Fellow - Aiden Precision Coffee Maker

Fellow Aiden is pricey but dead simple to change for any coffee amounts. You enter in the sweet spot for coffee to water ratio for your particular brand of coffee and then the next time you just dial in the number of cups you want and it tells you how many grams of coffee to add and it consumes the right amount of water automatically. And its bloom mode is awesome.

I've had my Aiden for just over a month now. Generally, I think this is a great review but I hope /u/kingseven goes into some more detail on a few areas. **Things I agreed with:** - The circle screen and single button is not fit for purpose - It is capable of making great coffee - I'm maybe not getting the most out of it right now - The build quality isn't as bad as I worried it might be from other reviews. I think Aiden will do a studio version addressing this feedback at a higher price point but I won't be upgrading personally. **Things I learnt:** - That chart with extraction was massively helpful to me personally as somebody who is very likely grinding too fine (@10 on Timemore Sculpture 078s). I've been getting inconsistent cups. - About the strength gradient. I typically do up to 3 cups so I'm not sure this is so big of an issue and will give it a swirl. - I need to try some other profiles with longer brew times. **Things I didn't agree with:** - The "ready" screen is just about the ONLY bit of UI that does look lovely on a round screen. Fully agree everything else doesn't work - I know mobile isn't for everyone but we all have devices with great high-quality screens and great touch controls. For the type of data you are entering here this will always have the potential to be a far better input mechanism than what they could build into the product. They just need to extend it. - Everybody will have their own perspective but I fill the water-tank from a jug everyday and have at no point felt frustrated. **Things I think this missed:** - I'd love more in-depth look over the two different baskets and how each performs. - I'd love some more guidance on the grind level. - The screen angle sucks. It points directly forward, it would be great if it also pointed up a bit. - I know it's covered in other reviews but I hate the dripping with the lid and the mess it makes. - I've not had first-hand experience but I've seen others report issues with the machine (water empty when it's not) and not so great support from Fellow that I think warranted a small mention. **Other thoughts:** - ⭐ Fellow should add another button but for models already out there I really hope they allow long-press (1-2s) to work as a back action. - The heat retention of the carafe hasn't been an issue for me personally but I am mostly brewing on-demand.

A Moccamaster has remained in an elite tier of coffee machines for a long time for a reason; it makes really good coffee...though if I were OP and deadset on buying one, I'd get one with an insulated carafe, rather than one with a glass carafe on a hot plate. But best non espresso coffee bar none is a bold claim. With admittedly more work, doing a pour over (or sometimes french press, depending on what sort of beans I had and what I was trying to get from them), I could pretty consistently get coffee that was better than what a Moccamaster could do, and although I have plenty of experience and might be a bit better than average, I don't think I'm particularly excellent at pour overs (I do think my french press technique is better than most, but that's a whole different conversation...). Now, however, I've got a Fellow Aiden and have had to grudgingly concede that the machine can make coffee just as well--if not better in many instances--than I could. But I've only had the Aiden for \~6 months, so we'll see if its longevity can match a Moccamaster; it's certainly more fiddly and thus with more potential failure points than a Moccamaster.

Yall coffee people don't know a normal day in life for sure. OP wants a good, simple, automatic and programmable brewing method, and yall blast him with your v60s and chemex. Im sure OP loves a nice espresso or a rich cup from a french press, but when you're in a rush to work cause your alarm didn't go off, or you have 4 kids to take care of in the morning, you don't have 5-10 minutes to make that fuzz for a coffee. He surely knows there are better methods, but for the average working person, a drip coffee it's all you need during a week workday. So, answering your question, my brother in Christ, you didn't gave us a budget, so I will assume that's not a problem for you. My recommendation has to be the Fellow Aiden Precision Coffee Maker. It's a little pricey at $400, but I swear to God it's worth every penny. Check the video from James, he covers it all. His complaints from the machine are outrageous to me lol, but he is more picky. I have one and I love it, my life and my coffee improved substantially.

most of that list is fine for casual coffee drinkers but if we’re being honest, the only two worth talking about are the moccamaster and the fellow aiden. the moccamaster has been the gold standard for decades, built like a tank and dead simple, but it’s old school as in no scheduling, no fancy bloom programming, just hot water at the right temp and consistency. the fellow is the one that actually pushed drip brewers forward. precise control over temp, adjustable bloom, batch vs single-cup modes, proper thermal carafe that doesn’t ruin flavor after an hour. it’s the first smart machine that isn’t gimmicky. one thing that matters more than most people realize is the grinder. you can drop a few hundred on a brewer but if your grind is inconsistent, the cup will always taste flat or muddy. a [good gevi](https://noxohub.github.io/radar/?q=OXU44898) grinder paired with something like the fellow is where you actually notice the difference, even cheap beans taste cleaner when the grind is uniform. everything else on that list has compromises, oo plasticky, temp swings, or designed for versatility at the cost of straight drip quality. if the question is best drip coffee maker right now, it’s between those two, and i’d lean fellow just because it nails modern features without screwing up the fundamentals.

Honestly? Something like a Cuisinart or Breville or Ninja is just fine for her. A Moccamaster or an Aiden are absurd, terrible recommendations for someone who doesn't care that much about coffee, lol. That's like buying a Pappy Van Winkle for someone who only drinks Bud Light, or a Traeger for a vegetarian. If they aren't into coffee, they're not gonna care about "SCA certified" or any of that quality stuff. In fact, they probably care more about how it looks, how fast it brews coffee, and maybe some of the other bells and whistles attached like a programmable timer. Don't spend money on something that's purely built for quality coffee; spend on the features instead.

Breville Precision brewer and Fellow Aiden allow you to tweak a lot. But the Moccamaster quietly and easily delivers good brews.

The same basket and shower screen that works for doses of 40 to 100g won’t work well for smaller doses. That’s why it switches to steep and release for smaller doses. The Aiden switches baskets and shower patterns based on the size of the dose.

Yes, the Aiden is great if you want to tweak a bunch of factors, the MoccaMaster is dead simple and will outlast the Aiden by a decade or more.

Ok so I have some experience here. I've owned 2 different Bonavita, and Oxo 9 cup, Oxo 8 cup, Moccamaster KBGT, and finally a Fellow Aiden. If you are looking for the very best coffee maker for what you get in the cup as black coffee, then of those all that is hands down the Aiden. However, for all the technical wizardry it has, it is mostly plastic, so longevity is a definite unknown. Of the other ones, Oxo has the best warranty in practice, and Technivorm has the best warranty on paper. Technivorm does not warranty their carafes at all - if it breaks, you are out $80+ shipping to replace it. This is even if it breaks due to a manufacturing flaw or some other reason. Oxo on the other hand replaced my carafe for free on my Oxo 9 cup 3 times - over time it would lose the vacuum, and would get hot to the touch. The coffee maker was 6+ years old the last time - long out of warranty, but they still replaced the carafe. The Oxo 9 cup is the best all around of the coffee makers I had before the Aiden. While it is tall, it made excellent coffee, and was programmable if you wanted to use that. It requires no stirring of the coffee while it is brewing. I cannot say the same with the Technivorm. While the Moccamaster does make excellent coffee, it is more hands-on to get the best out of it because of their dumb design for the shower bar. Ground saturation is an issue - I usually stirred everything after about 1 minute of brewing. The bar also feels like it is just a bit too short - most of the water doesn't fall in the center but rather closer to the back. The Bonavita coffee makers work well, and are smaller. My old one died for no reason that I could determine after a few years. The ones made now though are technically a different company - that original company went bankrupt. The Oxo 8 cup was an absolute disaster - no idea how that thing got the praise that it does from some reviewers. It always had to be stirred or half the coffee would never even get wet. I hated it. Overall from a BIFL perspective, the TV Moccamaster is likely the top candidate. They do just work for a long time, usually. Make sure to buy it from an authorized retailer and keep your proof of purchase if you need warranty service. If you buy one with a thermal carafe - baby it. They changed from being all stainless and basically unbreakable to being glass lined a couple years ago. It may keep coffee hotter but the carafes are very delicate and prone to breaking.

As a counterpoint - I have owned 2 bonavita machines, an Oxo 9 cup, Oxo 8 cup, and a Technivorm KBGT. With all except the Bonavita (since they had moved on) I had used the same K6 grinder. The Aiden makes noticeably better coffee than all the rest of them, and does better than when I brew V60 too. V60 is obviously a more enjoyable process if that is what you are into, but I have three kids I'm trying to get ready in the morning. As with all of this, it only matters if you are drinking your coffee black. I've found the need to add that caveat when discussing machine differences. Also, no, you can't get good coffee out of a Mr. Coffee. I've tried when I was on vacation and brought my grinder, but wanted to make a larger pot of coffee for multiple people. It sucked.

Or you use the single basket and put your own mug there to catch it. I've made maybe 5 batch brews and 80 single cups on my aiden.

The Aiden is my favorite coffee maker ever, and I have owned quite a few (Melitta Clarity, 2 Bonavita, Oxo 9 cup, Oxo 8 cup, and Technivorm KGBT). It excels at both single cup and batch brew. There is an issue with the flow meter getting clogged but Fellow is very good about supporting it and replacing the machine if this happens.

I bought an Aiden, and have never made a pourover again. I use the single basket 95% of the time, and have done approximately 400 brews.

Set up your Aiden with the correct instant brew parameters and it's set and forget as well.

What machines fill this criteria? Because I haven't found one that is cheaper that doesn't have a "one size fits all" brew method. I've owned 2 Bonavita, the Oxo 9 cup, Oxo 8 cup, and a Technivorm KBGT. The Aiden is superior to all of them in terms of what I get in the cup. But most of the time I have been using just the basic light and medium profiles. And if you use the same coffee and a different profile you absolutely get a different product in the cup. I don't think the price point is hard to justify, because there isn't another brewer in this price range that is anywhere near as capable.

I had one for about a year and determined it was my brew size. It's way easier to get a great tasting batch when your making 500+ ml than 1 or 2 cups (which was my normal use case). I ended up getting rid of it and getting an Aiden and I'm much much happier. Even brewing a single cup I can get a great tasting one basically every time.