Fellow Series 1 Espresso Machine Review (2026): Excellent, but a Work in Progress

Beautiful somesthesia consistency and accelerated heat-up. Beautiful successful general. More espresso changeable options than I ever knew existed. Excellent steam wand. Excellent machining successful general.

Water vessel requires precocious overhead to remove. Shot measurement not ever precise. Water dispensing relation needs work. App is inactive successful progress.

There aren't a batch of crippled changers among espresso machines. But aft investigating the Fellow Series 1 for 3 weeks, I consciousness assured successful saying that it volition astir surely alteration the speech astir what a location espresso instrumentality is expected to do.

For decades, astir location espresso makers person aimed astatine mostly the aforesaid goal: a accordant somesthesia and a accordant 9 bars of pressure, delivered with precision and reliability. Nine bars is, aft all, the accepted perfect of an espresso shot. According to fashionable imagination, this was the unit that baristas were capable to exert backmost erstwhile espresso was pulled manually with spring-loaded levers. It was besides the unit chosen for the archetypal electric-pump espresso instrumentality from Faema, successful 1961.

But there's nary peculiar magic to this number, particularly not for mean and lighter roasts. The brand-new Fellow Series 1 Espresso machine, which began shipping this week, seems consenting to permission this normal behind. The Series 1 volition inactive marque you a accepted 9-bar shot, if that's what you want. But dissimilar immoderate accessibly priced location espresso instrumentality I've tested, Fellow's instrumentality lets location baristas set travel rates and unit curves to elicit caller flavors and caller quality from their espresso.

This is blase stuff, antecedently reserved for the richest and nerdiest of nerds, attainable lone with commercial-caliber machines similar Slayer that commencement astatine $10,000 and enactment up from there. Fellow offers this capableness for a seventh of that price. And it's inactive casual to usage for espresso beginners who've ne'er adjacent heard the connection “pre-infusion” earlier today. Just prime a preset changeable illustration for airy oregon mean oregon acheronian beans, and the instrumentality volition bash the hard enactment for you.

If I dependable excited astir this machine, I am—even arsenic galore features stay nether development, and the telephone app remains a placeholder for now. The instrumentality besides has a mates peevish quirks, but the Fellow Series 1 is rather simply the astir awesome espresso instrumentality I've tested successful the past mates years.

The Basic Specs

OK, archetypal things first. The Fellow is simply a handsome and distinctive machine, successful a Silicon Valley benignant of way. My editor, aft seeing a picture, said she wouldn't person assumed it was an espresso instrumentality astatine all. It is simply a smooth-lined, minimalist container with a large stainless steel, brass-core radical caput floating successful front. It's conscionable 11 inches tall, fitting handily nether beauteous overmuch immoderate cabinet.

These streamlined aesthetics are par for the people for San Francisco–based Fellow, whose Aiden drip java instrumentality is besides a minimalist Steve Jobsian box. Fellow besides shares a tech startup's wont for launching rapidly and sending retired a barrage of aboriginal firmware updates: I received 3 firmware fixes during a fewer weeks of testing.

But if the app and firmware are inactive nether improvement arsenic of precocious February, the Series 1's hardware is successful beauteous shape. The portafilter and radical caput are machined with admirable precision, sliding into spot easy and satisfyingly without feeling loose. The haptics connected the dial are pleasant. The steam wand has bully heft and maneuverability, and its powerfulness is optimized to get dense beverage froth without hazard of blistery spatter. It tin besides beryllium heated up to a preset somesthesia alternatively than hazard burning the milk.

Another large innovation for the Series 1 is its patented heating system. Most espresso machines usage either boilers oregon thermoblocks to vigor up the h2o that goes into espresso. Boilers person admirable stability, but instrumentality everlastingly to get hot. Thermoblocks are adjacent instant, but little stable.

Fellow's heating strategy falls determination successful between, with a boiler supplemented by a thermoblock that heats h2o earlier it enters the boiler, and a heated radical caput that helps stabilize somesthesia astatine the portafilter. This theoretically offers the champion of some worlds: greater somesthesia stableness crossed an espresso shot, without the acold starts and blistery finishes that tin plague immoderate location thermoblock machines.

The h2o vessel is simply a capacious 2 liters, and is removable for casual filling, with 1 caveat: The vessel tin lone beryllium removed from the instrumentality consecutive upward. And truthful if you've placed this instrumentality nether your cabinets, you whitethorn person a hard clip removing the h2o tank—a insignificant kvetch that whitethorn beryllium rather meaningful depending connected your room setup.

Shot Selection

OK, connected to what's really got maine jazzed astir this machine: changeable profiles. It has them. Seven of them, each 1 rather antithetic from the others.

Does the Series 1 connection precise antithetic profiles for light, medium, and acheronian beans? Yes, of people it does. How astir a “lever” illustration with six infusion stages that mimics the syrupy assemblage and large crema of a manual espresso machine? Sure, wherefore not? Turbo shots? Got your back, ’spro bro. It's a full caller shot game.

Most espresso novices whitethorn ne'er person to get past the airy roast, mean roast, and acheronian roast modes. Dark roast is straightforward, astir traditional. Medium adds a pre-infusion for amended extraction. Light roast adds a unit ramp-down aft the shot, to support shots from moving distant arsenic espresso degrades. For fun, you tin way unit arsenic a “shot curve” that appears connected the Series 1's circular screen.

Right retired of the box, the S1 is each spot arsenic casual to usage arsenic the Breville Oracle Jet ($2,000), my erstwhile benchmark for combining fantabulous shots, versatility, and easiness of usage for each accomplishment levels. If each you ever bash with the Series 1 is alteration your changeable illustration depending connected what legume you enactment successful the portafilter, you'll inactive person precise beauteous espresso. And similar the Oracle Jet oregon the Ninja Luxe Cafe, the Fellow has a bean-assist relation to assistance espresso newcomers dial successful the due grind size for each shot.

True legume heads, connected the different hand, tin person amusive digging into the different changeable profiles and messing astir with the parameters. The 9-bar and “lever” options mimic accepted 9-bar machines and manual espresso, respectively. The “Modern Arc” is designed to marque smoother shots that entreaty to modern tastes. And the turbo changeable takes this adjacent farther, designed to fundamentally region bitterness from espresso by grinding coarser and blasting h2o done a shot. (See present for a longer treatment of turbo shots.)

Fellow pb decorator Nick Terzulli told maine successful an interrogation earlier this period that he'd initially planned adjacent much changeable profiles earlier reconsidering. Fellow didn't privation to hazard scaring radical distant with excessively galore esoteric options.

But arsenic the app gets developed, expect galore much options. As happened with the Aiden agelong aft the instrumentality launched, Fellow plans to yet adhd a societal constituent to the app, allowing you to download different people's changeable profiles and play astir with them. In conjunction with java subscription work Fellow Drops, Fellow volition besides merchandise bean-specific recommendations.

The Caveats

Still, determination are a fewer wrinkles and TBDs. One, arsenic mentioned above, is the placement of the h2o reservoir truthful that it tin lone beryllium removed vertically, which whitethorn not beryllium imaginable for those with debased antagonistic clearance.

Water dispensing is besides a spot troublesome—a occupation Fellow's designers accidental they're already alert of. Right now, the blistery h2o dispenser defaults to the erstwhile somesthesia and measurement setting, without giving you the accidental to set these settings earlier the h2o spits out. Terzulli said a alteration is already successful the works, aft different users had akin feedback.

The volumetric controls besides weren't rather dialed successful yet connected my reappraisal model. Depending connected however accelerated the changeable was flowing, my shots often ended up a milliliter agelong oregon a milliliter short. This isn't the extremity of the world, but for a instrumentality that promises specified infinitesimal customization, precision seems a tenable ask.

And, of course, there's the information that the instrumentality is shipping without its afloat complement of features—including the telephone app that would let you easier accommodation of changeable illustration parameters. For now, until the app comes through, you mightiness make a spot of pull-down paper fatigue portion navigating done the on-device menu.

Most of these complaints are apt conscionable increasing pains for a brand-new device. But adjacent without the fixes that volition surely come, the Series 1 is already a genuine achievement—one that'll person maine asking much of different espresso machines successful the future.

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