After the good fortune in their Sprudgie Award-winning pour-over-centric grinder, the Ode, Fellow has returned with a moment grinder possibility, this one with a extra multi-functional use in thoughts. Introducing the Opus, a pan-grinding possibility for the house person searching for a unmarried piece of substances to deal with anything else from coffee to chilly brew. Clocking in at an excessively pleasant sub-$200 worth level, the Opus is a trendy new addition to the introductory grinder marketplace, and it’s on pre-sale now.
Introduced at CES 2023 again in January, the Opus is 3 years within the making and is somewhat of a departure from the Ode, all whilst protecting a few of its key options and Fellow’s fashionable aesthetic intact. Whilst the Ode eager about a narrower grinding vary, the Opus makes an attempt to stay the touchdown at the all-in-one. To this finish, Fellow has moved clear of the flat burr setup in their earlier grinder and as a substitute opted for a 40mm conical burr.
“The broader grind vary appeals to all differing types and tastes of espresso and beverages whilst the benefit of use would possibly encourage espresso novices to discover an entire new global of espresso,” Fellow CEO Jake Miller tells Sprudge. “We wish extra other people fascinated by forte espresso and Opus, and an approachable worth, expectantly will get extra other people to get fascinated by the trade all of us love.”
The 41-step grinder levels from super-fine coffee the entire solution to coarse chilly brew whilst protecting key capability from the Ode, together with the magnetically aligned dosing cup and automated timed grinding.
Forward of its February twenty first release, we were given a possibility to take the Opus for a take a look at pressure, and it carried out admirably, particularly for the associated fee level. There’s numerous love about this grinder. Whilst the Opus can do all of it, it shines maximum brightly as an coffee grinder. Dosing used to be a breeze due to the espresso-specific lid attachment for the dosing cup, designed for a 58mm portafilter to suit snugly onto. Or even on my notoriously fickle and close to impossible-to-choke Rancilio Silvia, I had pictures operating into the 40-second vary, with clicks to spare if I had to pass finer for some reason why; there used to be an excellent quantity of headroom at the finer aspect, and as soon as dialed in, pictures had been impressively candy.
For pour-over, the whisper-quiet Opus once more labored rather neatly for the associated fee level. Grind measurement used to be normally constant and the espresso it produced used to be rather excellent, however because of the transfer to a conical burr, it did lag somewhat when in comparison to the output of the Ode (which is most likely an unfair comparability, given the associated fee and self-esteem of the 2).
In fact, there can be a couple of trade-offs with regards to efficiency. The Opus does take somewhat longer to grind, round 40 seconds for 50g of espresso. The unit I examined did have somewhat of static build-up, which made for somewhat of a large number now and then in addition to a dosing variance of a couple of tenths of a gram, give or take. That mentioned, none of those problems actually felt like deal breakers for what I used to be getting out of a sub-$200 grinder. I will be able to spare the additional few seconds to let it grind the entire espresso, and I discovered that in the event you grind the espresso a minute or two ahead of you need to make use of it, lots of the static will fritter away by way of then, and a couple of excellent knocks to the aspect of the grinder clears the chute rather neatly.
General, the Opus punches neatly above its weight as an introductory, all-in-one grinder. Whilst I’d most likely counsel somebody who best makes pour-over espresso to believe splurging at the Ode as a substitute, the Opus is a brilliant possibility for the ones on the cheap that love to dabble in clear out brewing and coffee. Or in the event you’re searching for a devoted coffee grinder however don’t need to shell out a groovy $1,000, the Opus is also simply what you’re searching for.
The Opus can be available to buy Tuesday, February twenty first for $195 from Fellow. For more info or to enroll to obtain signals in regards to the opus, consult with Fellow’s legitimate website online.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Community and a personnel creator primarily based in Dallas. Learn extra Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
All photographs by way of Fellow
