Spent the day with Martin, had a long chat about the grinder, ground plenty of coffee, both carafe and espresso. Saw a second grinder disassembled in front of my eyes in less than 5 minutes with no special tools, this was impressive for ease of maintenance if ever required. I realise there is a little scepticism about the grinder, especially as it's "manufacturer tested" and "manufacturer claims". The claimed retention of 0.1g seems to be in the ballpark, but we shall see after extended testing, different beans and use of 2 sets of scales. I can only say I was amazed by this little grinder, absolutely amazed. I had lots of questions for Martin and the answers, plus the evidence of my own eyes were enough to know I was looking at quite a special little grinder. Key features that stood out for me are:


Very well designed
Excellent and unique cord storage
Very very very good grind quality
Nice slow burr speed
Static free (on the day and coffees I used it
with)
Really low retention
Quiet
Super easy to adjust grind (not stiff and no tendency for adjustment to move)
Stepless
Quick to move from espresso to carafe and back again
Easy to use
Small size and relatively light weight....very kitchen friendly
Ideal as a cupping grinder in a roastery




There were some tough questions for Martin, all answered fully and has clearly done his research, in fairness the grinder pretty much spoke for itself. After seeing this little Niche grinder, I feel a little silly having spent as much as I did on my Ceado E92, but at the time that's all that would deliver in the cup with relatively low size and retention (after mods). Then I see this tiny grinder with big 63mm conical burrs, produce a grind (almost) the equal of my E92 with 71mm burrs. I put "almost" in to make myself feel better! As for the burr set....they are not cheap burrs, they are really good burrs. Niche don't make the burrs and I wouldn't expect them to, they are made by a very large well known Italian burr manufacturer...They should be good for 800kg+ of coffee, effectively a commercial grade burr in a domestic use grinder.

It doesn't need modding, it doesn't need any special care to use and so far it's good. Martin decided to leave one of the production prototypes with me for a couple of weeks, so I will be able to give it a good thrashing in a real world kitchen environment with both fresh roasted and older coffee of different types and roast levels. I guess it proves the Italians don't have the last word on coffee grinder manufacture and Britain can show them a thing or two. I struggled to believe what I was seeing and experiencing, seemed almost too good to be true.....let's see if I feel the same after 2 weeks?


So far though....it's good!


P.S. Can't say any more after this as the formal testing phase begins.

Last edited by DavecUK; 6 Days Ago at 03:14.

Vesuvius DBPP, Izzo Duetto DB BTC Machines: Melitta Caffeo varianza and Caffeo Barista TS Roasters: Amazon Dalian 1kg Drum Roaster: Grinders: Ceado E92: 145kg assorted greens::