A beautifully-designed powerhouse literally built on a pedestal, Ode Brew Grinder is not only the newest member of the Fellow family but quite possibly the sleekest. With something as complicated as “The Perfect Grinder,” there is a lot to learn before investing in the right one. To help you sort out the facts and find a grinder that suits your brewing needs, we’ve gathered reviews that have either tested Ode or compared multiple grinders on the market. Take a read and then *hopefully* take Ode home!
The Daily Beast: This Coffee Grinder Makes My Morning Cup Taste So Much Better
“The Ode grinder is a beauty to behold. It has a sleek matte black outer, and the design itself is paired well with the function. The grind catcher magnetically aligns, the dial lists numbers going from a finer to a coarser grind, and the lid in the bean filler has suggested numbers for different styles of brews. It’s shockingly quiet (it doesn’t wake up my girlfriend fast asleep in the other room) and it automatically turns off once every bean has been ground. I could get into the types of burrs it has (64mm flat) or the fact that a smart speed PID motor exposes every bean to the exact same force and grind quality, but why bother—all you have to do with this bad boy is sit back, relax, and enjoy perfectly-ground beans every single morning.”
Read the full write-up here.
Food & Wine: Best Grinder Design Winner
“Rather than pour beans into a bulky hopper, Fellow nixed the container in favor of a single-dose loading chamber, so every grind is fresh. You’ll also find no-mess features like a canister that magnetically aligns to the machine’s opening and an ingenious built-in spring to knock grinds back into the holder. Best of all, users say the Fellow grinder is noticeably quieter than other brands and automatically shuts off after each batch is done. When Fellow launched a Kickstarter fund to develop the grinder, it reached its $200,000 goal in less than two hours, and the enthusiasm hasn’t waned. “I love the simplicity of this grinder,” a Nordstrom shopper said. “It’s well-made, the grind is consistently uniform and clean-up is a breeze. And did I say, stylish?”
Read the full write-up here.
Coffee Review: A High-Quality Grind, One Brew at a Time
“Our laser diffraction results indicate that when grinding specifically for a single-cup pour over, the Ode actually grinds almost 20% more consistently than the Breville… The Ode’s outstanding grind consistency alone is reason enough to get on board, while this compact, stylish grinder’s groundbreaking additional features add welcome convenience to the creative challenge of precision single-dose brewing.”
Read the full article here.
Gear Patrol: The 10 Best New Food & Drink Releases of 2020
“The Kickstarter campaign for Fellow’s Ode Grinder promised a lot: a quiet coffee grinder with 31 easy-to-adjust grind settings and minimal mess, all housed in a sleek compact machine. Five thousand backers and $1.2 million in support later, and Fellow kept its word. A very satisfying knob makes it easy to fine-tune grind size. A grounds knocker and magnetically aligned catcher reduce chaff and prevent messes on the counter. And those 64 mm burrs are quiet enough to let you grind coffee early in the morning without waking up the neighborhood.”
See the full list here.
Esquire: 2021 Home Design Award Winner
“A lot of upper-echelon grinders are crammed with unnecessary features (See: digital weight-based dosing, digital screens, plastic hoppers). The 64mm flat-burr Ode grinder ditches all that’s extraneous and amps up the smart industrial design with a black exterior and a giant dial for selecting grind consistency for everything from Aero to French Press.”
Read the full review here.
GQ: Best Stuff of 2020
“Most coffee geeks like to stick with what’s worked. But the $300 Fellow Ode grinder promises something that has them salivating: flat burrs. See, coffee grinders with flat burrs grind coffee more evenly than grinders with more conventional conical burrs. They’re also wildly expensive. But the Ode packages flat burrs into a simple, stark, blacked-out package, then tosses in some useful bonuses, all for just under $300. While it won’t deliver the superfine consistency necessary for espresso, it’s perfect for pour-over or French press grounds—and for making your coffee-geek friends jealous.”
Read the full review here.
The Strategist: This New Coffee Grinder is a Breakthrough for Home Brewers
“It didn’t take long to confirm that the Ode delivers on its promise of being a quieter grinder. Although it’s not silent, the noise it makes isn’t at all unpleasant (I’d compare it to the sound of crumpling up a newspaper). It’s also satisfyingly easy to use: Unlike my Baratza grinder, all it takes to accurately adjust grind size is a turn of its pleasingly giant dial. With only one button on the entire device, it’s truly quite hard to get a step wrong, even before you’ve had a morning cup. There are other thoughtful details that anyone will appreciate, including an automatic shut-off function and a small footprint (it takes up less counter space than a small conventional toaster). There are also thoughtful details that coffee nerds will appreciate, including a magnetic base in the grinds receptacle that makes it a cinch to remove and replace (Grub Street compared it to the feeling of putting AirPods back in their case) and a steel tab you can flick to ensure that all the grinds make it into that receptacle (an essential after you have gone to great pains to weigh your beans before grinding them).”
Read the full review here.