I poured side by side shots from each grinder, sampled each rinsing my mouth with water in between samplings.
Repeated 3x as per my standard formula.
I used filter paper in the bottom of the basket (to increase extraction) and filter paper on top of the puck (to keep the shower screen cleaner) with a medium roast Costa Rican bean (my favorite bean for espresso).
I used what I would call a “double ristretto” recipe which is my favorite to date on the Nurri (22g in and 36g out): leaving the lever down for 20 seconds which gives about 12 seconds of pre-infusion at 4 bar then lifting the lever until I reach 31 grams in the cup then nudge the left paddle to begin ending the pour with around 36g in the cup.
Total pour time including pre-infusion was typically a few seconds shy of a minute and an average flow rate of a around 1ml per second once the lever is lifted (slow!).
With the double ristretto recipe I’m aiming for only a few drops coming through the basket during pre-infusion and I don’t care if the pour comes together into a central stream or not, so long as the color of the espresso is relatively even across the basket as it pours.
After sampling side by side, three times, my conclusion is that the Gorilla Gears in the Niche Zero move the taste of the espresso a lot closer (70%?) to the taste of the espresso from the Moca SD compared to the original Mazzer Kony burrs that come with the Niche Zero.
BUT … it’s worth bearing in mind two important points before any firm conclusion is drawn in regard to using a Niche with GG burrs instead of a Moca SD or using GG burrs in place of the original Mazzer Kony’s in the Niche.
These were super intense-tasting pours with a strong flavored medium bean and I am now thinking that it was a mistake to use the double ristretto recipe because it was much harder to detect different notes with either burr set, although of the two the Moca SD offered a little more of what I would call origin flavors. They were however both super yummy 🤩
I have yet to do a side by side with two Niche Zeroes, one fitted with the Kony burrs and one with the GG burrs.
So I will repeat the NZ/GG comparison with the Moca SD Ditting burrs again but using a more standard espresso dial setting which is a bit coarser grind and a less intense flavor. This should make the difference between the two burrs sets clearer.
And when my son comes to visit in a few weeks, along with his NZ, I’ll run a side by side test with the two NZs, one with the Kony burrs and the other with GG burrs.
