Fellow Aiden Precision Coffee Maker Review
Perfect pour-over coffee at the touch of a button, or just good marketing?
I first saw the Fellow Aiden, a hybrid batch brew and single cup pour-over machine on social media, and wrote it off as an unnecessary purchase.
I’ve tried and tested so many different pour-over systems in my 15-ish years as a coffee-drinker and come to the realization that all are pretty much the same with subtle differences.
However, as my life circumstances have changed and I’m now the father of two little ones, the Aiden has reformed in my mind as a helpful time-saving device.
So, I bit the bullet and tried out the Fellow Aiden for the low price of $405.23 and I’m here to give you my thoughts.
The Pros
First off, let’s talk about some of the aspects of the Aiden that I think all coffee fans will appreciate.
The Aesthetics
The Aiden follows the same design principles set by their other popular flagship products like the Stagg EKG Electric Kettle and their Tally Pro Precision Scale.
Matte black, sleek, sharp corners, futuristic-looking, and not your grandma’s Mr. Coffee pot. You get the gist, this thing looks serious.
Easy to Use (See Cons)
You can get up and running on the Aiden in no time. All you gotta do is grind your coffee, set your filter, and pick one of the Fellow pre-loaded settings for a Dark, Medium, or Light roast coffee.
I tend to drink mostly medium and light coffees, and in my testing, both of these recipes worked well.
Customization
One of the biggest selling points of the Aiden is the ability to create custom profiles and save them to your Aiden via the smartphone app.
Any experienced pour-over person will know that creating consistently good coffee is no walk in the park. I typically have to dial in my grind settings and water temperature before I land in a place that is passable. It usually takes me about 3-4 attempts before I find the sweet spot.
With the Aiden you can create or import custom profiles from other users that helps remove a bit of guesswork.
It Makes Good Coffee
If you scour reddit and YouTube for reviews on the Aiden, you’ll find that most people are impressed with the results.
When I made a side-by-side batch of coffee in my V60 and compared it to what the Aiden produced, the differences were negligible with maybe a slight edge going to the V60.
That’s about what I expected from the Aiden, and I was able to chase my toddler around the house, wrangling his shoes on, while my totally passable cup of coffee was being brewed.
The Cons
It’s Really Plasticky?
Believe it or not, at $365, the Fellow Aiden is priced fairly when compared to other similar coffee-makers in this category.
Still, when you’re spending over $400 (after tax) on a coffee maker, you expect a level of build quality and the Aiden unfortunately didn’t meet my expectations.
On their product page, they mention that the “Aiden is built with high-quality, food-grade plastic (BPA-free), stainless steel, and silicone so that you can brew with peace of mind.”
My body is already full of microplastics, but something about the shiny and plasticky appearance of most of the internals didn’t leave me feeling confident.
It’s Boring
If all you valued from a morning cup of coffee was convenience and the caffeine, then you wouldn’t be reading this review.
If you’re like me, you’ve tried and tested a bunch of other methods of making coffee and have come to appreciate the process.
This was something I didn’t feel until about day 20 of using the Aiden.
I had removed the steps of the pour-over process that I enjoyed and was left with the most boring parts of making coffee: grinding, folding a filter, adding water to a tank, and waiting.
Internet Connectivity
I’m not new to the idea of everything in my house now requiring internet access. In most cases it makes sense, and it does in the case of the Fellow Aiden, but something about having to connect my coffee maker to the internet to receive essential firmware updates just feels…bad.
You can use the Aiden right out of the box, but let me tell you that the user experience of creating a custom recipe from scratch using the dial knob is an absolute nightmare.
Final Verdict
The Fellow Aiden is an impressive piece of tech that will undoubtedly advance innovation in the coffee space. It’s crazy that it’s taken this long to get a consumer-grade coffee maker that can actually handle a single serve pour-over, but at least we’re here!
If you’re starting your journey towards better coffee, don’t want to waste the time on perfecting your pour-over process, and have some cash to burn, then I think the Aiden is a great starting point. If you’re okay with dropping even more cash on their Fellow Drops program, even better. Check out the Aiden product page.
However, if you’re someone who already owns a pour-over system (or multiple, cough), appreciates the process of making coffee, and wants to save a bit of cash, then I don’t think the Aiden is for you.
I returned the Fellow Aiden just a few days before their 30-day trial period with minimal friction. So if you’re still curious, try it out and see if it meets your needs. If you’ve tried the Aiden, I’d love to know your thoughts.