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.
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.
Surprised Eureka isn’t higher. My Eureka Mignon Specialita has easily been the most reliable and stable grinder I’ve owned. I’ve been in the hobby for about 25 years now so I’ve had several in that time. A single piece of data I know but the design and operation is remarkably consistent and dependable with minimal maintenance.
Had a Specialita. Well-built, old-fashioned, one-dimensional flavor profile (chocolate and nuts for medium-dark). Proprietary burrs and mounting limit you to Eureka burrs, which are few and quite frankly, uninteresting.
Terrible retention because of the antediluvian grind chamber and chute design; bellows and tilt-mounting kits do not really help.
The grind adjustment is perhaps the worst of any grinder i have ever used (about 2 dozen?). Tiny dial + thread lash == good luck ever dialing in or switching between beans. Their solution has been to make a slightly larger but significantly more stupid looking dial with a rotation counter. Third party folks have made proper large dials that circumscribe the entire hopper with a decent 5:1 gearing, but slop in the threading still makes grind adjustment frustrating.
I think the Eurekas are grossly overpriced when new, and Eureka's approach in general (chassis retreads with new colors, no real acknowledgement of modern specialty roast profiles) is insulting. There are much better grinders in this price range (Timemores, Varia, Baratza, etc)
The Specialita is perfectly fine for commodity dark roasts. It is a reasonably well-executed - if overpriced - build of an old-fashioned design brief (hopper-fed weekly supply of beans, same beans week after week, rare adjustments of its crap grind size dial, chocolate and nuts in cup).
It is lamentable for lighter roasts, and for filter coffee of any sort. Eureka insists on an unusual burr size and proprietary mounting geometry, and then offers perversely few options for different burrs. This is slowly changing with some of their recent marketing around their “Black Diamond” series, but these are mainly for their higher end grinders.
If you do, in fact, enjoy or have curiosity about other roast levels/processing/brewing methods, the Specialita is probably not the best tool for exploration. The good news, is that a significant gain in clarity and performance in-cup can be had under USD$1,000.
The 64mm flat burr space is festooned with options at reasonable cost. A good grinder will act as a platform for you to try different burrs, with a robust build that has a reliable single dosing workflow. This means low retention, controlled static, and precise grind adjustment. In this price range, the Timemore 064S is a good option. Its humble stock burr is a good all rounder for all bean types and brewing methods. You can explore effectively with it, and then decide that you want more acidity with SSP MPs for example, or prefer rounded sweetness with funkier processes and opt for the SSP Cast Lab Sweets. LeBrew and others are also competing in this space with economical options, but I haven’t tried them.
The build of the Timemore is probably the best under $1,000, and benefits from modern niceties such as an augur, effective chute knocker, large front facing dial with minimal thread lash, and rpm control, which has quantifiable effect for some burr geometries. Burr swapping requires a bit of skill, but if you’re even a little mechanically inclined it’s straightforward enough.
I cannot recommend the DFs anymore because their manufacturing quality is wildly variable and their materials choices (especially for the grind adjustment collar threading) are dubious.
Above this range, returns in cup diminish rapidly; 80mm burrs have interesting high performance contenders, and availability was historically limited to the stratospherically priced EG1, or the commercial Dittings/Mahlkonigs. Far more accessibly priced platforms now exist in the Wug2, P80, and the imminent Zerno Z2. Are they worth it? Up to you, and most efficiently answered if you have a better sense of your own preferences. And those you can absolutely navigate with something like 064S and the plethora of 64mm burrs.
Beyond 80mm, differences erode even further and fall into esoterica of flavor preference or clinical analyses of species/roasting/production nuances.
Hope that helps
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Great value for espresso, but clogs and poor for pour-over.
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