# Question for Former Owners of SGP



## dutchy101 (Jun 12, 2020)

So, I have a question for former owners of the SGP who have gone on to purchase different grinders. I appreciate on the forum the SGP isn't looked upon as the best grinder. I have had mine now since June and truth be told, I think it is a great little grinder for the money.

I have my grinder paired with a Bambino and I'm in the process of eyeing up the new Solo grinder. I like the appeal of a single dosing grinder for the ease of changing up coffee beans throughout the day and I recall my time researching on this forum almost a year ago when deciding upon my first setup and seeing so much hype about the Niche.

I loved the idea of the Niche but the outlay was just too much for me at to consider at the time when I was literally only dipping my toe into home espresso (milk based drinks).

Fast forward to now. I'm confident in my own ability to make good quality coffee at home. My puck prep is great - with a naked portafilter I can see this and in the cup I'm getting coffee I really enjoy.

But....how much better could it be? In my mind, I think I've already made my decision - more so based on the fact that a single dosing grinder gives me better options for switching beans as and when I choose and opens up the option of a later than 2pm coffee (decaf).

Before I pull the trigger, what I'm interested to know from former SGP owners is, how much better does the grinder upgrade make to the coffee? Obviously it's the user not just the grinder at play here but I'm paarticularly interesred in the opinion of former SGP owners who can directly comment on the difference they feel that a higher end grinder gave them.


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

I've owned a SGP from which I moved to a Brasilia RR45OD from which I moved to a Eureka Mignon XL. Each move was to better burrs and better, more complex shots of espresso. That is while there were improvements in speed and quality of the grounds, the only real measure that matters is the taste of the espresso and on that matter I am sure of improvement in flavour.

The SGP was handy for brewed but ultimately it was just not up to the mark for espresso.


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## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

In short, a lot better. Taste balance, grind consistency from cup to cup, ability to grind fine enough for lighter roasts are the main ones for me.


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

I've used and made coffee with a SGP, 64mmm modern Ceado, Profitec, Mazzer Robur. Mazzer Mini and a Niche. The ones I have made lots of drinks with were the SGP, Mazzer Mini and now the Niche. Odd selection mainly because at some point I want to make my own and can. They are strange things. The Robur was an on going project to convert for weighing in. Never used like that as bought a Niche instead.

SGP. One person who drinks plenty of coffee and has plenty of experience summed it up well IMHO. Very convenient and what it does in the cup is interesting. That doesn't mean bad. One thing it has to do is grind rather fine for brewing up to 16bar without chucking loads of fines out and it does after the burrs have been used for a while. I know some people have used it with lighter roasts but I didn't only medium and dark. I also found it ok for weighing in bu it takes time to settle and that is lost each time it's cleaned and some beans might cause it problems. Only one I used which is incredibly oily. Only minimal cleaning is needed really when beans are changed. So you might say that at it's price point it would be pretty easy to do worse especially with small conical burrs.

Mazzer Mini. Moves to the area where several kg are needed to season the burrs. Even 2 helps, cheap beans and throw them away. Almost anything can be used. !kg bags off Amazon. Weighing in mods means that it takes longer to grind beans. Brushes are needed. Taste starts getting tricky. I would say it was a bit easier to achieve notes but adjusting grind setting by small amounts is not easy. Much the same with nearly all Mazzer and commercial grinders. Worm wheel adjustment helps. No light roasts on this one either.

Taste is tricky because tuning a bean alters it. Even the machine that is used can. On flat burrs people will tell you what you want is big ones not 64mm. On the mini some will say fit super jolly burrs, much better.  I take that with a pinch of salt. The most important thing is probably that the burrs are run in and they and the grinder are not worn out. Burrs can not be run in that quickly as the motor may overheat.

Then Niche. I have used light roast on that without any problem but only after it had ground a lot of coffee. I didn't try earlier. Like all beans they needed tuning to get the taste they should have. A different grinder is likely to need different tuning. I mostly drink the same bean all of the time and buy others for a change. On this particular bean I now grind a lot finer than I did when it first arrived. A clear indication that grind size distribution has changed. My initial taste impressions when it first arrived was too fierce. Many reported amazing coffee when theirs arrived. Also some that like me found the dose of grinds needed reducing a bit  even stronger taste. The fierceness drops fairly quickly with the bean I used and could differ with others but brand new burrs are expected to do that sort of thing.

 So SGP to Niche I would say yes taking an over all view. It's a better place to dump £500 for weighing in. You still have convenience, small size and tiny adjustments are very easy to make. Coffee should be better but may not be initially. You will probably need different tuning. The bean I use needs very fine grinding and it copes. I doubt if my SGP would have done with beans from the supplier that I use now. It would clog up. It generates some static but static clumps are not a problem really. It takes some practice to make good use of the grinds cup. Ideally grinds need to be flatish and level when they finish up in the portafilter. Very gentle use of a finger or thumb can be used to level them out. All all good value for £500 and weighing out. Maybe a Mazzer Royal would be better but huge, inconvenient and in real terms given tuning there is only one way to find out. Longevity - probably wont match heavy duty commercial grinders but it should be unlikely to matter for home use. New burrs are highly unlikely to be needed. Other parts should be available if needed. I wouldn't say it's 100% perfect but what is? There are a couple of things I would change. Minor in some ways.

Brand new cheaper, somewhat, kids on the block. I would say not at the moment. It's clearly intended to bring back sales that Niche has grabbed. It takes a fair amount of use to find out what a grinder is really like.


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## General-S-1 (Jul 27, 2015)

@ajohn thanks for taking the time to reply. Can i ask what do you mean by bean tuning? Thanks again


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## dutchy101 (Jun 12, 2020)

Thanks for the responses guys - very interesting and food for thought. I may decide to wait a little for some others to road-test the Solo before pulling the trigger. I am not in any immediate rush.


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

In short what ratio of grinds in to shot out weight is used and the time take for the shot to pull. They change taste. This is often mentioned in terms of ratio must be 1 to 2 in 30sec but some might say 25 and that if that isn't met the drink will be either over or under extracted. In practice I find that the numbers used need to be found that suite the bean and even the person who is drinking it. Then comes the taste the bean is supposed to have.

What better grinders tend to do is produce a more even / espresso suitable range and quantity of different grind sizes. That too can change taste. The worst one is too high a level of what are called fines - very very small ones that extract more due to that. They can make a drink rather fierce but none of the grinders I have used show excessive signs of that but may when brand new. They may also clump grinds more when they are like that.


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## MarkHB (Jun 12, 2020)

I upgraded to the Niche. It's difficult to say just how big a difference it has made to the flavour without comparing them side by side. I had some lovely coffees out of the SGP which I'm sure I could compare to anything I've had out of the Niche. The big difference I have found is in the consistency at which I'm able to reproduce the flavour I'm looking for.

I found as soon as I got the Niche that I was able to make coffee that I enjoyed at a far more consistent rate. I constantly am able to move between french press and espresso grind while maintaining the flavour I want.

Another thing to note is that I didn't enjoy the flavour of french press coffee from the SGP. There was always a dirty sort of flavour; but I wonder if that could have been fixed if I had been using the James Hoffmann method at the time.

With all that said, the main value of the Niche for me isn't in the flavour it produces as all the well known grinders in this price bracket are going to give good flavour. The main value for me is all the other things the Niche just does right with no fuss.


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