Jeff wrote:Extractamundo Dos! came as an evolution of the ideas of many people, including Stephane Ribes and Luca (same Luca as here). Rather than being a marketing ploy, it was the result of many people trying different things with different coffees. There's a good discussion of it at https://pocketsciencecoffee.com/2022/05 ... actamundo/ (by Rohan, if you are active in the Decent Discord or DecentForum). When Ray finally convinced John to allow "limiters" (non-linear behavior near a flow/pressure goal), many of the challenges with flow-driven extraction were eased. Extractamundo Dos! basically took manual selection among a half-dozen or more parameterized profiles, all the same except for a change in, for example, peak pressure, and automated it, based on how the puck was behaving at the moment. Note that this is very different than the arguably bogus "best" or "adaptive" profiles that are promoted by JB.

When I was pulling La Cabra, Tim Wendelboe, Coffee Collective ("filter" for all), and similar on the Niche Zero, I was usually around 5-15 marks somewhere, depending on origin. I was typically dosing 17 g in a VST 18. VST baskets are notably better in the cup than DE baskets. My flow rates were typically around 2.5 g/s in the latter parts of the shot using pressure profiles based on Luca's profiles from a couple of years ago or Nu Skool v2. (I did not find v3 worked well with the Niche Zero.) My peak extraction pressures were typically in the 4-6 bar range. I would typically push the grind finer and finer until astringency hit, then back off a tiny bit. I've been using lower temperatures and declining temperature profiles for a few years now. I don't recall if Extractamundo Dos! came out before I sold my Niche Zero or not. For water, I found that 64 MPs or 98 HUs provided better results for me with high buffer (20/80 ppm GH/KH) compared to my moderate filtered tap. I don't know that higher buffer helps the Niche Zero.

Milligan wrote: The issue with the Niche and light roast in my experience is that there is a trade off between sourness and astringency. Once sourness is dialed out then astringency takes over. There was hardly any middle ground where both are reduced to a balanced level. I found astringency to be an issue with the Niche unless dark to dark-mediums were used. Even "modern" espresso blends roasted to a medium had a tickle of astringency. It was the main reason I moved away from the Niche.

another_jim wrote:The resistance of the puck is a product of the dose weight and grind fineness. So the lower you dose, the finer you must grind to maintain the same puck reistance. If you choke 18 grams at an 8 setting, you'll defitely choce it at a 4 setting. But if you drop to 14 grams, you will probably be in the ballpark, and get a more balanced tasting shot.

Milligan wrote:Rather timely post. I was discussing this in another thread a few days ago:



I ended up changing grinders and no longer have that issue with light roast. Niche was great for med dark and dark, good for medium, and "okay" for medium-light. Light roasts were not worth wasting through it for espresso IMO. I ended up doing pour over exclusively for light roast because they tasted much better through my SSP MP burrs on my Ode.

Decent has some videos where they use the P100 and a Niche for different dial ins. That may be worth watching to get some tips for the Niche.

FineGrinder wrote: Which grinder/burr did you upgrade to and what would you recommend? I've tried the SSP MP's for filter and they were amazing with light roasts but I don't have any experience of them with espresso. I suspect the body might be on the thin side if the filter is anything to go by.

I've watched some of Decent's videos where they use the Niche and P100 side by side but it feels like they're overcoming the sourness problem by changing to different profiles and then tinkering with them. It's helpful to see how they think through it but not necessarily for a specific coffee I might have in front of me. I need more experience with a wider range of profiles I guess.