I’m going to be unboxing and sharing my first impressions of the Fellow Aiden, a new $365 premium coffee brewer from Fellow that packs a lot of interesting features.
I first got to check this thing out in person at the SCA Expo in Chicago last April and have been keeping an eye out for this product’s launch ever since.
I will note that it seems myself and a few other more long form review-focused creators received our units quite late compared to the YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and TikTok crowd that, let’s be real, will never say anything negative about a product.
I get it, Fellow wouldn’t want any negatives or critiques about this machine early into its product lifecycle, but does that mean they have something to hide here? I don’t know and over the course of the next few weeks I’ll be thoroughly testing this unit with a follow up full review, so be sure to subscribe to get notified of when that drops.
While this unit was sent to me by Fellow, they have no say of what goes into this video, I have no agreement with them, and all thoughts and opinions remain my own.
Now with that being said, let’s first start with the unboxing.
UNBOXING
Firstly, the box right away is a classic brown fellow packaging that actually has this pretty cool locking feature that I’ve never seen on a box before. Once that’s unlocked and removed the main box portion lifts straight up revealing the Aiden itself and an accessories box with the classic warranty, safety, start up guides, and a few single serve filter papers.
Now let’s move onto the Aiden itself. It’s a relatively small machine. Here it is next to my Moccamaster.
And right away my first impressions with the build quality are fairly similar to what I remember at the SCA Expo in that this machine is just a lot of plastic. Again, nothing bad about plastic on its own if incorporated correctly, but compared to something like the Moccamaster which has a metal body and frame, it just leaves a little to be desired.
You have a full color LCD display controlled with the standard Fellow knob you can find on their Stagg kettles that controls this display.
Behind that, there’s a 1.5L water tank that is fully removable which is great for cleaning and refilling.
On the right side of the machine there’s a 1.5L dual walled stainless steel carafe. Something to note is that the lid and handle are plastic.
Now moving onto the interesting bit here is the actual brew chamber that includes a single serve basket and a batch brew basket depending on how much coffee you want to brew.
I will say the hinge on to open and close the brew chamber is actually incredibly satisfying, it has this unique almost snapping feature when it reaches fully open or close that has an oddly nice weight to it.
Aesthetically it’s a black box. There’s not a ton to say about it. Either you like it and it kinda fits your aesthetic or kitchen environment, or you don’t. I do think there are other colors in the works.
There are already a few nitpicks here and there I’ve noticed, that I’m going to save for the full review once I have a little more time to test this machine - so be sure you’re subscribed to get notified of when that drops.
And that mostly rounds out the unboxing so let’s move over to the first use.
FIRST USE
Okay so, using the Aiden for the first time typically you would follow a setup routine which, yes, involves connecting yet another device to WiFi with the use of a 3rd party Aiden app, which quite frankly is not great at the moment, but this is something I’m also going to focus on in much more detail for my full review.
I did not have to run through the standard first set up procedure with this machine because this unit did come with a bag of beans roasted by Prodigal which is said to be dialed in on the Aiden already, however there is no reference for grind size which I think they could add, possibly in the form of a “use a grind size that results in a 3 minute 20 second draw down, for example.
I have tried to adjust my grind size from the 3 ish brews I’ve done so far on the machine to more or less match the draw down time listed on the display and I have to say I am extremely impressed with the quality of the brew.
It matched just about as good as I’d expect with my EG-1 being the grinder and a pourover by hand, but done with a machine instead.
Following the brew and seeing the different steps that went into producing the final cup was very cool to see, and I’d imagine if roasters are able to provide recipes for their beans, that you can consistently get great cups given your grinder is good and water source is also good.
CONCLUSION
First impressions are good. This machine heats up fast and even displays a countdown as to when your brew will be done, and shows you steps the machine takes to get to that final cup.
The build is definitely something I’m going to nitpick a bit more in the full review, but generally speaking this is an excellent brewer. Almost like an xBloom without the built in grinder with the capability for both single serve and batch. And honestly, with a company like Fellow behind it, I’m trusting it more than I would an xBloom for longevity in mind.
But as usual with unboxings and first impressions, my final thoughts and more details are to come in a few weeks time with a full review.
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