Eureka Single dose, Niche, Solo

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.

MediumRoastSteam Oh yeah! 😊

Both are out of contention for me.

MediumRoastSteam

I was discussing this with Dave in the General Solo thread yesterday. I have an original 1st release and the clumper works fine. You need to give it a clean every couple of months, but that’s probably the case for most grinders.

That said, I don’t use dark oily beans

I’ve only used a Solo for a few shots and I suspect there would be relatively little to choose between the SD and Solo in terms of in cup performance. That said, although the design of SD is not perfect, some of the decisions the manufacturer has made with the Solo would make it a total non starter for me. Beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder though.

I haven’t seen an actual hands on for the Solo vs SD yet, do you have any links?

David

Ahh I am forgetting it has a different name in different markets.

I would point out a couple of things though, given when the video was made he has one of the first run and things have been tweaked a touch since then and secondly the poor folks in the US seem to get diddled a bit when it comes to price of Eureka grinders. The Mignon SD retails at pretty much double the price of the Solo and as such I think it is a very different proposition indeed.

I would seriously consider a flat burr alternative to the Niche however I don’t think there is a suitable option yet which can match its ease of use and workflow. 

The Solo is an interesting prospect but not quite there in my opinion. They apparently  improved the clump crusher since the first generation however there is still an issue with some grinds retaining and regrinding in the burrs. With a few mods it’s a decent if unrefined alternative. 

The Mignon Oro SD reminds me of @DavecUK Evo Leva - bit of a Frankenstein 😄 Clearly Eureka are trying to carve out a share in the single dose market by cobbling something together without too much investment.

Like with many first generation products I’m sure they will make improvements with subsequent iterations but it’s a shame they didn’t choose to innovate out of the gate. 

Will be interesting to see what other single dose flat burr alternatives enter the market…I’ll stick with my Niche for now. 

HVL87

Niche will obviously be aware of what is going on in the market and what people think (rightly or wrongly) about conical vs flat burrs. I would be very surprised indeed if we do not see a flat burr Niche in the not too distant.

David

BlackCatCoffee That would be nice. It will be interesting to see their burr size; I wonder if they would keep it similar or go up to 83mm.

In fact, I asked them, before Christmas, if there would be a Niche II with a flat burr. I did tell them I am in the market for a SD electric. I wasn’t expecting a reply. They didn’t! 😊

MediumRoastSteam

I will see if I can get a change log and serial numbers from the distributor so we can tell but had a check on some email updates I got on the production delays and they stated the second run was delayed to mid to end Jan. We literally got stock from that run on Tuesday so he is almost certainly on a first run machine. I think he says in the video something about a first model although he could be referring to it being a Mk1 as opposed to a launch model as such.