Eureka Single dose, Niche, Solo

CoffeePhilE I tend to go for 10% for UK made. I work in manufacturing for a UK company, part of my team is in China. I have also experienced the bad side of sourcing stuff from China, with specifications moving without consultation and getting stuff that’s dangerous. It all; comes down to the quality control in the end, and what control you have over your supplier.

DavecUK Patreon subscribers bought it.

Personally, I don’t believe in Patreon model. A group of X purchases the unit for review, Y gets it eventually, but Z gets to monetise it. I always wondered what did the X get in return ? 😊

DavecUK That is quite a cynical take even for me haha. I think the patron model is more a idea of control on the entertainment product and a way to contribute directly to the producer of content rather than the ‘middle-man’ the streaming platform.

I think while you can be critical of the content and how it is broadcast from some people. Other users seem to do it for their passion for the hobby and do produce useful content (as long as you take it as gospel).

I think without the YouTubers of the world I would of made a poor choice based of just reading forums and traditional written reviews.

The assimilation of information in your first point is very well put though and alot of people would save a hell of alot of money reading that haha

Frothbewithyou I am a bit cynical but watch and subscribe to so many different YT channels. For most it’s their business, or an adjunct to their business, of course some do do it just because they love it, or they want to share their passion.

This guy for example, not monetised, does it for free, great to watch,.

https://www.youtube.com/c/DavesGarage

I don’t disagree with much (if any) of Dave’s analysis. I was also making a slightly different point, though …. though it’s reflected in the “who benefits” question.

A lot of traditional, by which I mean print press, reviews are/were either done by employed writers, or freelancers. While the exact nature of the mechanism has changed in today’s world (i.e. Patreon, sponsors, affiliate links, etc) the motivation is the same - money (or goods in lieu).

In either case (employed writers or freelancers) there is a direct pressure on time. Put it this way. I was freelance. Mostly, I pitchd a few ideas to an editor, who would commission some or all, and I then had to deliver x articles of y words each, by dd/mm/yy date. The quicker I could produce an article, of acceptable quality, the more articles I could do per week, and the moe I wpuld earn. Fortunately, and for me it was why I was freelance, it wasn’t my sole source of income or even my sole motivation for doing it. In short, I only did things that interested me and a large part of why I did it at all was because it interested me.

Roll forwards to today’s world and the world of print reviews in much, MUCH less dominant, and that has several implications. The wall that used to exist between editorial and advertising arms of a publisher (or at least, good ones) simply doesn’t exist in today’s YT “influencer” world, so you have to rely on the standards of the “influencer” to give honest feedback on the product despite that being the person that does or does not suffer from manufavturer ‘pressure’ …. or benefits. As a freelancer, I got paid whatever I said, positive or negative. Standards, at least to a point, were upheld by the editor as getting future work depended on providing them with good quality copy, few mistakes and on time. What constrains ‘influencers’ who rely on manufacturer-supplied product if they threaten to withhold the next eview product? And to their credit, some of the major influencers in the computing arena have taken on major corporates tht have tried those bullying techniques on smaller sites.

To that extent, I support the Patreon model. It does give the “influencer” a degree of independence if they buy, albeit with Patreon money, their products to review without the supplier holding a sword over them. Similarly, YT channels big enough to face down aggressive suppliers because of their size have a degree of independence too, and a few (in the computing arena) have held some bigcorporate’s feet to the fire when they tried to bully smaller channels.

But in either case, if money is the motivating factor, then there is a hard limit on how much time you can afford to put into a given article, if you want to either make a profit as a business, or a living as a freelancer, or YT influencer. It’s as simple as time = money.

And that is why I do disagree with Dave on one thing, that being that his reviews are “boring”. Are they great “entertainment”? Not really. Superb production qualities? Again, not really. But …. firt rate quality of information, thoroughness of testing, comprehensive and exhaustive product examination? Oh, hell, yes.

Dave, if I was looking for glib presentation, a facile sense of humour or a 10 to 15 minute “show”, would I think of your reviews? Maybe not. But if I’m looking to buy a product, or even just to get a really good feel for or understandig of a product that interests me even if not to buy? <Bleep> yes.

But …. I think your reviews speak for themselves. If you were doing them to make a living, you couldn’t do them like that, because you’d starve. So my read on it, deduced solely from watching them and having a pretty good idea of how much work went into them, is that profit can’t be the driving force, and that is why they aren’t “boring”. At all.

Dave’s Garage is another interesting case. I don’t know the guy, but my read on him is “retired, and very comfortably off”. Again, not doing it for the money. He knows his onions, has “been there, done that, got the t-shirt” and it isn’t about monetisation. Why does he do it? My guess is, ’cos he wants to, and can. For most YT sites, and most ‘net’ reviews, it is about making money one way or another because unless you’re either pretty wealthy (Dave of Dave’s Garage probably fits into that) or at least financially secure and probably retired, it’s hard to do otherwise.

CoffeePhilE A pretty good analysis and yes coffee is not my living, but just a hobby I enjoy.

People should be judged by their actions. As you have noted, if I was doing this for money, I would soon go broke.

Even my wordpress site irritates me, as to have a free site means they show all sorts of adverts, some for types of sites I morally disagree with. I moved to Sway to take the text of the review along with the user away from the ad riddled site, once they clicked the link. Or YouTube, where I don’t monetise my videos, so no ads until YouTube change their policies..

I want anyone seeing or reading my stuff to feel they are beside me using the machine. These are big purchases for most people, I need to respect that in my reviews.

I understand the arguments regarding patreon support but I’ve never seen anyone other than Hoffman using Patreon’s money to buy ‘stuff’ he then comments on and then gives whatever he has bought using thier money, back to the Patreons. Because of that I don’t feel he has the sort of bias others may have… unless of course you know different.

Theres some bargin mazzer majors on ebay atm.
£280 for one with ti coated burrs.

I think, personally, that the “Does James Hoffmann make money from YT” is so, soooo complicated.

Indirectly, he’s certainly made some from me. Not much, but some, For a start, I bought his book. I find it very interesting, and I got a book I like and the pleasure of rummaging in it and he got a few quid. I’ve also bought other stuff (beans, a Clever Dripper etc) from Square Mile and, but or the YT stuff, I may never have even noticed Square Mile. So, at least indirectly, has made a tiny bit from me, and I sure don’t begrudg it - I’ve watched a lot of his content.

I’ve also priced up some of the equipment he uses to make videos, and there’s a LOT of money gone into that. There’s also the amount of time either he, or someone he has to pay, has to spend in post-production. But …. oes all that time and expense on equipment only get used for YT stuff? Or does it get used directly for other business uses? I don’t know, though I’d guess there’s other business uses too, and the exact proportion would impact heavily on how much he “makes” from YT stuff.

Finally, there’s the “opportunity cost” to his time on YT. He runs (co-owns, I believe) a decently successful business and as any business owner knows, doing x hours on a non-profitable project means that those x hours either have to come from not spending them on the business (which would in all likelihood be a much more profitable way to spend his time) or, it comes out of his leisure time which is something most business owners don’t get that much of, so value highly.

I don’t believe anyone can be sure if he genuinely makes money from YT, even indirectly, without having access toa lot of information that just isn’t in the public domain but, especially if you include the opportunity cost of the time he spends when he could be spending it on his main business, I very strongly doubt making money from YT is on his radar.

But if he does make something from it …. good. I get value from watching it so I sure don’tcare if he makes a bit by making it.

My ONLY consern with anybody making YT content, to be honest, is whether I think the revenue they make, or the free goods some get, are sufficient to skew whether or not the views they provide are sincere, and of course,whether they are competent in the first place? If they are, good luck to them.

One thing I do like about his content is that he is usually very careful to point it out when he is making a point he considers to be very subjective, like what suits his personal tastes or preferences, which of course may not be those of the viewer. That might be whetherhe likesark, mdium or light roast, or whether he likes the UI or workflow of a grnder, etc. I have a lot of time for his stuff, both for the educational aspects on coffee, but also for the entertainment. For me, it’s a distinct two-fer. But, for others …. YMMV.

Just some quick thoughts on the Mignon SD now we have production models in stock.

If you are deciding between the Niche and the SD the answer could well be a very simple one - if you want one grinder to do it all then you should still buy the Niche.

If on the other hand you are happy with a multi grinder set up or you only ever drink espresso then the choice is probably a little more tricky. My experience with Niche is not extensive and there is already so much info out there I do not think I can add anything useful to it so I am just going to give you some pro and cons of the SD.

Pros

• Excellent clarity in cup
• Large flat burrs
• Speedy grinding
• Very robust
• Italian made
• Opportunity to use third party burrs
• Widely available

Cons

• Ease of changing between brew methods
• Slightly louder than other grinders in Mignon range
• Portafilter holder and button holes left over from other Mignon grinders
• Bellows design less than ideal

All in all if you can live with its little quirks and you want the best possible in cup for espresso at this price point I would say that the Mignon SD is worthy of very serious consideration. For me the quality of shots produced is on par with the likes of the Mythos and Helios grinders I had on the bench at the time of testing.

I have read some reports of motor vibration and slightly shonky finish on some parts from people that had the very first production run (these have all been sold through now I believe and we have the ‘tweaked’ models in stock) but personally the only gripe I have found on models I unboxed have been feet stuck on wonky. Annoying but not the end of the world.

I am very happy to have these in stock and I am sure they will become very popular indeed.

It has displaced the grinder in my kitchen and at the end of the day that is the best recommendation I can give.

Any questions please fire away.

David

MediumRoastSteam Didn’t people have problems with Solo — at least with earlier version — re-clumps, medium dark / dark / oily beans? I am not sure if they fixed these.