From left to right: Coffee mug from Highlands Coffee shop in Hanoi; air tight canister holding the original ziplocked coffee bag, RDT spray bottle in a spare mini cup, Fellow Opus grinder (the paper under the catch cup is being used to raise the cup so it fits tightly to the exit of the grinder); Clever Dripper currently holding 430g water and 27g of beans sitting on top of the scale, and a super cheap stainless steel electric kettle.
I have a kitchen thermometer (not shown) that is used to measure the water temp in the kettle after it has been allowed to cool slightly. I target 93C.
I use a water first method. Put the water in, pour the grounds on top of the water. Let it sit like that for 3 minutes. Then gently stir the floating grounds so that they drop (also scrape down any grounds that might be stuck above the water level). Let sit for another minute then put on the coffee mug to drain.
Done.
Nice! How do you like the Opus? I’ve been looking at an Opus 2.
I am based in Vietnam. When I bought this Opus, the DF64 wasn’t yet available here and the DF54 was still years away. Also, Baratza brand grinders are not available in Vietnam other than a special order through one distributor who doesn’t keep stock on hand and the prices are 50% higher than in the USA. As such, the Opus was the best available choice for an electric grinder when I purchased it. I had already been using some very nice hand grinders for roughly a decade and was just sick of hand grinding daily since I am not exactly young anymore.
How do I like it? It gets the job done. The grind quality is generally very good. It can produce a fair amount of fines depending upon the bean (some Ethiopian and some gesha beans I find to produce a lot more fines than other beans but that is also true on other grinders). I only used it for pour over and moka pot at home before moving it to the office where is it exclusively used with the Clever Dripper now. As such, I have never had to deal with the micro adjust inner ring like one would for espresso dial in.
The biggest negative to me is the retention. Without using RDT and giving it a good bongo drum treatment after each grind, it will retain more grinds than is desirable. With RDT and a few bongo whacks on the top, it greatly reduces the amount of retention.
I don’t see me replacing it as long as it still works are currently.
From what I have read, the Opus 2 seems to have fixed the grinds retention problem and completely eliminated the micro adjustment inner ring.
At the $200 price point, it and the Baratza grinders are still good electric choices but Shardor’s 64mm flat burr looks good and the conical G5 Hibrew is interesting. When you go up in budget, the DF54 becomes potentially more attractive, if you are an espresso person and want less plastic in the build of the grinder.
Right on. I only really do pour over and I have been hand grinding for awhile now. I’m kinda over the hand grind though too and I like what I’ve read on the Opus 2.
If I could afford it, I’d probably get an Ode 2 with the upgraded burrs. But that just feels excessive to me at this point in life.
I have a friend that actually likes the results from his Oxo conical. For $100 that’s really tempting but I’ve had mixed results from Oxo so I’m a little leery there.
Either way I’m hoping for something very hassle free so I want something with really low retention because my favorite bean is an Ethiopian that makes a good amount of fines.
The standard burrs on the Ode 2 are pretty good. I am quite happy with it.
Those Ethiopian beans do make a lot more fines than other beans.
The Oxo conical is probably fine for someone not deep into specialty coffee.
If I were buying today, I might take a chance with the DF54 or the Shardor 64mm flat burr grinder which are both under $300. On Amazon the Shardor is on sale now for $250.