Niche Zero V2 ?

fair old chunk of money.

did you mean flat equivalent?

It seems Mr Niche is a or had been a freelance designer for consumer goods where looks will always be considered. ;) Other grinders - the looks more or less just happened, LOL Eg

Functionally both are good for their intended use. One hopper on, one for weighing in. Adjusting the mini is not the easiest of things to do. The same could be said for the majority of grinders that could replace the mini. Niche could have used a machined up length of tube for the body with other machined up or cast bits on the end.

I wonder if anything else has matched Niche for retention?

Talk of burrs - ;) applies to all grinders.

Cuprajake

Yes, $$ but I’ve got the HG-1 already.
Yes, I want a Niche equivalent that suits my styling tastes.

Ernie1 And then I’d probably be looking for a new wife also.

Hmmm, Really. I love my wife to bits, but i’d never want to replace her.

Nightrider_1uk

I just meant I’m not sure if she’d be over the moon if I bought a second espresso machine.

Ernie1 - on that topic… I have already warned my wife a new grinder is arriving, as a friend kindly offered to lend me a flat burr grinder. Her response was none. Her expression did not change. The only thing I detected was her eyes rolling…. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

MediumRoastSteam

😂😂

I’m lucky as she loves her coffee, to the point she’ll say things like ‘got a coffee on my lunch break today and it was cr*p compared to what we have at home.

So I have a bit of wiggle room, could swing a second grinder I reckon but yeah, I’d be packing my bags if a second espresso machine turned up.

MediumRoastSteam :) df64?

Inspector - no, unfortunately in a way. It’s a Ceado E37S 83mm, so not a single doser. My main objective is to figure out what this conical Vs flat is all about. 👍

Inspector I am debating with myself about getting a df64 to compare flat vs conical and keep only one of them

Exactly my thoughts. I do see a lot of praise for the Df64, but when I see the workflow, chute mods, bellows and static it puts me off a bit.

£399 from BB, plus another £200 (£20 off as bundle discount) for those fancy SSP MP burrs. I have it added to my basket, but I’m too scared to pull the trigger… 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Inspector That is exactly what I would do!

The df64 works, and the more recent revisions have solved some of the problems but it doesn’t seem to be that great to use still and it is a compromise. Hopefully a nice to use 64mm grinder that isn’t as expensive as a lagom p64 or acaia orbit might hit the right spot in the market

ajohn I wonder if anything else has matched Niche for retention?

There are a couple that I know of.

The Olympia Moca SD. At least, it’s been better on my espresso bench. The Niche is exceptionally low retention but the Moca SD is even better.

To clarify: My experience of the niche as well as the Weber EG-1 was that the retention was pretty darned good at around 0.3 g but every now then they would simply drop a significant sized clump of coffee out and the Moca SD does not do that.

Benchtop handgrinders such as the Malwani Livi are also amongst the best because there is no chute or anything else (literally) between the burrs and the catch cup. But not everyone can be bothered with hand grinding.

Moca SD here: https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/blog/1253-olympia-moca-sd-first-looks-review-november-2022

Livi here: https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/blog/1341-malwani-livi-seven-month-review-december-2022

@Inspector & MediumRoastSteam

If any of you are London based or close I’m happy for you to try mine

Long time Niche Zero owner here as well. The workflow is gloriously good, especially if you are ever forced to occasionally use and old doser style grinder (e.g. Macap). As much as I can appreciate a less-is-more elegance of the Niche, yeah, the aesthetic is just tough to be a real fan of. And I always wonder at what point is the white plastic going to turn to that cream yellow of a 1994 windows PC.
I did order a new Femobook A68 grinder a few months ago (still waiting for it to ship). It’s design is a bit antithetical to the NZ. …Precision milling, cool looking. Now, watch, in the grand irony, it will probably work like crud. 😃

I think the main issue with the Niche, is that it looks like a typical bit of kitchen kitsch without making you realise that under the skin is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. In the old days I used to have a man cave where it did not matter what kit I had. Now, I share an open plan kitchen so in my humble opinion, looks wise (not that I could give a monkeys!) the Niche fits far better into this arrangement. Ultimately though, the Niche is never ever going to be uncrowned, especially at the price point, unless an equivalent to Martin Nicholson comes along and designs a grinder from the feet upwards, taking his time and spending years in testing and development and of course, then meeting @DavecUK ……..keep checking the sky at night mateys……that shining star might appear one day……..

MediumRoastSteam just a heads up - I know they are highly regarded around for coffee equipment but I wouldn’t bother buying the DF64 from Bella Barista. I had extremely poor support from them with this grinder and basically their technical teams didn’t have a clue about it. I guess pricier espresso machines are their focus so spending time on a £400 grinder either isn’t their strong suit or just isn’t worth it for them.

if you are local to them then it might be easier but if not I’d just go elsewhere to somewhere that doesn’t expect you to pay for return postage if an issue arises within the warranty period. It all just comes from the same factory anyway.