User experience - Niche Duo 83mm flat burr grinder

#1: Post by **curlbrah** » July 9th, 2023, 6:18 am

This is from the perspective of a Niche Zero owner, with about 30 shots pulled from the Duo.

I've playing around with it the last two days, with the espresso burr installed. Taste is very different from the Zero, and the taste-difference between beans is much more pronounced when grinding on the Duo, compared to the Zero. I guess it makes trying new coffees a bit more interesting. The first thing i noticed was consistency though. Shots come out identical after each other. This is a huge and noticeable step up from a conical-burr grinder like the Zero.

Other initial findings out of the box:
- Lower burr wasn't tightened properly, making the grinder rattle a bit. Easily fixed with the included screwdriver, and made the sound from the grinder a lot more pleasant.
- The pre-zeroing that Niche has done is WAY off. I can turn it 10-ish points beyond the zero-marking before the burrs begin to touch. A bit annoying when advertised this way, but also easily fixable.
- Retention is good, but not as good as on the zero.
- The grinder is not as loud as some reviews made it sound like. The sound profile is surely a bit different to the Zero, but not really louder.

Moderator note: Split from Niche Duo 83mm flat burr grinder

#2: Post by **Cuprajake** » July 9th, 2023, 8:25 am

July 9th, 2023, 8:41 am

I've been grinding at 8-12 for three different medium roasts. The beans are very fresh (5-7 days).

The usable espresso range is pretty impressive, so adjusting for the perfect grind size is very easy.

#4: Post by **malling** » July 9th, 2023, 9:49 am

As one really should expect with this type of traditional mazzer burrs, after all these are meant to be more forgiving, easy to use for espressoz When I last had those in my Major it was the same a very noticeable range with the B burrs. I suspect the range will be noticeable reduced if you toss more unimodal burrs in it, it's going to be interesting to see how much it will effect it, but I guess I'll know once I get both in the fall.

#5: Post by **gobucks** » July 9th, 2023, 10:36 am

I tried to manually zero mine, didn't have much luck. To me it was not obvious at all when the burrs started chirping, eventually I gave up, and just set the zero point such that my espresso setting is ~10 (vs ~3 out of the box). Not a huge deal with the stock burrs, but if/when I eventually upgrade to SSP burrs, I'm going to have to figure out how to do this effectively. Does anyone have any pointers for how to do this? The Niche video makes it seem super obvious, but I never heard any sound that was as clear as in the video.

Regarding taste (vs my Zero) for espresso, the difference with a medium-dark roast (B&W Traditional) is pretty subtle. Maybe a bit less body, and a bit more balanced overall, but I'm not sure if I could pick out the difference in a blind taste test. But with a natural process coffee (B&W Natural), the difference was much more noticeable. I had a lot of trouble with this one with the Zero, I often felt the acidity was too dominant and one-note (although i thought it added a nice brightness to my milk drinks); with the Duo, the acidity seems a little more restrained, and better integrated into the shot as a whole. Much more enjoyable for me as straight espresso.

Haven't tried either the espresso or filter burrs for filter coffee yet. I just ordered some coffee for cold brew, and I'm excited to try out the filter burrs for that.

#6: Post by **Cuprajake** » July 9th, 2023, 12:13 pm

#7: Post by **GregoryJ** » July 9th, 2023, 12:40 pm

curlbrah wrote:image

The first thing i noticed was consistency though. Shots come out identical after each other. This is a huge and noticeable step up from a conical-burr grinder like the Zero.

Is this to say you don't get repeatable shots out of the Zero?

#8: Post by **rdcyclist** » July 9th, 2023, 2:23 pm

GregoryJ wrote:
Is this to say you don't get repeatable shots out of the Zero?

Sh*t, I thought that was my lousy puck prep. The Zero isn't consistent?

#9: Post by **Cuprajake** » July 9th, 2023, 3:03 pm

July 9th, 2023, 3:11 pm

No, i've always found the Zero to produce repeatable shots and i'll most likely keep it alongside the Duo. The Duo just seems to be even better at eliminating any small variation, which is noticeable to me when comparing them directly. I dont think that is a very surprising finding considering the difference in burr type and size.