• Grinders

  • Niche Zero - One Year in Review

Rob1 Just cup the coffee and see if it tastes remotely like anything on the bag. If the roaster mentions brew methods and describes different tasting notes for espresso and brewed then you should be able to get to them or at least understand why the descriptions are there.

The roasters’ brew method is something I always look at to understand what to expect.

Haven’t tried Dark Arts. I will take a look. Thx

Rob1 suggest finding a roaster that matches your tastebuds if you’re struggling a lot or feeling dissatisfied with what you’re getting.

I find Blackcat, Django, North Star, Crank House are good and deliver what’s written on the bag. I have heard good things about Foundry.

The whole discussion on clarity, notes and flavour is more about understanding what coffee drinkers thought of them objectively, how they see it, their experiences and so that the members can learn / benefit from them!

      LMSC I’ve got this as got in sent instead of Chelbesa. With my limited tastebuds found it very pleasant and drinkable but nothing exceptional. Sweet hazelnut maybe aftertaste, very light tea like mouthfeel

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      • LMSC replied to this.

          prezes Thanks for the feedback. I spoke to them. They said it is a new crop, not cupped formally and their cupping score would be about 85. They did tell me it is ok as espresso but good for brewing!

            It was @DavecUK comprehensive review of the NICHE that convinced me to buy it. I’ve not regretted it. That said I’m open minded and also have the flat burrs of the GEVI for pour over. That said I disagree with all the negativity about Lance. I think he’s a genuine guy and he’s always responded to my questions sensibly and reasonably. He’s working withv GORILLA on a new burr set for the NICHE.. which I’m awaiting with interest.

              Grahamsphillips He did mention the Gorilla Burrs for the Niche…it will be interesting to see if they do actually make a difference. I personally do believe Mazzer make a very nice Conical burr, I think Lance held a slightly different view to me…but I’m open minded.

              He also felt the Niche might be better if it ran slower, which is also interesting, because when I did my voltage tests, the Niche would run down at 208V, at which point motor torque became a problem, especially for light roasts, and chamber clearance wasn’t as good. However, watching some of the small motorised Conicals and testing some myself, some do have to run on for a while to clear, so perhaps that’s a sacrifice worth making **if it can improve grind quality……**So I might end up doing a bit of testing…….If I can get some modified internals so I can slow it down and not loose torque. Perhaps there is some mileage on a Standard and Lo speed model Niche Zero…who knows?

              Lance said he might try to do some tests using an appropriate speed controller, my fear was, he would lose a lot of torque with variable speed, so may have to limit tests to medium beans….If he does, I will be interested to hear about his findings.

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                  Grahamsphillips and DavecUK Interesting dimension you are bringing Dave. It opens a new world of possibilities in this niche market segment.

                  How would it impact light and medium light then ?

                  Would Niche then have a choice of Burrs set?

                        LMSC It’s simply an idea at the moment in the mind of Lance and myself…in fact he might well be further ahead in his thinking than me. Who knows how it would impact light and medium light, until someone tests it. Lance is the one talking about Gorilla Burrs and I guess it will be down to people to buy them independently and fit them to the Niche if they want to. The Gorilla Burr idea is an independent one from Lance and not yet tested.

                        I think you are looking at the finish line and no one is in the starting blocks yet.

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                          DavecUK 100%. In theory one could add an external voltage regulator to slow down the rotation but there’s the risk of a stall. I have to say the idea of a NICHE with flat burrs has its attractions.

                              Grahamsphillips 100%. In theory one could add an external voltage regulator to slow down the rotation but there’s the risk of a stall. I have to say the idea of a NICHE with flat burrs has its attractions.

                              Huge risk of stalling and you cannot fit/mount flat burrs inside a Niche zero, doesn’t spin fast enough either.

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                                Inspector That’s quite literally the 300-pounds gorilla… and you can decide of what “pound” I’m talking about.

                                  There is always the discussion of clarity…I’ve often wondered if less texture is seen as greater clarity.

                                  I’ve often thought it would be great to all have 250g or 500g of the same coffee and do a mass tasting of pour over, espresso, Americano Done on different grinders and kit, so we know what the coffee is but no tasting notes.

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                                    DavecUK There is always the discussion of clarity…I’ve often wondered if less texture is seen as greater clarity.

                                    I would think of texture as how it feels in our mouth / on tongue? So, I would look at texture as a light bodied cup, medium or full bodied. The light body / mouthfeel is on the brighter, high acidity / astringency sides of the scale.

                                    MWJB summarised clarity as “too vague a term and has too many other potential confounding factors.” Notwithstanding this nice summary of what a clarity is, I like to keep it simple and call clarity as an ability to “separate (detect) the different flavours / tasting notes”, which I think is very difficult if one is pulling 1:1.5 or 1:2. Perhaps, as Rob said, may be one needs to pull an espresso at 1:2.5 to 1:3, assuming it is there in a cup to pick up.

                                    So, when a lot of people pull a shot at 1:1.5 or 1:2, and say the cup is muddled or there is no clarity, I always wondered how is it possible to see through the clarity / flavour in such a highly concentrated liquid? Of course, I have never had a chance to pull shots in conical and flat, say for a light roast, to understand why baristas can pick clarity in flat grinders.

                                    The discussions on these during the last few days suggest that body/mouthfeel, texture, flavour or clarity (if separating flavour notes is clarity), aroma, palette and after-taste all need separating.

                                    In summary, I don’t think texture is clarity, which, if all it all possible to delineate in espresso, rests crucially on the mercy of roasters! I also think we are too busy chasing these as rarities and not, perhaps, enjoying some very good coffee as much as we all should! 😊

                                      I’m not a great fan of April reviews but its interesting that broadly they are making the same points as Lance. My perspective is that the NICHE is really oriented to Espresso and while it can do pour over that’s not where it shine.