Fellow Opus review: A coffee grinder that doubles as a showpiece

Relating to making espresso at residence, there are individuals who do it and there are people who find themselves obsessive about it. For many people, we will’t simply seize a bag of pre-ground swill from the grocery retailer and slap it in an auto-drip machine every morning. We’d like able to extracting the nuanced flavors out of your regionally roasted beans. And, should you’re like me, you want having the choice of no less than seven brewing strategies since you actually by no means know what you’ll be within the temper for. For true espresso lovers, a flexible grinder is a vital piece of the at-home setup.

Fellow has a confirmed observe file for well-designed, sturdy espresso gear. The corporate makes all the pieces from journey mugs to kettles, together with a grinder primarily designed to organize beans for pour-over. That first mannequin, , homes flat burrs able to 31 grind settings that may cowl AeroPress, French press, chilly brew and different brewing strategies too. Nonetheless, it’s not able to producing the advantageous grounds you want for espresso, and it was a dear $299 at launch (the corporate now sells it ).

Enter . Fellow’s is extra versatile than the Ode and can be utilized to prep beans for 9-bar espresso along with pour-over, French press, chilly brew and way more. It additionally has ten extra grind settings than the earlier mannequin and employs conical burrs to attain constant outcomes. Just like the Ode, the Opus has a magnetically-aligned catch cup outfitted with a spouted ring that helps maintain your counter clear, doing so with the help of Fellow’s anti-static expertise. Additionally like its predecessor, the Opus doesn’t have an enormous hopper to retailer beans on prime: it’s meant to be a single-dose machine the place you’ll be able to grind as much as 110 grams at a time. This protects area because the Opus is significantly shorter than a whole lot of the competitors. Plus, that design alternative offers the gadget a way more refined look than the everyday espresso grinder.

I’ve been utilizing the since I compiled for Engadget in 2019. In the event you take a ballot amongst skilled baristas, I’d wager the vast majority of them would inform you that’s the gold commonplace for at-home espresso grinders. And it’s for good motive: the Encore may be very versatile and has been producing constant high quality for years. It does have the large hopper up prime, whether or not you need to retailer your beans there or not. It’s loud, and since it pushes floor espresso into the catch from the aspect, there’s a whole lot of mess that finally ends up in your counter.

The Opus rapidly solved two of the problems I’ve with the Encore. First, it’s remarkably quiet. I can truly run the Opus at evening or early within the morning whereas my two-year-old remains to be asleep in a room close to the kitchen free from fear I’ll wake him. That’s not all the time the case with the Encore. Second, the Opus drops grounds straight down into the catch cup, leaving much less room for particles to flee. Fellow’s new grinder doesn’t have a knocker to scale back grind retention just like the Ode, but it surely doesn’t want one. Once I put in 70 grams of complete beans, I get 70 grams of floor espresso each time. It’s been so constant I not really feel the necessity to reweigh grounds to verify I’ve sufficient – an added step I undertook with the Encore. And once you’re grinding for espresso, Fellow has included an insert for the catch cup to make transferring small masses to a portafilter a a lot much less messy affair.

Fellow has additionally made the Opus very straightforward to make use of. A rotating ring close to the highest spins to regulate to your required coarseness. In the event you’re like me and neglect which setting to make use of for French press or pour-over, Fellow has printed a information contained in the lid of the bean chamber. No extra reaching for a pocket book or your telephone to Google, the main points you want will probably be proper there once you go to load complete beans.

Ease of use extends to the controls. There’s solely a single button you press to function the Opus: one press for 30 seconds, two for a minute and three for 90 seconds. It’s also possible to lengthy press the button for the grinder to run a full two minutes. In contrast to the Ode, the Opus doesn’t flip off when it senses all of the beans are floor. As a substitute, it runs till the chosen time runs out otherwise you mosey again to and press the button one last time. The dearth of auto-shutoff doesn’t hassle me although, because the Encore runs till you flip it off with no set time choices.

The Opus improves three issues for my each day espresso routine. It runs quietly and it retains my kitchen cleaner whereas producing constantly floor beans regardless of which setting I put it on. It additionally seems to be lots higher than the 2 espresso grinders I’ve used for any size of time, largely resulting from the truth that the dearth of a giant hopper makes it as a lot of a showpiece as a bit of brewing gear. , it’s considerably cheaper than the Ode however barely greater than the Encore. These few further {dollars} I’d gladly half with for clear counters, a toddler that sleeps just a few extra minutes and a touch of recent aptitude.

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