Pros
Nice minimalist design
Good build quality
Excellent burs
Superb espresso grind quality
Easy to clean
Not too noisy

Cons
Grind adjustment is over complicated, but easily solved with the Beanie app (absolute must have)
Rentetion is very erratic. Some times hardly any, sometimes a good few grams need tapping out

I’d say if it wasn’t for the erratic retention, I would have given it 5 stars.

And as for the grind adjustment. Yeah it is a bit of a faff to have a separate macro/micro dial, but the Beanie app solved all of that.

For me, it’s a great looking grinder that’s easy to clean and grinds perfectly for espresso.

I’ve tried multiple different dark and medium roast beans and they’ve all come out perfect.

After almost a month owning the Opus, I think I understand why some refuse to use hand grinders. I got into coffee in 2020, and have largely used a hand grinder (first the Hario Mini Mill, then the 1zpresso JX) for turning beans into grounds. With the latter grinder, I felt like I was already at my end game. It’s a significant step up from the Mini Mill, and it’s solid metal construction means it’ll last for a long time.

Though come 2024, my partner particularly is drinking a lot more coffee, and grinding coffee 4, 5, maybe 6 times a day is a bit of a chore. The Fellow Opus solves that with it’s quite and quick ability to grind coffee for filter brewing, with a subjectively beautiful design language, only let down really with how much coffee it retains in grinding.

It’s plastic construction will put off some, but I find Fellow are pretty superb at designing products with an appealing aesthetics, and while plastic, the Opus still looks great. I have concerns about longevity with a plastic build, particularly due to the coffee retention issue, but for now, it’s great.

To get the positives out the way, it’s pretty much perfect for what I need it to do: grind medium fine coffee for aeropress brewing. It’s very quite, relatively quick, and it’s magnetic grounds cup makes the whole process just that bit more fluid. The cup comes with different attachments, notably one which fits some portacups and – important for me – an aeropress, although it doesn’t fit an aeropress XL, though given the XL released after the Opus, they can’t be blamed there. The regular spout design does just fine for that.

The negative: retention. With both my Mini Mill and 1zpresso (using RDT) retention wasn’t something I even considered, though with the Opus, it’s essentially it’s only issue, one not fixed by RDT since the Opus’ anti-static technology already serves the role RDT would have. Instead, a significant amount of coffee is getting stuck inside where the burrs are housed, which means you MUST give it a solid whack when the grind cycle is complete.

I clean the Opus every few days, and it’s ridiculously easy to do so, though after 3 or 4 days of grinding, I can easily get a few grams of coffee out the machine, despite doing everything I can to do so when I grind the coffee. I now understand the appeal of “zero-retention grinders”, because the Opus isn’t one, and it shows.

My five star review therefore is closer to a 4.5, though with a solid tap, you’ll get most of your ground coffee out, and it becomes a minor annoyance. While the Opus’ plastic build doesn’t bother me as a whole, it’s in this routine of whacking where I get concerned it’s going to break. It’s not cheap cheap plastic, but it is plastic, so I have my worries.

Ultimately, if you have the extra cash, maybe spending that bit extra for the Ode 2 is worth it, but for the price of the Opus, it’s an absolute steal.