Fellow - Opus

I have a fellow opus and baratza vario. Although I like the vario, it’s just so loud. The fellow has a nice fit and finish to it.

Flat burrs seem to bring out the fruit notes more. I have an opus, ceado, and vario.

🤣🤣 after a while I learned to recognize the difference. To me, I taste much more sweetness on the flat burrs.

I'd reccomended against the Fellow opus, I became so frustrated with the retention that I went to a hand grinder and haven't looked back

I got the Fellow Opus, but that seems more geared towards pour-over coffee. It is capable of doing espresso as well; however, dialing in the coffee is finicky. The other one, which is similarly priced, would be the Baratza Encore ESP, which is made especially for espresso. James Hoffman recently made a video regarding coffee grinders in this range. You may want to check that on YouTube as well.

OMG, why is this app not on the official Opus website? It should be. Thank you so much. This is going to make my life much easier! (But that kind of proves the point that you need an app and to take off the hopper to actually dial in, rather than just moving the dial one tick to the right or left) Also, I must be doing something wrong because nothing seems to be helping with retention.

Honestly, I went from a hand grinder to the Opus Gen 2 and can't imagine going back. Weigh beans, feed, press button, and in a matter of seconds, it's done. And I think generally at a lower decibel level. Have tried using hand grinder on certain days but don't feel the pull to alternate. It's one of few quality-of-life upgrades that I'm glad I made.

People keep saying it’s finicky but literally all you have to do is download the Beanie app and it’s brainless. A little annoying to take the hopper off while dialing in but otherwise great. And I’ve found that using the RDT fixes most of the retention issues

Yeah I just happened to read about the app in another thread, of all the videos I’ve watched on the Opus I think I heard Lance Hedrick mention like once in passing in one of his videos. Otherwise no one seems to mention it and I find it to be basically required! I use a bit of water on a spoon, mix the beans, and then give the machine about 10-12 solid slaps on the lid when it’s done. I’ve found that usually gets most of it. Not super hard slaps but firm enough to knock out the remainder. It doesn’t feel great and I’m probably shortening the life of the machine at least a little bit I get all my coffee out lol.

Gave the Fellow Opus a Go, got it on sale @170. Seems to be a jack of all trades but especially good at filtered coffee which is what I want it for. Tried it out already and it seems pretty good. Biggest drawback is retention.

I’ve been impressed with my Fellow Opus. A lot quieter than my previous electric burr grinder. Seems to be very consistent and easy to use.

My budget espresso startup choices included a $75 hand grinder. It is a great grinder. But it’s also retired now. After 9 months I was just done! The Fellow Opus is my grinding delight now.

I love my Fellow Opus.

The Fellow Opus grinder is excellent. We spent a few days going to different roasters and coffee shops to find a good bean we both liked. Then experiment with grind size to find the perfect brew. Enjoy!

Can confirm. I have had both of these for a couple of years. I mostly do Americano's and lattes. I wanted to experiment with "dialing in", but even at the finest setting, the Breville is too coarse, IMO. I just got the Fellows Opus and used it for the first time this morning. It can get much finer than the Breville and is more convenient to use for dialing in if you primarily fill the hopper in the Breville. The Bambino Plus makes really awesome steamed milk completely automatically. I bought it because of that feature. If you won't be making steamed milk, get the non-Plus version and put the money into a better grinder or other accessories, like a scale with 0.1g resolution or a bottomless portafilter. If I eventually decide to get a different machine, I will probably keep the Bambino Plus because of how easy it is to make steamed milk. The Bambino Plus is good enough for dialing in, and is I think better suited to "setting and forgetting" over something like the Gaggia Classic. Once you dial in a new bag, and have your puck prep consistent, you are done experimenting for that bag.