- Fellow has launched its first home espresso machine, the Espresso Series 1
- It has various pro-level features, but also offers guidance for home baristas
- You can pre-order now for an early-bird price, with shipping later this year
Fellow, maker of the popular Aiden Precision Coffee Maker, has just launched its first home espresso machine – and it’s packed with professional-grade features that you’d usually expect to find in a cafe. I’ve heard rumors from Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) members that exciting things were afoot in the world of home makers, and I suspect that the Fellow Espresso Series 1 is what they were referring to.
The Fellow Espresso Series 1 is a great-looking machine that has a similar boxy shape to the Aiden Precision Coffee Maker, with a pressure gauge on the front that lets you see the pressure profile as you pull each shot so you can determine whether you’ve achieved the right grind size for your beans.
Professional features include temperature control that’s accurate to the degree, a boiler with three heating elements (including a flow-through heater to pre-heat water before it enters the boiler), a commercial-style heated group head with brass core, and a 58mm bottomless portafilter.
A bottomless portafilter has no spout on the bottom, which means you can see exactly how your coffee is pouring and diagnose problems with tamping. If the coffee isn’t flowing out of the filter basket evenly or there are fast-slowing ‘leaks’, the tamped puck may be cracked or not level.
A bottomless portafilter also means your espresso shots should have more crema, because the coffee isn’t making contact with any surfaces before it reaches your cup.
The Fellow Espresso Series 1 also comes with a backflush disc, which lets you clean it in the same way as a commercial coffee machine. Just fit the disc in the portafilter handle, add a backflush cleaning tablet (included with the machine), and select the cleaning program to thoroughly remove traces of old coffee and oils that could taint future drinks.
A helping hand
If that all sounds a little intimidating, don’t worry – there’s help for home baristas too. For example, you get both single-walled and pressurized baskets, the latter of which makes it easier to get a proper flow rate, even if you haven’t quite ground the coffee perfectly, and is more forgiving than a single-walled basket.
The steam wand has a temperature-sensing tip to help you achieve perfectly sweet-tasting milk with no scalding (which can give a custard-like taste). The wand stops steaming when the milk reaches the correct temperature, and automatically purges once you’re done.
The Fellow Espresso Series 1 comes in three colorways: black, malted chocolate and maple, and cherry red and walnut. The latter two have portafilters with real wood handles, which adds a little extra to the price.
The black model is available to pre-order now for $1,199.95 (about £900 / AU$1,900), and will retail for $1,499.95 (about £1,300 / AU$2,500) once the early bird offer is over. The two wood-trimmed versions can be pre-ordered for $1,299.95 (about £1,000 / AU$2,000), and will eventually sell for $1,599.95 (about £1,200 / AU$2,500).
If you pre-order the machine, you’ll also get $100 Fellow Drops credit, which you can spend on the brand’s own coffee.
Fellow hasn’t given an exact shipping date, but the Espresso Series 1 is expected to reach customers “before the winter holidays”. Since Fellow is based in the US, we’d expect that to mean November. Hopefully I’ll be able to bring you a full review soon, and see how it compares with the best espresso machines from other brands.
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