Some friends have and like the Niche and while it is reportedly a good grinder dedicated to 'single dosing' it also has the issues that most of the smaller single dose grinders have, of beans popcorning, bouncing around until eventually the burrs catch and grind the last bean that tried to escape its fate. There is a do-it-yourself modification to alleviate it but by then you're getting entangled in extra fuss before you are actually pulling your espresso shot. My daughter and her husband have my E5 and they're happy with it. Fits in small kitchens and even though it makes more sound than some others, it is very solid. E5 and Niche are more or less in the same category and moving from one to the other seems like a side-step rather than an upgrade as Reiss says.
Thanks for that good information, Frans. I gather the E5 has flat burrs (& slightly smaller diameter) whereas the Niche has conical burrs. Does the different burr profile not affect the taste (when comparing the flat & conical burrs, in this case)?
There are waves of fashion where flats or conicals are the latest best miracles, but it remains to be seen if one can actually consistently taste "conical" or "flat" in a shot since there are so many variables going into preparing coffee.
I'm happy with my EtzMAX conical, but my huge Compak R120 can also be used to tweak for the absolute maximum in taste. Still I practically never take the time and bean waste to keep tweaking the R120 for that ultimate taste, especially when the shot that I get very simply from the etzMAX and the Londinium is already so delicious without any fuss. Even when I have kilos of beans from my roaster in stock, I hesitate to waste many shots to experiment for "maybe even better". Nature, farmers, importers, transporters etc have worked so hard (especially farmers) that I do not want to throw handfuls of beans into the big grinder just to play.
And who knows, if the 13th back to back shot that I sip is heavenly, could that be because that grind setting is the ultimate one, or because my tongue is getting hysterical from all the tasting? ;-)
Ah, yes, that ultimate shot. (All the variables in preparing espresso do make any hard truth difficult to verify! lol ) So, it sounds like any taste difference in this case would be too negligible to mention. Thanks!
mmm some very good info here; many thanks.....i'm thinking on wether to buy some new burrs for my Mazzer Major and having read this (and other forums) do i keep the standard burrs (brand new grinder) or go with the Red Speed or better still the SSP ? ..... i know the SSP's are dear but is the "extra" money spent on them worth it compared to the standard Mazzer ones or the Red Speed ones.
Comments
I gather the E5 has flat burrs (& slightly smaller diameter) whereas the Niche has conical burrs. Does the different burr profile not affect the taste (when comparing the flat & conical burrs, in this case)?
I'm happy with my EtzMAX conical, but my huge Compak R120 can also be used to tweak for the absolute maximum in taste. Still I practically never take the time and bean waste to keep tweaking the R120 for that ultimate taste, especially when the shot that I get very simply from the etzMAX and the Londinium is already so delicious without any fuss. Even when I have kilos of beans from my roaster in stock, I hesitate to waste many shots to experiment for "maybe even better". Nature, farmers, importers, transporters etc have worked so hard (especially farmers) that I do not want to throw handfuls of beans into the big grinder just to play.
And who knows, if the 13th back to back shot that I sip is heavenly, could that be because that grind setting is the ultimate one, or because my tongue is getting hysterical from all the tasting? ;-)
Thanks!
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