Like I mentioned before, if I were to choose an electric grinder from a thousand dollar selection, I think the choices would be very limited. If you want to make espresso, forget about grinding by hand. Usually, the electric grinder will also have a chance of getting the beans stuck and unable to grind the beans. So when Fellow OPUS was launched, I thought the price was pretty good, but only if you are sure you want to drink espresso. If you are just a hand-brewed coffee lover, I suggest you buy Ode gen 2 directly or look at other brands for good choices.
So after knowing that the price of this coffee machine is about HKD$1900, I think it is very aggressive and can make good coffee. Let’s talk about hand brewing first. After trying it for about two weeks, I feel that the effect of hand brewing is not very good because the coffee powder will have a lot of fine powder and residual powder, and the grinding degree is not very uniform. But on the contrary, the effect of Italian style is better, so the effect of this machine surprises me.
If I were to briefly describe this experience, I would say it was like an electric bean machine that " believes young people can overcome this problem ."
The appearance is not too plastic-looking, which is acceptable.
Let's start with the appearance. For most people, the plastic material of the case is the most concerning aspect. I think realistically this shell is acceptable. It's not as resin/plastic-like as we thought. If the light in your home is not very strong, I actually think it is not much different from the metal powder container under the Fellow Ode grinder, but it can only be seen from a very close distance. I think it is The appearance is no worse than we imagined.
Grinding coffee beans will result in a more uneven pour-over coffee.
Regarding grinding beans, if you decide to buy a hand grinder, I would advise you to choose a hand grinder, or look at an electric grinder specifically for hand grinders, or even buy a Fellow Ode grinder etc. I have tried hard to make hand punches, and found the following three major problems: First, the grinding degree is uneven, and the uneven thickness is a bigger defect than imagined. Second, based on the first point, it has a lot of fine powder. The larger the thickness, the more fine powder.
Based on the first and second points, since it is a straight design, a lot of fine powder will get stuck near the cutterhead. Although it has been mentioned that the outer cutterhead can be completely removed (super convenient), if you want to clean the tapered inner cutterhead, it is easy to disassemble and difficult to install due to design issues. Once you decide to clean the inner cutterhead, be prepared to spend an hour cleaning and assembling it (with some luck and hoping the screws fit into the center of the shaft just right).
So the third problem is that you can't actually clean the fine powder, so if you want the flavor of hand brewing to be very clean, you will find that because it is difficult to clean, other small flavors are sometimes mixed in. But overall it's acceptable.
The overall emphasis on uniformity when grinding Italian coffee is particularly prominent.
Compared with grinding Italian scale, I think the overall strength will be much higher. The third point above has been mentioned. The whole point is that the finer the grinding degree, the fine powder will be reduced, but the problem of the third point still exists. But maybe because of my experience with milk coffee/Espresso, my acceptance level will be much higher.
First of all, the power of this grinder is very powerful, and there has been no jamming of beans yet. If this price is compared with other similarly priced grinders, beans may get stuck occasionally. If beans get stuck... Congratulations, you will have a long process of cleaning the grinder. . Compared to grinding Espresso by hand, using an electric coffee grinder is really much more comfortable. At least it doesn’t take 3-4 minutes to grind every morning.
Sometimes I want to try other new beans, but adjusting the grind takes time. If you have to use a manual grinder to grind beans every time, the user experience will be very poor, because your hands will easily tire (I used to grind them ten times a day... my hands were almost exhausted...). Therefore, using this grinder can provide enough power to grind beans, and the stability is very good. The above conditions are necessary to grind Espresso to a fineness.
The grinding degree will not be uneven, but there is a significant difference compared with hand grinding. I tried using Flair 58/Lelit Mara
Another point is the noise when coffee is ground. Because this coffee grinder has enough horsepower, its sound insulation effect is slightly worse. However, it does get louder when grinding beans. But I found that it can grind 18 grams of espresso in about 20-30 seconds, which is acceptable if you only tolerate the noise for a short period of time.
The third point is the situation of food powder. I think this is relatively common. I put about 18.5 grams of powder in my coffee at a time and it usually comes out to 17.8-18 grams. Of course I've tried using a blow off or dab machine but it always eats the powder. But you ask me whether this will affect my experience? I personally think this is acceptable. At least after grinding the powder, it can really produce coffee. After the powder is pressed, the coffee column is also very stable.
Fellow OPUS electric coffee grinder summary
The above is the result of using it for about two weeks. During this time we drank 15-16 cups of coffee. I think this coffee machine is suitable for beginners. If you have a limited budget and don’t want to spend too much money on an advanced model, this is definitely a very good choice.
Although some of the above sharing may think that I am not satisfied with the performance of this machine, but I compared it with the Niche Zero, which is 3-4 times more expensive. Overall, this coffee maker at least does most of the work. Of course, the flavor of coffee machines at different price points will also be different, but at this price point, I think this coffee machine is very worth buying. At only HKD$1,900 less, you can buy an Italian/hand brewing electric grinder. , the price/performance ratio is indeed very high. , very willing to accept.
If you have searched for the price of an electric grinder for making espresso coffee, you will find that the price is at least HKD$3,000 or more. Now that this coffee grinder is on sale for nearly half its original price, I think it’s worth a try. Of course, if you already have a higher-end grinder, there is no need to buy this one for experimentation. But if you want to try making espresso, this grinder is affordable and not too expensive. I believe it will be your good friend.
Nothing special at the moment. Finally, thank you @songpo.hk @fellow.taiwan for the cooperation invitation. That’s it for now, my honest bean paste bun sharing, that’s it!
Hong Kong agent website: Fellow & Origami Hong Kong official website (song-po.com)
Grinder: Fellow Opus conical burr grinder
Dimensions: 210mm x 192mm x 269mm
Applicable to: Italian coffee
Grinding range: <200 microns and above
Grind setting: 41 steps + micro adjustment
Blade: 40mm cone-shaped stainless steel blade
Rotational speed of the blade: 350 RPM
Antistatic technology: supported
Bean bin capacity: 110g
Brewing methods: Italian espresso, Aeropress, pour-over, home coffee machine, French press
Cold brew, cupping.
