the Gevi 4in1 (the pour over formerly known as the 2in1 yes I’m definitely up for it.. maybe @lancehedrick of Hedrick fame will join in? It was Lance’s review that stimulated me to buy one, just like it was @DavecUK detailed review of the NICHE that decided me to buy one of those!

DavecUK

Grahamsphillips So you can blame @lancehedrick for any problems with the Gevi 😁

lancehedrick

DavecUK haha! no no. they initially listened to me and then stopped when what I asked was too much in their opinion haha

ajohn

Finding somewhere else boring I thought I’d have a look here.

Interesting thread. My Niche arrived 30th Nov 2018*. Several hundred other people’s did as well. Lots said great coffee ;) I kept stum. I’d say great but wrong. A bean I drink a lot of tasted fierce sure sign of fines but not stupid amounts. Ok for a change. Several kg later that went, it faded. Other beans I tried seemed much the same. This sort of thing, a problem of some sort, is common on brand new burrs, Static levels on Niche also dropped to next to none at all, Not worth worrying about, Initially grinds collected on the side of the can,.

So a new burr for them - what has the supplier done to get around this problem? Some one receives a new Niche with I assume new burrs, Use it to compare? The video reviewer - what kg of beans has he put through the grinder?

Come 10kg or so probably much more I tried some light roasts. Did I get the tastes I should - yes but it needed some tuning.

*LOL I didn’t realise I had it that long and I am still using it. Unusual. I will be firing up another well run in grinder shortly to stick along side it,

MediumRoastSteam

ajohn - are you the ajohn I’m thinking you are? The one who ended up with my Profitec T-64? If so, welcome to the forum!

DavecUK

MediumRoastSteam I suspect he is., same written style. Welcome to the forum @ajohn

ajohn

MediumRoastSteam

The T 64 went a while ago. My Mazzer Mini wont ever go.

tompoland

This just arrived in my inbox from John Gordon.

Hi All,
I appreciate everyones patience while we sort a few things out.

I have done a quick google form for you all to fill out in regards to your 63mm conical burrs, Refund, replace or your grinding ok.

I have confirmation that the cones are now being reproduced, however, it will take 3-4 weeks, in this time we will determine if the pre-seasoning is doing any damage or marks at all and if so we will skip the pre-seasoning process for these burrs until they can be done with no issues.

We have been doing the same pre-seasoning now for several years with no issues but we will improve the process drastically before proceeding.

I will email out updates each week on a Friday with estimated delivery times and closer to the finish some photos prior to them being sent out and if anyone has any further concerns I will keep the option open for a return and refund.

Here is the link to the form - Form Link - if anyone hears of anyone else ( via FB or forums ) that has not received this email with the form to fill out, please let them know to contact us at info@gorillagear.coffee

And please let me know if anyone has any issues with the form.

As mentioned previously about alignment, I would love to hear from anyone that does or has done alignments on the Niche. I will be doing some alignment videos to share publicly so please keep an eye out for those ( I will also email links to everyone ).

If there are any questions please don’t hesitate to email me.

Cuprajake

Be interested to see the alignment method

Grahamsphillips

OK so burrs fitted which was easy. I tried my first shot and the grinder jammed. Never happened with the Mazzers. Ah well, early days I guess

Cuprajake

what beans? any pics

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