Mignon Specialita

Niche is not a good filter grinder. For light roasts there are plenty grinders that will do better for job than the Niche, even conicals (Lagon Casa). Going from a Specialita which is flat burr but more optimized for traditional espresso medium dark to dark roasts (Similar to Niche) to a Philos was a massive improvement for light roasts for me. In that price point there are options like the Philos, P80, Zerno Z1, etc. You could get the Lagom Casa for light roast and pour over duties and keep the Niche for Darker roasts and Milk drinks.

That's hard to say. A lot of the Decent DE1 profiles were designed for the Niche to eke out better exctractions for its grind. So depending on the shots you are pulling a large flat initially will be a huge learning curve. Large flats optimized for light roasts don't build pressure like the Niche due to more narrower PSD and lower amount of fines. So you will find that shot flow much faster even at fine grind settings. So it all depends on how you dial your espressos in. I have never used a Niche but from everything I have heard about it, from people I respect, tells me that it tends to blend flavors and highlights chocolate notes more and kind of kills nuance in the coffee. So it is excellent for traditional espresso but there really better grinders for light roast and clarity. Conical vs Flat is not as black and white these days. There are very high clarity conicals like the burrs in hand grinders like the ZP6 etc that are excellent for clarity. The Mizen 65CL conical burr in the Casa is optimized for light roast and will have a very different particle size distribution than the 68mm burrs in the Niche. Hell even 71 mm mazzer conical burrs have completely different characteristics than the 83 mm Mazzer conicals. The P80 with the Mizen burrs should be a good all round burr set for pour over and light roast espresso. So you can keep the Niche for dark roast espresso and milk drinks (even light roast). If later you find the P80 does everything well enough you can just keep that as the only grinder.

Yes, this has my vote! That’s a perfect beginner setup. If you’d rather not single dose, an Eureka Mignon Specialita would also be a great choice.

I have a Fellow Stag EKG Pro. It’s exactly what you’re describing, well within budget and Hoffman approved. I can attest that I have put mine through its paces and it performs admirably. My grinder is a Eureka Specialita, it’s a flat burr grinder, I use it for both espresso and pour over. It’s a tank and will do anything you need it to do. My second option would be a Niche Zero but it will only do single dose grinding. Depending on your workflow ether machine come out at similar price points and are within your budget.

depends on volume (how much are you grinding every day) and budget. Pretty decent manual burr grinders can be had for 30-40CAD, pretty nice Japanese made porlex ceramic burr manual grinder is about 100CAD. These are good enough to grind upto 20-30gms of beans a day before you get bored and tired. Then comes the rabbit hole of home barista use powered grinders. A good espresso grade grinder can be a few hundred dollars. The Baratza encore, Eureka specialita etc come under this category. Then comes the commercial grinders like a bunn commercial grinder that can be had used for less than a grand used on fb marketplace / restaurant supply stores that can grind upto a kilo in a minute.

I have Mignon Specialita and it's OK, but if I had the knowledge that I have now when I bought my first grinder, I'd buy DF64. Now I'm eyeing a DF83V as an upgrade, but I'm currently out of money... The things that piss me off the most are: \- Freaking small adjustment wheel. You only touch it and the grind size difference is huge. (can be modded if you have 3d printer) \- Has dumb burr size. They have their specific diameter and specific hole spacing so you can't buy different burrs then form Eureka. \- Struggles with lighter roasts (my burrs are almost touching almost every time I try to dial in any light roast) \- kinda high retention if you don't tilt your grinder with 3d printed base and don't slap it few times after grinding.