As someone who owns and likes A4Z I’m leaning towards suggesting A5 as an upgrade after Opus for two reasons:
1.) A5 has more complexity. Think of flat sounding and clinically revealing studio monitors made for analyzing music (A4Z with its clarity and flavor separation) vs something wonderfully accurate, less dryly clinical and more approachable to most people for enjoying coffee instead of analyzing it (A5 with its depth and complexity).
2.) A5 can also grind for espresso making it a more direct upgrade to Opus.
Ode Gen 2 is okay but most appropriately valued when on sale.
Ode Gen 2 w/SSP MP is not worth the current retail price.
DF64 Gen 2.5 has to be mentioned.
Timemore 064/064s
Spend $100 more and get a Femobook A4Z or A5 if you only do pourover.
If you also do batch brew, you have to keep in mind that you’ll need to grind 2-3x to get enough (e.g. 70-80g for a Moccamaster full pot) with the Femobook grinders. But if you’re willing to do that, it’s fine.
Ode catch cup holds a lot. Like I grind 75g into mine daily and there’s still room. And that’s an advantage.
The A5 can also grind for boomer spro. Ode & A4Z can really only do turbo/fast flow/soup shots.
Femobook grinders seem to be well liked so far. I just bought an A5 which is "equivalent" to a K-Ultra. So far so good - it takes up a tiny amount of space and the pourover has been good! I'll be testing it with espresso once I get my Argos in a few months.
Also plugging the A5. He is surprisingly critical of the A5 in that review, given that it's pretty much the exact same grinder, just a burr difference.
I bought the A5 because I didn't want to hand grind lighter roast espresso, and I wanted something a little brighter for pourover than the J-Plus I was using. A4Z was too pourover specific for me.
I really, really like it. Definitely a bit more clarity than the J-Plus on pourover but I don't find it to be too punishing on really funky coffees. The form factor is nice, it's super slim and the battery lasts long enough that there is zero reason that you need to park it by an outlet.
I typically get several weeks out of a charge when doing a single 20g pourover dose and sometimes an extra 18g espresso dose per day. Those are more rare but I'll probably be doing more espresso in a few months when I get my Argos.
I like it, I just don't have many points of comparison. I've gone from a Timemore Chestnut -> 1zpresso J-Max -> A5.
It's been pretty easy to dial in. Good flavor, have been on a kick of very funky coffees so I may not have the best comparison of how clear it is vs the J-Max, but it has been at least somewhat noticeable!
Top Electric Coffee Grinders on Reddit
1
Multiple Brands
DF54 Series
79% positive of 384 users
Great value for espresso, but clogs and poor for pour-over.
Appropriate-Big9749
