Fellow Aiden Coffee Maker Review 2024 | Quanzhou SPepper Grinder Group Co.,Ltd

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I’ve been testing it for weeks to find out.

Food & Wine / Williams Sonoma

I am neither a coffee snob, nor an expert. In fact, my favorite way to drink it has always been just plain old drip coffee. It’s hot, simple, and when it's done well, it's so tasty that it's almost chuggable. I grind my own beans for each cup, and after getting Fellow’s Opus coffee grinder, I noticed an instant improvement in the quality. The brand is known for its dedication to precision in the coffee space and attracts coffee experts and fans alike.

Knowing that, I never expected Fellow to launch a drip coffee maker that simpletons like me use — but here we are. Meet the new Aiden Precision Coffee Maker, a machine the brand launched just a few months back, which has already sold out of stock many times. This machine promises the quality of pour-over coffee with the convenience of hands-free speed that a typical drip coffee maker provides. Wondering if it would live up the hype, I decided to test it out. Read on for my review of the Fellow Aiden coffee maker.

Williams Sonoma

The moment I found out about this release, I needed to try it. We know where to find coffee experts’ opinions, but what about the true drip coffee fans that don’t craft up the perfect pour-over coffee like a witch with potion every morning? (No shade, I am this way with all baking projects.) What do they think? I am one of those people, and I love this machine.

After the brand sent the machine to me for testing, I’ve been using it daily, sometimes multiple times a day, for nearly a month. The first time I brewed coffee in it, my partner and I both turned to each other and said that it “tasted like it was from a coffee shop.” Since then, I have continued to brew flavorful cups that highlight so many different notes — much more than my previous coffeemaker did.

Kristin Montemarano

If you’re used to a classic drip coffee maker like I am, it might take a few times to understand the way this machine works. It is unlike any other drip machine on the market with its variety of settings, as it was designed to emulate a pour-over coffee maker with its unique drip head.

To start to understand the machine, you need to know that it comes with two inserts: one with a blue border for coffee batches of 3 cups or more (up to 10 cups) and one green-bordered insert for smaller batches under 3 cups. This is a big deal for pour-over-style coffee, because getting big batches is pretty tedious. A rainwater lid covers the inserts and is adjusted with a tab so that the selected amount of coffee gets hydrated with the perfect amount of water. At first, I thought switching from one insert to the other would be really annoying, but I am pretty consistent with my batches, so I’ve gotten used to swapping once a week or so.

There’s a small digital screen on the left that displays all of your settings and features, which sets this coffee maker apart from others. This is also what makes this machine a bit complicated. It comes with a few brew profiles; you need to select one of these before you can whip up a cup. There are presets to take the guesswork away for light roast, medium roast, and dark roast. Once you click on one of these, it’ll allow you to choose the amount of cups of water you’re making, and then it’ll tell you how many grams of coffee to add. This is so helpful if all you want to do is make a really good cup of coffee without any guesswork. I have used these settings a few times, and they’re great. But, you can also customize your brew by creating your own profiles, choosing how many cups, how many grams, the temperature, and other, even more in-depth settings.

Kristin Montemarano

My favorite feature of the Fellow Aiden, though, is the instant brew setting. You can adjust it to be the same measurements of water and coffee you use daily, so all you need to do is hit the “instant brew” button every morning. With the other settings, it takes a few click-throughs, so this does save time.

The overall design of the coffee machine is so sleek. Everything is very well hidden, and the water tank fits flush into the machine yet remains easy to remove and refill. I love the look of the round digital screen, but the shape can cut off some words, which is a small thing that bothers me a little. One thing about the display that I absolutely love is how it displays a countdown of the minutes and seconds you have left in your brew. Plus, the carafe itself is nice and big and the lid is airtight. It’s made with stainless steel, and I find it keeps my coffee hot for an hour or two after brewing. It cleans up easily, though you will notice water droplets on the carafe if you don’t wipe it down with a towel.

Kristin Montemarano

There have been some comments about the fact that a lot of the machine and its inserts are plastic (food-grade, of course). I don’t find this to be an issue for me, and it hasn’t imparted any flavor to my coffee so far. The less successful part of the machine is the app that accompanies it, which is supposed to have updated information and added perks. It’s not the most useful, but I am indifferent about it because I prefer using this machine as-is, anyway. For me, the current features are more than enough, but I can see how others might be a little disappointed with this aspect.

I also find that the variety of settings, while useful, can be a bit intimidating, because they truly do go into detail. For example, you can adjust the bloom, which is the light soaking phase at the beginning of the brewing process. For someone like me who is used to simply flipping a switch for coffee, I spent the better part of the first week ignoring this. However, I am growing to appreciate it, since it’s what makes this machine truly customizable.

The bottom line? The Fellow Aiden Precision Coffee Maker is a great machine for folks who actually want it. You won’t be disappointed in the quality it brews, and the available settings allow you to make the process as simple or as complex as you want. I also find that this machine has pulled out new-to-me flavor notes in the coffee I had been brewing for years. It really does make a high-quality cup. The cost of this coffee maker has not gone unnoticed by me, though. It is quite expensive, so I would truly consider how much you would appreciate a machine like this. If you want the convenience of brewing small or big batches of pour-over coffee with the precision and ease Fellow offers, it’s worth it.

You can shop it at at Fellow or at Williams Sonoma today.

Williams Sonoma

At the time of publishing, the price was $365.