hello guys, I want to buy a new grinder, but I don't know which one is better for making espresso. Niche and f64e almost have the same price in China
Please give me some advice, thank you

Do you want to single dose of hopper dose? Do you prefer conical or flat burrs?

Other than the price point, these 2 grinders are different, but will both make nice shots.

It will likely come down to your workflow and aesthetic preference.

thank you, I am the only one who loves coffee in my family, so at most time, it is a single dose, but I am ok with f64e which may be considered as a commercial grinder.
In fact, I just got my lever with a few days and started to try to drink some espresso, I don't know what a conical or flat burrs will affect my espresso.
I know niche managed to achieve zero retention, but I think f64e is more functional.
That is why it is difficult for me to make a choice, so which one can make my espresso tasted better is the key.

What do you mean by "more functional?"

The Niche is as "functional" as any grinder. If you will be changing grinds/brew methods, the Niche is a dream. You will get great espresso with either.

I am not good at English, I think maybe I express myself in a wrong way.
What I want to say is that f64e have a screen and a computer system.
I think I should post an image.

Both are very capable grinders and will taste good. Since you don't have any hands on experience with flat and conical to decide your preference, you should mainly consider workflow.

Since you say you are the only coffee drinker in your house, a single dose, low-no retention grinder would make more sense in my mind (I.e. the niche).

maxbmello wrote:Since you say you are the only coffee drinker in your house, a single dose, low-no retention grinder would make more sense in my mind (I.e. the niche).

I agree with this.

If I were you I would try and figure out what the retention on the 64e is. My guess is probably around 3-5 grams but I am talking out of my butt with that guess. It doesn't seem like much but over the course of years the money starts to add up. If you aren't purging yesterday's grind the Niche will probably (definitely) taste better. I love the ultra-low retention of the Niche but I am a cheap son of a bitch. With my values this trumped the 'functional' electronics. I've never regretted purchasing the Niche.

zzk12313 wrote:thank you, I am the only one who loves coffee in my family, so at most time, it is a single dose, but I am ok with f64e which may be considered as a commercial grinder.

Just in case: single dosing refers to putting a set quantity of beans (e.g. 15g) in your grinder and expecting the same quantity coming out as ground coffee. This works well with a grinder like the Niche Zero, which was designed to have next to no retention (hence the name).

The alternative is to have a large amount of coffee (e.g. several hundreds of grams) sitting in the hopper, to grind for a set amount of time so as to get your 15g of ground coffee out, understanding and accepting a certain quantity (e.g. 4-5 grams) will be ground, but won't come out (this is retention). It will come out the next time you grind some more coffee (e.g. the next day). You can choose whether to to discard it (by purging your grinder) or have that 1-day old ground coffee included with the newly ground, fresh coffee.

I personally think it's not a good idea in a home environment (especially if you are the only coffee drinker in your household, which is also my case) to keep large quantities of beans sitting in a hopper, and I don't like wasting expensive beans either, which is why I prefer the single dosing approach. Busy coffee shops are entirely different environments and have entirely different considerations.

I moved from a F64E to a Niche Zero just recently. The F64E is a great commercial grinder but not the as good in a home environment.
Retention is above 4g. If used for 2-3 shots per day, you will need to purge it almost every time which is even more coffee wasted.
It can't go from coarse to fine easily if ever you want to alternate brewing methods.
Everytime you change the grind setting by a notch, you end up having to change the shot timer by .2 sec.
When calibrating dose and grind settings for new coffee, there's lots of waste and it's time consuming.
It does however produce quality grind at a very competitive price. I was able to work around these constraints for a while.
With the Niche Zero...
I rarely waste coffee.
I don't purge.
Grind settings are repeatedly spot on.
I can alternate coffees.
I can alternate brew method
My wife can adjust the grind setting and pull a shot without me around.
It's quiter.
It's smaller.
Taste is as good if not better (burrs are not even seasoned yet).
Time wise, it's about 30s more per shot but I never have to redo a shot and reset the timer so all in all, it's more effective.
Unless you have guests over for supper every night, it's a no-brainer for me. Niche Zero all the way.

Agree - have both owned a 64 mm and 75 mm flat burr commerciel grinder and I prefer the Niche