Fellow Opus 2 Conical Burr Grinder

There was a time when spending $200 on an electric coffee grinder that was good for espresso didn’t get you a whole lot, but those days are behind us. Grinders like the Fellow Opus 2 show that you don’t need to spend a ton of money to get a versatile grinder that can handle most grinding tasks and has some nice features to boot.

Lots of people will focus on the new 48mm conical burrs, but to us the big improvement with this new model is the easy grind adjustment, especially at the espresso range. The original Opus had a system that allowed for very fine adjustments, but in practice it was difficult and confusing to use. The Opus 2 has a large knob and stepless adjustments that make it really easy to make minute adjustments and dial in your grind. The scale on the side is easy to read, even if you’re still a little bleary eyed in the morning.

The new burrs are nice too, and we found that the larger size made grinding noticeably faster. We aren’t grinder nerds, so we won’t speak to the particle size in microns nor the overall distribution, but our test shots were full and heavy bodied. Old school some might say. We also like how easy it is to remove the upper burr carrier and clean out the grind chamber. This isn’t unique to this model, but it bears mentioning as a feature we really appreciate about these Fellow grinders.

The single button operation and auto-stop worked perfectly for us. Since this is a single-dose grinder, it’s nice that it competently stops itself. The motor isn’t the quietest nor the most confidence inspiring, but we haven’t had any problems with it and we never had a motor issue with the original Opus. That being said, if Nordic and cinnamon roasts are you thing, you might want something with a little more oomph.

At this price point, there are some compromises. As noted, this isn’t the quietest grinder on the market, and the grinder is almost entirely made of plastic. It’s nice plastic, and the grinder feels sturdy, but you won’t find a lot of metal here. Grind retention is also a slight issue if you’re using this as an espresso grinder. It seems like less than a gram, so a lot of people won’t notice or care, but this is not a zero-retention grinder. Lastly, the magnetic catch cups are cool and make the grinder feel more premium, but they contain a magnet which makes them unusable with a digital scale. We wish they would have just put a stronger magnet in the base of the grinder and a metal puck in the bottom of the cup which would have avoided this issue while maintaining the functionality.