Opus

If I may, I would definitely recommend a Breville in your case. Being a beginner, the assisted features on these machines can be really helpful for you. A Gaggia is well-built, but unless you're willing to modify it, I would take a Breville every day. Also, a starter machine for $1,000 seems a bit too much, assuming that you don't have a decent grinder. I would really recommend that you put that money—or the larger part of it—into a decent grinder rather than an espresso machine. I would recommend an Ascaso H64 or a Timemore Sculptor; each of them is well-built, but you would have an easier time dialing in with the Ascaso as a beginner. Other cheaper options would be for a Turin grinder but i'm not so familial with them and i think that for this budget you can get something beyond what they offer. After that, with whatever money you have left, you should be able to buy at least a used Breville Bambino, or maybe even a Bambino Plus to help you with milk steaming. But remember one thing: a machine is just a pump that pushes water at 9 bars of pressure, and that's it (ofc there's more to it but this right here is all you need to make very good espresso anything more like pressure profiling, temp control and the rest are for what lays beyond that) . When you get into making espresso at home, you should focus way more on your beans, water, and grinder. Hope this helps!

Fellow grinders don't fare that well with espresso. The Opus Gen 1, for the price, really isn't that great and can struggle with retention or consistency. As for the Ode, it's a really good grinder, but the dial just isn't suited for espresso. Even with SSP burrs, you won't be able to dial in very well, not to mention the decreased lifespan of the motor under those loads. Don't get me wrong, I know how well it performs for the application you're using it for, but it's just not granular enough for the task at hand. With your current setup, if you want to get into making espresso, I would recommend selling the Fellow grinder and putting the money toward a better grinder that would give you the option for both espresso and filter coffee. If you get a Bambino Plus, I would recommend at least buying a Baratza Encore ESP. If you can afford more, then look into a DF54 or DF64; a bit more than that, and you fall into the category of my first response. Hope this helps!

Baratza and Opus often can be found for that much. Or get an X-Ultra

Just a lot of retention with the Opus.

I’ve had my Opus for close to a year and X-ultra a tad longer. Love the X-ultra but I only use it for pour over so it’s always easy to make small adjustments. The Opus is easy as well in that way but I like to keep it at my espresso setting and occasionally aeropress.

I’ve got the X-Ultra with the folding handle. Love it but I only use it for pour over. Hard to see the dial and annoying to change it if you make different types of coffee everyday. I use the Opus for espresso (which I commented about and don’t love).

I would skip the Opus. I bought the bellows that you can put on top and still get a mess and lots of retention. Sure it looks cool at first but the white one will show loose grinds all the time. Also it’s plastic and suppose it may last but I always have to smack on the side and underneath to get more grinds out. Might get a DF54. Saw one in a kitchen and it did look nice.

Don’t even get me started! lol.

I own a MiCoffee/Turin CF64v (DF64 cousin), others, but no K-Ultra. In comparisons to the Opus One & the KinGrinder K6, if the chute is clean so the antistatic works, with a Columbian light-medium roast, at a setting of 60 (I zeroed out my CF64v to eliminate the float below 0), I distinctly tasted more clarity in the cup using a 15g, 3 pour, 3min total recipe (See Lance’s new fav universal pour over method). This clearly seems to be a case of “I like what I like, you like what you like”, because the comments do fanboy over the 1Zspresso grinders. I too plan to pick up a ZP6 at the WoC in June, so I may soon find religion as well.

Opus 2 has been great the last few days the 1 has been my work horse for the Aiden and the Ode 2 is great for pourover to. For $200 bucks you can’t go wrong with the opus gen 2 and for $400 same with the Ode gen 2. But if you ever want to venture in to espresso the opus gen 2 is it. It will get a lot of heat on here but it’s only 200 bucks. And it’s the first of three grinders. I’ve actually been able to dial in my shot on.

Opus 1 and 2 are all purpose grinders. Opus 2 is leaps and bounds ahead of the 1. This is my home set up I have both, the 1 is for my Aiden. My ode 2 is in my office for pour overs. The opus 2 I keep set for espresso. https://preview.redd.it/juv34ed5rbzg1.jpeg?width=5031&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e6267fe53125937d40ba591604cace224f90efbb

don’t get tricked into thinking you need a $900 grinder unless you’re chasing micro-adjust god mode(we see and we dont judge lol). what actually matters is burr alignment and how easy it is to dial between brew types. ig for middle zone id recc the opus one, true conical burrs, 41 clicks, and the grind retention’s low enough that switching from espresso to v60 doesn’t feel likehell. not perfect, but for everyday espresso and pour-over its way more than enough

You only have 1 choice out if these .. the opus is the only one that will grind fine enough for espresso The ode is for drip and pour over

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