LMSC Doesn’t the SSP HU give a brighter cup than the Mazzer?

Not really…the Mazzer burrs are fine with light or dark roasts and are perhaps not as “one dimensional” as the SSPs. I don’t know really where all this Mazzer burrs perform best with dark roasts comes from….and the proper evidence supporting that. I have not noticed much difference between SSP HU burrs and the 151B mazzers with light roasts. Sure it’s a little different, but no way £300 better. It’s also not consistent…with some light roast coffees Mazzer can be a little better, with others SSP can be a little better.

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      DavecUK SSP HU burrs and the 151B mazzers with light roasts. Sure it’s a little different, but no way £300 better.

      That £300 would fund an electric for my daughter. I know it is difficult to justify with dr’s salary! 😊

      DavecUK with some light roast coffees Mazzer can be a little better, with others SSP can be a little better.

      I believe you have been testing the SSP’s. Are you able to share examples of SO’s where Mazzers and SSPs could be better please?

      Thx

          FWIW, my opinion, my taste buds, etc: the stock Mazzer 151B burrs in the Duo offer an espresso that is enjoyable and is unlikely to offend anyone. Silky smooth, balanced, nuanced. Conservative, mainstream, dependable and quite forgiving when dialling in.

          The SSP Espresso (HU) offer a much brighter/acidic, more intense espresso with light and ultra light beans. And it will have its lovers and its haters (“if I wanted to taste lemon I’d drink lemonade”). Add a narrower sweet spot range so a bit more faff dialling in.

          The 64mm SSP Espresso delivers the same as the 83mm version. Lance and James might be able to tell the difference but I can’t.

          I use a Duo for espresso with standard burrs now. The initial plan was to put SSP HU in the filter burr carrier but that failed miserably. I managed to shim both burrs, but after getting mixed results for SSP, I noticed the shaft was actually flexing a bit if pushed by hand. Also, not super happy that the top burr carrier comes in contact with the collar through a plastic with questionable tolerances. In fact, the collar came from the factory with a small defect that put a groove into the carrier plastic. I dropped all the plans with SSP since these burrs need to go really close to the touching point and need good alignment in order to get there. So basically IMO not super sturdy design for this kinds of mods. If you must have SSP I would go with something else like Mazzer major or DF83 although I have not used the latter.

          But used with standard burrs works super fine and it’s very easy to dial in with and give shots very balanced and nice for me most of the time.

          Also, from what I played with SSP HU 83 (in mazzer major), the only way I would use it again is if I would have a secondary grinder. Basically in 95% of cases Mazzer standrard burrs tastes way more balanced and nicer. And in 5% of cases SSP could produce a more complex flavour after a tedious dial in. In rest, it just gives me way too acidic shots especially in natural processed beans which always tasted horrible. I know these results may vary based on roast level, I used mostly light roasts but a friend which mostly drink medium to dark seem to enjoy SSP HU 64 in a DF.

            Petre Also, not super happy that the top burr carrier comes in contact with the collar through a plastic with questionable tolerances. In fact, the collar came from the factory with a small defect that put a groove into the carrier plastic. I dropped all the plans with SSP since these burrs need to go really close to the

            Could you elaborate on this…

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              The collar presses on this plastic to adjust the burr gap. You can also see the groove I was saying about.

                We know the whole upper burr carrier goes down when you press it down. I normally depress this while tightening the hopper.

                I am not sure I understand what you had indicated. If my understanding is correct, the carrier is optimised to fit the mazzer. The other burrs set may not fit well.

                Don’t you brew with the filter burrs? The filter is awesome, and in-fact, it spoiled me completely to an extent that it has become our daily driver. The poor Evo is now relegated to the week-end duty. 😁

                  LMSC I did not see a fitting problem in the carrier, SSP actually fitted well. I just did not see the point in trying to align within 20 microns if the shaft can move maybe 200 if pressed by hand. This actually does not seem to affect the performance of the original burrs, which seems to work fine and consistent and actually I prefer them over SSP in most of the cases.

                    Petre The plastic tolerances are pretty good…the groove (if it’s a defect with the hopper bottom) will at least be evenly worn, so shouldn’t affect alignment. I would still recommend you send details to Niche.

                    1. So they know about it
                    2. Can send you new parts if that’s thought necessary.

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                      Petre I know these results may vary based on roast level,

                      Definitely varies based on taste buds too!

                      Re the groove in the plastic. The SSP Espresso (HU) burrs are 0.125mm thicker than the Mazzer 151b stock burrs. The Duo is build to very fine tolerances and I’m wondering if that extra thickness might explain the groove in the plastic?

                      I have used SSP burrs (HU, MP, Cast) in my experimental Duo (the one I use for burr swapping tests) and they performed well but if I were to go to Niche with an issue such as a groove in the carrier they would unfortunately, but quite rightly, point out that the use of non stock burrs voids the warranty.

                      Sticking to stock burrs saves some headaches, for sure. But the SSP and most of the Mazzer k151 series seem to perform relatively free of malfunctions. Avoid Ceado, DF, Fiorenzato burrs in the Duo, they are all too thin.

                        a year later

                        Hello everyone, I have arrived here looking for reliable information about the Niche Duo grinder, first of all I apologise, I use a translator to write so much text (I am Spanish).

                        The truth is that I have seen some very strange things in the last few weeks looking for information about the Niche, many reviews speak highly of the mill, however, most agree that it is a very expensive device.

                        You don’t need to be a great researcher to realise that the coffee ‘influencer’ scene is dominated by Americans, with this, there has been a proliferation of brands based in the United States but that manufacture and ship their products from China (Turin, Varia, Timemore, etc.), this makes both the production and shipping cheaper and of course, a product shipped from the UK requires the payment of taxes that, sending from China, are avoided. In addition, there are almost no reviews of these products in my language, Spanish, it is practically impossible to find them.

                        I sincerely believe that all the reviews I have seen are biased with the tax issue, because of this the Americans crucify the product and emphasize that its quality/price is not optimal, but being Spanish, its competitors do not seem cheap to me:

                        - Varia VS6, 825€.
                        - Timemore Sculptor 078s, 899€.
                        - Turin DF83V, 676€.

                        All of them, obviously, without the possibility of changing grinding wheels (easy and quick) included in the pack.

                        Yes, for someone who lives outside the UK the Niche Duo (with the two grinding wheel options) is expensive, it costs me about 800€ (with shipping to the Canary Islands, Spain), and I understand I will pay about 100-150€ more in taxes, but honestly, I think it is worth a Niche Duo for 900€ than the previous Chinese-American ones for 700-800€. The Niche gives me much more security in terms of durability, robustness and after-sales service, plus I am helping, according to their own website, a small family business.

                        On the other hand, I consider that a grinder has to be a simple product, that fulfils its function in the most utilitarian way possible, the Niche Duo does this, it doesn’t sell variable RPM, plasma generator, bellows, magnets and I don’t know what else that only complicate the maintenance of the product.

                          srkjnt Welcome to the forum, we have some Niche Duo users on the forum and I am sure they can give you an unbiased opinion.

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                            I’ve had mine since launch and no issues used daily for 2-3 coffees never missed a beat

                            Reason to buy you will have a warranty and a company who stands behind Thier products

                            Team at niche are amazing 👍👍

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

                            • LMSC

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                            • Post #59
                            • Edited

                            Another Niche Duo user from day 1 of the launch. I swap burrs to alternate between espresso and filter every week. I make a lot of filters in a week. The workflow is great and so is the customer support. The rest is down to cost and your preference 😊

                            Edit:

                            Btw, welcome to the forum.

                            Greetings, the way Niche organise taxation on non UK sales is the only negative I can think of. As far as comparing their grinders to anything that China produces is comparing apples to walnuts! Niche have a proven track record both on the maturity of the grinder and their after sales. My advice to you would be to bite the bullet and buy the grinder that jumps out to you. For clarity, I was a long term home tester using a pre-production model

                            https://www.suddencardiacarrestuk.org/2024/02/thank-goodness-for-madeira-cake/

                              dfk41 Greetings, the way Niche organise taxation on non UK sales is the only negative I can think of

                              My understanding is that the tax issue has been fixed a few months after launching the Duo. Americans had a complain where the Zero didn’t attract US import tax. The Duo, I believe, does.

                                  dfk41 - That’s correct DFK. When the Zero was launched, that was OK because we were still in the EU so to speak. There was one price, and that was the price charged to UK customers. Then, once the UK left the EU, Niche was charging the same price and then customers were charged VAT upon delivery. A few weeks after the launch of the Duo, that was finally fixed.

                                  For the Americans, the lower price of the Niche Zero never attracted their import tax duties as I believe there’s a exemption up to USD 800 or whatever that is. With the Niche Duo, that is above that threshold and now the Americans need to pay import tax on top of if - one reason why the Duo is not as popular over there as it is over here, as they can get other grinders at much more favourable prices.

                                      Thanks to all of you for your welcome, next month I will probably decide to go for the Niche Duo (with both burrs), we will see each other more often around here.

                                      Best regards.

                                      MediumRoastSteam We will have to see if things change now with Trump and his war with China, maybe he will put very high tariffs on imports and Americans will start buying more Niches.