The Fellow ES1 Espresso Machine Review

Comments · 1K

• 0C

  @0cellusDS · 1 month ago

  Some day, a company is going to create a machine with a triangular display, just to see James' reaction to it.

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• LA

  @LarsGoldbachDP · 1 month ago (edited)

  35min, no background music, some B-Roll where it makes sense, minimal cutting and other than that just Daddy Hoff talking mesmerizingly. <br>Insane what quality of presentation you deliver James.<br>You&apos;re the GOAT!

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• CO

  @consumer-index · 1 month ago

  35 minute review, just enough time to heat up my ancient dual boiler.

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• NA

  @NatalieTrzcinski · 1 month ago

  You say you don&apos;t like the circular screen, and yet, you appear over graphs in a circular screen. Interesting.

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• R_

  @r__b6095 · 1 month ago

  I am not planning on buying an espresso machine at present but I&apos;ll still watch a 35 minute video about one

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• AM

  @Amrpyas · 1 month ago (edited)

  I have seen pretty much every review of this machine and I think this is by far the best one. While other reviews go over the catalog of what the machine “can do” and run some tests, James actually provided a thoughtful, nuanced and honest review of what the machine is actually capable of and reflected over where this machine and tech stands in the world of coffee overall. Thank you James and the team for respecting and informing consumers truthfully. Reviews like this are better for all parties involved.

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• AL

  @alembics · 1 month ago

  The pernickety commentary is why I&apos;m here in the first place.

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• FA

  @Farmboyduke · 1 month ago

  The David Attenborough of coffee equipment.

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• CA

  @cal-rho · 1 month ago

  I have an ES1 - been using it daily for nearly 2 months now (UK version). I wouldn&apos;t describe it as the perfect pressure profiling machine, but it&apos;s still the best machine I&apos;ve owned.<br><br>I&apos;ve owned the Decent previously, and most recently a Meticulous. If you want to change pressure profiles daily a tinker to perfection, then yes, the Decent and Met are the tools for you. But I&apos;m busy most of the day working, and I often make multiple drinks at a time for my partner and I, and what I want is to make a tasty coffee (that&apos;s better than you can get in a cafe) as quick as possible without frustation. <br><br>The ES1 offers that completely. I&apos;ve made a simple declining profile: pre-infusion, ramp to 8 bar and then the ramp-down function to 3 bar (this works flawlessly for me, no pressure jumping like James&apos;s machine). The machine heats up quick, it&apos;s easy to use, but the main thing is its consistency.<br><br>If I pulled a first shot on the Meticulous, and let&apos;s say it came out in 30 seconds, the next shot at the same grind would come out in 20, and the next shot after that could be 40. I could never brew consistent shots back-to-back. I suspect this is due to complete temperature inconsitencies with the machine. The ES1, however, if the first shot is 30, the second shot will also come out at 30. I use the same profile all the time, and it&apos;s never frustrating to make a coffee.<br><br>Is it the best nerd machine? No. Is it the best machine that&apos;s easy to use, consistent, and can produce a much better extraction than a fixed-pressure machine? Most definitely.<br><br>Oh, and the stopping at the set temperature on the steam wand is a god send!

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• KY

  @Kyrieru · 1 month ago

  I wonder how hard it is for James to be this diplomatic.

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• DA

  @damianmyers3502 · 1 month ago

  ES1 owner of about 5 months. Overall I&apos;ve enjoyed the machine but I had some pretty rough early struggles. I&apos;m in the larger camp you described in the video, I wanted a semi auto machine with the option to experiment which I do from time to time for fun but mainly I wanted something where I can experiment with premade profiles. The heat up time was also a big selling point, I get the urge for coffee at random times and don&apos;t want to sit around for 30 minutes. I&apos;m also coming from a Flair 58 and didn&apos;t want to replace all my tools so 58mm was another smaller selling point. The machine tracks how many coffees you make and warns you when you should do different types of cleaning which is also really cool and another thing I don&apos;t have to think about. Binding a profile to a single button has been awesome, especially for my wife who doesn&apos;t care about espresso but still likes to drink it. She wouldn&apos;t touch the Flair but this one she actually uses which is cool and saves me the effort of making it if I&apos;m busy or lazy. My biggest struggle was the first few weeks, I&apos;m not sure if it was me or the machine or what but I could not get it to stop channeling. One day they released a firmware update and it was fine after that, I don&apos;t want to blame the machine because it was likely on my end but man that was a brutal experience. Since then it&apos;s been a great addition to our house, coffee is good, machine is easy and enjoyable to use all thumbs up. No weird issues or bugs that I&apos;ve experienced other than maybe those first few weeks if it was even the machine. On the pricing, I would say the pricing is fair for what you get. It&apos;s got cool bells and whistles for the price range, makes good coffee and looks great (to me).

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• DV

  @dvxc · 1 month ago (edited)

  Hi James! Sorry if you&apos;ve been doing this for ages, I tend to watch in fits and starts, but I love that you touch on user repairability even if only in passing or by offering links to maintenance videos. I&apos;m a huge advocate of more user repair in all tech and this was a very refreshing thing to see you mention! Please do keep doing this!!<br><br>I hope you have a great day 😇

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