I have a Hausgrind and a Feldgrind that I was using to hand grind for espresso. Believe me, hand grinding for espresso for yourself gets real old real quick. If you are making espresso for more than yourself even worse.

The Solo seems to be a good grinder. I would opt for it myself.

 

I have a Hausgrind and a Feldgrind that I was using to hand grind for espresso. Believe me, hand grinding for espresso for yourself gets real old real quick. If you are making espresso for more than yourself even worse.

The Solo seems to be a good grinder. I would opt for it myself.

A good hand grinder grinds about 20gr in 30 seconds, more or less, while the Solo does it in 20 seconds, these 10 seconds would be the only difference? I have always been curious about the real differences between the manual grinder and Niche or Eureka or other domestic electric grinder.

 

How fast would you have to grind manually to do it in 30 seconds? I've used an admittedly cheap hand grinder but to get near an espresso grind it was minutes not seconds.

 

@Dusk probably due to the size of the burrs. My Pharos with Robur burrs is faster than my Lido E was, both 30 seconds or less easily.

@Chrisbriton It might not be much of an upgrade if it is one at all. It's conical to flat. The hand grinder will probably be very good as I found my Lido to be just a step down from the Pharos which is around the same as the Niche. The 64mm flat will be different to the 47mm conical and you might prefer it but If I were using it I'd probably find it difficult to say which one of the two was better just as I find it difficult to pick between an 83mm flat and 63mm conical.

 

I haven't replaced my broken espresso machine yet.

I have a JX Pro. I do 3 types of grind and coffee sizes

1) 24-28 g at 1.8 turns (just above the top of the espresso grind). It takes me 37-45 secs.

2) 18g, 1.6, ~30s

3) 12-13g, 1.6, <20s

4) 18g, 3.0, <20s

5) I have done 18-20g at 1.3-1.4 in <36s.

I make 6-7 coffees a day and I actually like hand grinding. I plan to hand grind when I purchase my espresso machine and see how I get on.

Electric grinder is a great convenience especially if you are going to make a lot of espressos and/or when friends/family come over. I am sure one of the friend's/family members would not mind giving a helping hand, if required.

It's a choice between convenience, cost and if one would enjoy hand grinding.

 

Ended up going for the solo grinder Bianca package with some discount from Bella barista . Will be interesting to compare