This is the brand new Acaia Orbit. It’s a new grinder that was designed in partnership with Weber Workshops, who I’m sure you know has created grinders like the EG-1 and Key.
I was lucky enough to hop in on the first run of units limited to the US and did pay the full retail price of $1,350 plus $40 shipping. This is by far the most expensive grinder I’ve ever owned.
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So since I was an early adopter, this first shipment was considered Eclipse editions and there was an extra little gift box included.
We get a hat, enamel pin, 53mm dosing cup, antistatic brush, brew notebook, and a serialized number plate which is kinda cool. I got number 37 of 500. My friend Raymond from FDM by OptikalBlitz, got number 1 of 500. Extra cool.
Online they also state you get an extended 18 month product support.
Okay so it's actually been a couple days since I unboxed this grinder. I’ve had a little bit of time to play with it and put together some initial thoughts into a more cohesive format.
Firstly, I waited a few more days because I needed to purchase a 2021 model Acaia Lunar. Yup, the old Lunar did not work. Their website does state that it’ll get a firmware update in the future, but in an effort to get this video out to you guys as soon as I could, I went ahead and got a 2021 model Lunar.
SPECS
It’s a 64mm burr grinder using Mazzer 33M burrs and can take SSP ones as well. It has a 200W motor and has adjustable 600 to 1500 RPM. It has a lot of unique smart feature integrations and grind by weight technology using the Acaia Lunar scale - which is probably its highlight.
First impressions on the build are that it is very premium feeling. Like more so than any other grinder I’ve used. This thing feels like a macbook.
I like the included magnetic strips that stick onto the dosing cup and the lunar. And the magnetic attachment is super satisfying and looks nice and aligned.
The grinder has a very clean overall design, machined very well, and everything feels good to use. Even the knocker is pretty satisfying to use.
One thing I’m not a huge fan of is the touch point sticker simply because, its a sticker. Another thing I wish was metal instead of plastic is the hopper. For a piece of the grinder that sticks out so prominently, the glossy black plastic is not very premium feeling and feels a bit cheap.
A nice metal one would’ve definitely been cool to see here.
So now let’s talk about the smart integrations.
Firstly, you can do most of the programming on the grinder itself without the need for the lunar or phone app. The different colors on the button in the front will indicate different grinding modes aka different preset and changeable RPMs.
The app definitely makes it more clear and includes a nice graphic generated with each grind, telling you in seconds how long the grind took as well.
Without the lunar, aka in single dose mode, the grinder will grind through the dose and then do an automatic purge at a higher 2000 rpm first forwards, then backwards, if I’m not wrong.
With the lunar, you can grind by weight. So here, I’m just going to dump a bunch of beans in, and hit go, and it’ll dispense the exact amount, or close to, that I wanted. In this case 16g.
Now I have noticed occasionally there is some inconsistency, I had one dose that came out close to 17g, but Steve from the Acaia team told me that the grinder adjusts for the next dose and will aim to get closer to the planned dosage. Which I generally found to be true.
In most cases, with the Grind by Weight tech, the doses were within 0.2g of my 16g goal.
There is a little bit of static but its really not that bad despite not doing any RDT. Even in the YouTube live session I did with this grinder, I went through about 100g of beans and it really was not bad at all.
WORKFLOW
Initial shot impressions are, it’s good! It’s sweet, it has a high level of clarity, nothing was overwhelmingly acidic. The finish was nice and not astringent at all, and it had a medium-ish texture, not quite as rich of a body feel versus shots I get on a conical burr grinder.
So, those are my sort of quick thoughts and first impressions of this new grinder by Acaia in collaboration with Weber Workshops.
I’ll get into much more detail in a full review in a few weeks time, covering this grinder for espresso, and filter. Once again, be sure to leave any comments or questions in the comment section down below.
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