u/Iamgalavanter

Take this for what it's worth of course, but I did receive the above statement AND the pic (filename 意式机询问 0826.png – translates to "Inquiry regarding espresso machines") in a CS email from Timemore yesterday. They sent the pic to confirm that this machine is the one I was inquiring about. I had a minor issue with their Dot scale app, and while having a pleasant exchange I thought I'd ask. I've been eagerly anticipating more info myself, so I thought I would share.

Ever since seeing the linked Hedrick video of a prototype at HostMilano 2025, my interest has been piqued. A thread appears here periodically asking for info. Most are aware that Timemore collaborated on the Meraki, making the grinder. It's sort of ironic that the new Timemore machine won't have one (then again, they do sell them separately), but that is preferred by many, including myself.

The new Timemore machine will have an all metal exterior, with functionality apparently being very close, if not identical, to the Meraki in all other respects (It's rather apparent that Meraki and Timemore are "practically related"). That being dual boiler, rotary pump, hard wired scale, etc.

If they do Kickstarter like the rep in the video suggests they will, I might even be able to afford it.

The plastic Fellow ES1, it could have been a contender...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQLhJJ3M2Og&t=7001s

Two weeks ago I posted a thread informing consumers that the Fellow Espresso Series 1 diffusion plate was plastic. I was shocked and dismayed, like the rest of you, that Fellow had not made this clear in their marketing materials. They bragged about the brass, but never mentioned the plastic. It was obviously a planned, well executed deception.

Although widely viewed, upvoted, and shared (the vast majority of non-commenting consumers were glad to be informed), as per Fellow's loyal band of brigaders and astroturfers, I was ridiculed and chastised for exposing this scandalous behavior by Fellow.

I want my fellow friends to know that I understand the psychology behind these responses. After spending $1500.00 for an espresso machine, having already accepted the fact that the exterior is plastic (Italian legacy builds be damned), it's a bit much to learn that the grouphead is also made of cheaply sourced plastic too.

After all, that's where the magic happens. That's where the simple recipe of pressurized hot water through coffee is brewed, producing the wonderful espresso we all enjoy. Nobody wants to imagine the possibility of microplastics entering that equation, ruining the delicious coffee you have ground, tamped, and profiled to perfection.

And the plastic is sandwiched between scalding, pressurized hot water and your coffee. What a prime location! But hey, plastic is cheaper, and Fellow is a plastics intensive company, as we all know.

But today, I have good news. The steam wand tip is made of plastic too! You thought your recipes would be inconsistent and uneven, with leached microplastics in your coffee, while your steamed milk had nothing but the excess water the ES1 adds. Fear not, Fellow has you covered.

By using plastic in the steam wand tip as well, Fellow has preserved the meticulous balance of your finished milk drink. Your lattes and caps will have the same chemical properties, and possible health effects that entails, as does your espresso.

Because great coffee isn't built with metal groupheads. It's built on community management. Fellow. Engineered for a microplastic morning.

https://www.reddit.com/r/espressocirclejerk/comments/1trjvin/fellow_proudly_announces_the_fellowship/

TL;DR – I like it. You might too. It is worthy of your consideration.

They also thoughtfully surprised me with a separately sent bag of Kenyan coffee (good stuff). I am no longer a mere consumer, like the rest of you. I have joined the exalted ranks as a professional reviewer. Please like and subscribe. 

I have purchased a baseball cap, which I am wearing backwards (first time ever) as I write this. I am in the process of creating affiliate links to everything I have ever owned. 

I think I created the first Juni thread on reddit back in May, immediately after reading about it in the Coffee Daily News, who were reporting on its introduction at WOC in San Diego. 

Cosori is primarily known for their air fryers. They sell millions of them all over the world. They make electric kettles too. Although I have owned none of their products until now, they appear to have an excellent reputation for quality and service. The Juni is their first coffeemaker.

I was taken with the sexy Juni at first sight, and wanted to share my excitement with fellow coffee enthusiasts, but some interpreted my thread as too commercial, because I provided extensive info and links, as well as preorder pricing (still $199.00 as of this writing). At the time, I had no affiliation with Cosori, or any other earthly company.

Cosori “reached out”, as they say, about a month later, here on reddit. They offered me a free Juni in exchange for a review (I’m pretty sure it was my erection metaphor with respect to the retractable spout that did the trick). I replied in the affirmative, my simple, selfish reason being that I would receive the machine I desired, and had already preordered, months sooner.

They asked for nothing in return, other than this review, over which they have no control. What in the world were they thinking? My unit is the final build production model that will ship after the Kickstarter campaign concludes on 08/21 (It launches in a week on 07/21). Cosori is simply using Kickstarter as a marketing platform, to generate interest and excitement, as other companies do. The Juni is obviously a done deal.

Like many here, I have spent a lifetime drinking coffee (my lifetime is likely longer than yours). I remember, at probably too young an age, dipping folded jelly toast into a cup of hot coffee before school, that my mom had just made with a percolator on a gas stove. I always liked it, and how it made me feel. 

My first pour-overs were with plastic Melitta drippers, and I’ve used the Aeropress for decades (thank you, Alan Adler), V60, drip machines, espresso machines, etc. One day I’m a purist proponent of a manual pour-over, the next I’m brewing a shot by weight on my Gaggia Classic Pro with GaggiMate installed. 

I’m not a pour-over aficionado. I don’t write my name on the inside of the filter with a gooseneck kettle. I never do more than a bloom and one additional pour. I’m no expert on light roast coffees. But I enjoy making good fresh coffee using various brewing methods and consuming the resulting cups. Don’t we all.

The Cosori Juni is simply a fabulously fun and functional machine. It makes great single cup or batch brews, with an unmatched presentation (a rotating carousel like basket– an oscillating spout), convenience, and an app that allows for every conceivable parameter to be adjusted. In my 2 weeks of testing, I have not experienced a single issue related to the functionality of the machine.

When creating a recipe manually, and all your pours add up to your exact, initially selected total water volume, it lights up blue to indicate success! Or simply hit “auto adjust” on your next pour setting for the same result. You set these parameters with extremely accurate sliders (stop sliding and roll your thumb, like when you’re arrested and fingerprinted, to easily hit that exact number), or the - and + icons on either side of the sliders (for precise single digit adjustment). Dark mode? The Juni app is so cool it only has dark mode, and it’s gorgeously implemented.

The app, if it were a book, would win a Pulitzer; a horse, the Kentucky Derby. It’s that well done. It has one touch AI recipe creation too, for those who would rather not think for themselves. It’s a small, unobtrusive secondary (beta) button in the upper right hand corner you must seek out and press when creating a recipe.

After you enter your beans (with a photo), it auto-fills the basic info (poached pear, black currant), and creates an AI generated  recipe, which you can follow, refine, or trash as desired. I used it once, and then went back to using my head. Nothing to it, although AI probably knows more about coffee than I do. It uses the Gemini API, is free, and both easy to use or completely ignore.

The Juni is a superbly designed robotic pour-over machine, which rather precisely mimics a human pour-over with a gooseneck kettle (a best selling Cosori product–how gutsy is that?). Their touted “laminar flow” is real and apparent. It’s as smooth as silk coming out of the spout, exactly like the flow of a gooseneck kettle. No high pressure, channeling showerheads here, or resulting craters in your coffee bed.

It provides all of the beautiful theater and aroma of manual pour-overs, eliminating the kettle, and arguably allows for more repeatable results. The app permits the immediate brewing of recipes directly from within (a safety confirmation push of the play button is necessary on the Juni) Of course it does scheduled brews too, no confirmation needed. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Other than the attractive, solid handled 1.5L glass carafe (same size as the reservoir), the Juni is plastic on the exterior. You must make that call. I drink my water out of glass bottles, but make my “purified” water in a plastic RO machine. It’s the world we live in. I would still call it a solid, well built machine. I discovered no obvious weak points.

Cosori is totally upfront about the materials used, and of course all the plastic is BPA free and RFK jr approved. A glass dripper might be a nice upgrade, but currently the machine will not operate with anything other than the 2 OEM Tritan drippers. It knows, I tried. Also, consideration must be given to the vibration and basket rotation motor, and the additional strain heavier glass would put on them. Hack at your own risk.

It is a tough plastic, not Moccamaster plastic. The reservoir lid is unbendable, and the reservoir itself couldn’t be easier to fill, even without removing it, which is also possible.

Both the 600ml Hario #02 range server and 600ml Timemore server fit perfectly on the upper position of the Juni’s drip tray/cup holder. That’s no accident, you can be sure.

The drip stop, a yellow dotted lever that opens and closes the dripper flow, has a nice, affirmative click at each end of its smooth gliding movement, indicating open or closed.  It is nice to operate. Again, not like a Moccamaster’s cheaply made, sticky on/off slider on the basket, but a well designed mechanism (it connects to a solid looking, thick circular disk under the brew deck that surrounds the basket stopper) that should last. This also allows for immersion brewing should you so choose, just like a Hario Switch (they also make Tritan versions now). In other words, a solid java joy stick controller.

The pre-wet button is neat, and shows that the designers were serious about creating a truly automated pour-over machine, one that performs all the steps you would during a manual pour. While I have been known to skip this step, the true pour-over aficionado would not. It precisely and accurately pours just 40ml on the filter as the basket rotates, wetting it completely. Nifty. 

I have provided feedback suggesting the pre-wet volume be made user adjustable (all us reviewers become wannabe engineers/designers). While this feature works well (it does add a rather long minute and a half to your workflow), it could work much better if more volume were allowed, thereby more thoroughly heating the basket, and even your cup below. 

I have come up with what I think is a clever idea that addresses this. I have used one of the 3 presets on the display to create a simple pre-heat preset. I replaced the Golden Cup 1000ml carafe preset, since I always make single cups. The app even allows you to change the icon from the large pixelated G (for Golden Cup, the SCA certified standard brew) to whatever you choose. I made a “P”, for pre-heat. Go to Settings>Favorite Button Setup>Tap on the preset letter or number you wish to edit the LED pattern for. This is the only setting that took me a minute to find in the entire app.

It’s just a fun add-on in the app, like the pixel heart that appears on the display at startup, and the winking smiley face upon shutdown. There’s a cute steaming cup at brew finish, and a drip, drip of pixels when the Juni is doing so. There are other animations too, cute but also informative. The display is large, bright, rectangular, practical, and is shaped and sized like an iPhone 5 of yesteryear. It’s well executed and simple to use.

You can brew by just using the display, without need of your phone or the app. Select "roast" level – light-medium-dark (temp-96°-93°-90°) and "strength" (ratio 1:18-1:16-1:15), and number of cups (cup volume is user adjustable in the app-default is 240ml).

The display will then tell you how many "scoops"(Cosori 5g and 10g double sided scoop provided) of coffee to add. The scoop instructions can be turned off in the settings if you are using the much more customizable app and consider this an insult to your barista skills.

I chose 350ml volume for my "P" pre-heat preset (it comes to almost the top the filter and almost totally fills the basket, and when released to my oversized 444ml double-walled glass mug below, heats that up as well), the fastest flow rate of 4.0ml/sec (slowest is 2.5ml/sec), turned off vibration (5 or 10 second options exist for every pour), and chose the center pour pattern (also circular or spiral options, also adjustable per pour). I basically created a fast water fill for the basket, and then an even faster release to my mug with a smooth slide and click of the yellow dotted drip stop.

I close the drip stop, hit the “P” on the display, and the basket fills to almost the top, preheating it (Tritan steals less heat than ceramic or glass). I then open the drip stop, the water flows smoothly and quickly down into my mug, and I begin grinding my beans. The mug gets heated during that time, and the basket remains hot. One could even leave a bit of water in the basket now that I think about it. This method works great, is not news to pour-over enthusiasts, who often preheat their mugs, and as you will read below, helps with the final, in the cup temperature after brewing small cups.

The Juni brews to a max of 96°C, or 205°F. I brew everything at this temp, just like I start with boiling water from a kettle to make my manual pour-overs (James Hoffmann approved). Pour-overs, unlike enclosed drip machines, suffer from greater heat loss. It’s simple physics, a fact of life. It has not stopped us from enjoying them, preferring them in fact, as one of the most pleasant tasting types of manual brewing.   

The baskets fit nicely on the silicone top of the brew deck. A gentle push softly plops them down into the locked position. Both conveniently lock in the closed position when unplopped, preventing messy drips on the way to the sink or trash.

There is no lid on top of the basket, like a Moccamaster, and what pour-over enthusiast would want one? Watching the bloom, after the Juni’s spiral or circular pour (you choose – while the basket rotates like a carousel), and the CO2 bubbles escape, is part of the lovely theater of making a pour-over. The Juni does not disappoint in this regard. Now is the perfect time to take a whiff, inhaling the intense, concentrated aroma of your bubbling brew. 

Your subsequent pours provide the same pleasant visual and olfactory experience. Watch your coffee brew in the open air basket, the water spiraling over the grounds as they drink in the water of life, the basket rotating, creating a swirl effect like a galaxy in the cosmos. Your brew is born (cue Also sprach Zarathustra).

From my unscientific testing, the Juni brews at 96°C as advertised. I measured the slurry in the basket at 90°C. I’ve made 95 brews (of course your brew history is recorded in the app, easily accessed and “start again” button ready) in almost 2 weeks, and only my first one seemed “not hot enough”.

That’s because the default #2 preset (15g/240ml) I used has a 3 pour (declining in temperature for each subsequent pour) recipe that is not conducive to impressing a first time user. It was 60° or 61 degrees in the cup. When I created my own 15g recipe, using 96° and 2 pours, it was 65°C, perfect to my taste.

It’s like this: Make the Golden Cup 1000ml preset recipe in the carafe, and the Juni brews a piping hot, SCA gold certified, 34ozs of delicious coffee. Brew a single 22g 350ml cup (my usual), it still serves it up too hot to consume immediately. But when brewing 15g, 240ml cups, preheating your mug is advisable. When I do, I get a cup around 65°C, which is still plenty hot, hotter even than an Ember mug’s max temp, which is 62.5°C.

Again, this is nothing new to pour-over people, and may I remind you that our esteemed host, Mr. Hoffmann, prefers 54°C coffee, and that is when he wants more warmth. George Howell, recognized as the godfather of specialty coffee, concurs.

My other backwards baseball cap wearing brethren do too. All true coffee lovers know the real flavor notes don’t start making themselves known until around 60°C or lower, and we have all experienced that better taste as the coffee cools.

No doubt there will be those who insist that pouring your own water, while in morning meditative bliss, creates the ultimate pour-over, and that there can be no substitute. Who knows, they might be right. 

But if you are in the market for a true automatic pour-over machine, that can also make a 1.5L batch brew with ease, then you should consider the Juni. It’s fun, it’s functional, and the funny thing is, a true pour-over purist is the one who will appreciate it the most. That perfectly brewed cup, prepared to their exact specifications, each and every time. Repeat as desired.

It remembers your recipes, your beans, your previous brews. It pre-wets your filter, adjusts your flow rate and your brew temp, per pour if you like. It vibrates, leveling the bed. It rotates, evenly and smoothly dispersing the water. It makes a great cup of coffee, every time, and does it in an undeniably charming way. Of course once you add your fine tuned, perfected favorite recipes to the display’s presets, you can lose the phone.

It is as different from a sterile, enclosed black box drip coffeemaker (falsely masquerading as a pour-over machine) as one could imagine. The Juni is in fact, a true automated pour-over machine, designed from its inception for that sole purpose. Don’t lord over your pour-over, just stand back and let it all be (credit: Springsteen).

If somebody showed this American the Juni for the first time, and said it had been around for decades, and is in practically every household in Europe, I would just have to nod my head approvingly, because it would make total sense to me. I think many small cafes will purchase a couple too, to allow the barista to simply hit play, and then perform other duties, instead of having to man the pour themselves.

Cosori spent years bringing this machine to fruition. They hold multiple patents on the design. There is nothing else like it on the market, and the current preorder price is a steal. Free was even better. 

How many reviews have we watched of this machine? Did a single "reviewer" (most of them fawning over their free machines from Fellow) have the guts to tell us this? Of course their affiliate links do them no good if we don't buy.

How many current owners knew this? My 5 year old $450 Gaggia Classic Pro has a metal diffusion plate, as do most ALL espresso machines. A plastic exterior is one thing, but a plastic grouphead component? Fellow cheaps out again. Nice work Jake.

Microplastics anyone? I'm not one of those people overly concerned with microplastics. But pressurized scalding hot water through the plastic diffusion plate, then my coffee, and directly into my shot glass? Even I have to pass on that.

Shouldn't Fellow have made this clear to the consumer? I heard a lot of talk about a brass grouphead, thereby improving thermal stability, but nothing about the plastic diffusion plate, which is of course part of that grouphead.

Marketing is nothing more than propaganda to make you buy stuff. Shame on Fellow, and every reviewer who didn't point this out.

https://youtu.be/yEAjODJLekY?t=1316

Out with the old, but not without a nod to its performance and longevity. My place is too dusty not to have a lid. One guy in Ireland sells a 3D printed one. Then it hit me.

For those interested, the Femobook A4 is a great grinder for both pourover and espresso. The clicks are different than the more expensive and less capable A4Z. The A4Z's 150 -170 clicks for pourover (it can't grind for espresso) is the A4's espresso range. A4 pourover recommended clicks are 260-300 clicks from 0. It's producing fabulously clean cups, but of course my palate is not as sophisticated as an A4Z owner's.

The most notable thing is the weight to size ratio. It really feels like a 5.8lb/2.6kg dumbbell. I disassembled it and adjusted to 0, following OCS’s excellent video instructions without issue. I’m not into guns, but every Glock owner would probably enjoy the Femobook. It’s put together that well.

I can pour beans from my Subminimal scale without spilling any, but it takes a little more care than the A2, which has a wider hopper. Of course it’s about twice as fast as the A2, but the catch cup is smaller. That's 25g in the pic. A very nice piece of kit as they say.

I bought the A2 and it's great. I have had a 1Zpresso J for years, so the A2 was a no brainer. Everybody should have one. But I like high end diner coffee, what can I say? I also was intrigued with the solid aluminum build and greater speed of the other models. My kitchen is tiny too.

I bought a used A4 (NOT A4Z) tonight. I'm glad it's the old auto off model, and I'm glad one push of the power button turns it on. The A2, being a travel model, needs a second or two press and hold to "activate", then another tap to start grinding. Hardly a deal breaker. It's a fabulous grinder.

I wanted more power and speed than the A3 provides (it didn't seem like enough of an upgrade from the A2), and didn't want to spend the money for the A5. A68 is also too expensive and has a power brick. So that left the A4, the one nobody talks about. And I found a used one at a reasonable price.

I know most here rave about the A4Z. Enjoy yours. But I have not found a single independent video of the A4, not one. I will use it for pourover (paired eventually with the Cosori Juni when it releases-a Fellow Fix™ neutered Aiden currently), and I'd like to hear opinions. I have a Eureka Mignon Notte for espresso, and will of course compare the two. But I mainly bought it for pourover, and because the design was irresistible.

I know, more fines and more body, at the expense of clarity. I would just like to hear average user experiences. Comparisons to other grinders. I know some bought them when they were on sale. I have a feeling this was marketed as dual use even by Femobook before the A4Z (and A5). But they have apparently scrubbed the internet of all evidence. I think it will work well for excellent diner coffee.

EDIT: A4Z cheerleaders, endlessly needing to confirm their purchase, claim, without evidence and incredibly, no personal experience, that the A4 is unreliable and produces muddy cups.

Actual A4 users in this very thread, and Amir Hossein from Our Coffee Shelter, say otherwise.

Amir Hossein: "For pour-over you can still get very enjoyable filter coffee from A4" (in a written comment to a questioner).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkrQFh_1DO8&t=1410s

Another tester and user from Taiwan:

"The A4 electric grinder performs well in pour-over brewing, producing clean, delicate flavors that are easy to enjoy".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkrQFh_1DO8&t=1410s

I got mine to pair with my Cosori Juni, arriving this summer.

https://www.reddit.com/r/JamesHoffmann/comments/1tn52xm/cosori_juni_the_automated_pourover_machine/

EDIT: These are $95 U.S. bucks on AliX. I couldn't wait.

I have had a 1Zpresso J for many years, so when I learned of the close affiliation Femobook has with them, I thought I'd try it.

Modular, lightweight, but has more heft than reviews lead one to believe (feels well built, despite exterior plastic), the metal internals/burr make themselves known, auto shut off, whisper quiet (quieter than my 1Zpresso J!), sloped ramp (battery cover) makes pouring beans in hopper (my test held 48g with lid on) a pleasant experience. The magnetic lid and catch cup are functional (Aeropress friendly), and just plain fun to use.

No stuck beans, no retention. I whack the bottom after grinding, just like I do my 1Z J. I do cold starts every time.

The ONLY negative, if you insist on calling it that, is grind time. 25g in at 40 clicks from lockup, out of 120, takes 1:48. Auto shutoff means not having to hover over it. Put your filter in the basket, put your beans away, comb your hair, it's worth the benefit of a slow grind, of which their are many proponents.

I like the portability, or, since I'm not traveling, the maneuverability. I put it beside my Subminimal scale (great combo, btw), and coffee bag, grind, then move it off my cutting board like any other utensil.

Lastly, the 2 18650 batteries, commonly used in flashlights, are user replaceable. When I compared the A2 to other handheld grinders, although the A2 is superior in many respects, I always came back to that thoughtfully designed feature. Femobook deserves my business, because they dared do what other manufacturers have refused to do.

The quality of the burr is outstanding. My coffee is great. Since I like some body in my coffee, I went from 40 clicks to 35, and could immediately tell the difference. Still smooth as silk, but more flavor. A great cup. That's the extent of my coffee descriptors, haha. Read other reviews for that. Here's a good one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DbPBFr80ds&t=1s

Before purchase, I did a lot of reading here and elsewhere about the A2. It used to do espresso, it can't anymore without a shim, etc.

FYI: I got mine yesterday, new from Amazon, and it does espresso just fine.

Frozen Lavazza Gran Espresso beans/GaggiMate/GCP 9 bar profile/no preinfusion

18g at “0”, the locked up A2 setting (#2 on mine)/4:00 grind time/1:25 until 40g brew by weight shutoff!

18g at 5 clicks from lock up/2:26 grind time/22 seconds until 40g brew by weight shutoff

18g at 4 clicks from lock up/2:36 grind time/26 seconds until 40g brew by weight shutoff

18g at 3 clicks from lock up/2:52 grind time/35 seconds until 40g brew by weight shutoff

It’s accurate, repeatable, and worked flawlessly. The first grind (finest possible setting) I had to turn it on again for a single remaining bean. After that, it worked until auto shutoff without issue, grinding all the beans every time.

It's quite a nifty gadget, with a great modular design, and user replaceable batteries. My initial reaction, after watching too many videos that emphasized the light weight and exterior plastic, was "This is perfectly hefty, not too light". In other words, the metal internals/burrs make themselves known. I got it for pourover, but it works just fine for espresso too.

Fellow (Established 2013):

Product: Aiden Coffeemaker - purchased used (eBay-October 2025), like new. Other Fellow products owned: Stagg Corvo kettle, Walnut handle add-on accessory, Carter Mug.

Issue: Failed plastic part, due to premature corrosion (see above pic). 

CS (U.S. based) Interaction: AI chat. Email received 2 days later. 

CS request: None. Since purchased used, no warranty claim was made. Part was purchased and user installed in 30 seconds, no tools required. Although it quarter screws into the center of the showerhead, it is not sold separately. $20.00 with shipping.

Resolution: Part arrived promptly. Part cost was refunded after a firmware patch (1.5.9) was issued, which eliminated the functionality (safety feature) of the failed part. The part fixed the Aiden, the patch intentionally broke it again.

Reason for Fellow action: Avoid future warranty repairs, CS ticket writing, and continued CS support for the Aiden, and their customers.

Fellow’s other available actions: 

Continue to honor warranty. 

Continue to sell part.

Fix faulty part

Issue firmware patch to reinstate safety feature. Make setting optional.

Hoover (Established 1908):

Product: PowerScrub Deluxe Carpet Cleaner Machine - purchased used (January 2026 - Amazon return), like new. Other Hoover products owned: None.

Issue: Missing plastic hanger (see above pic). Original Amazon purchaser neglected to include part in return.

CS (U.S. based) Interaction: Telephone, with a human.

CS Request: None. Since purchased used, no warranty claim was made. Although plastic hanger attaches to accessory bag, it is not sold separately. $20.00 with shipping.

Resolution: Hoover offered the missing part, with accessory bag, free of charge, including shipping. It arrived promptly.

Reason for Hoover action: Build customer loyalty. A sense of obligation.

Hoover’s other available actions:

Accept voluntary paid order from customer.

Conclusion: Please arrive at your own.

At Fellow, we didn't just want to build another coffee ecosystem. We wanted to build a harmonious collective. But harmony requires alignment. That is why we engineered the Fellowship Compliance E-Meter™.

Traditional coffee gear only measures variables you can control, like grind size, or temperature. The E-Meter measures the one variable you shouldn't control, your opinion.

Through our proprietary Bluetooth protocol, the E-Meter automatically tethers to your Reddit, Discord, and Instagram accounts. It doesn't just sync with your morning routine, it tracks your online sentiment in real time.

We noticed some users were exhibiting suboptimal Fellowship™. Leaving three-star reviews, asking questions about build quality, and wanting explanations for preorder delays. Expressing doubt. If Fellow removes a feature from your Aiden, so we don't have to replace failed parts under warranty (known here at HQ as the Fellow Fix™), accept our founder's decision without comment. And please, no more talk about honoring obligations, or disreputable business practices. Jake knows best.

Unlike our intentionally neutered Aiden, the Fellowship Compliance E-Meter™ knows.  If your online feedback drops below 98.1% positive reviews, the device instantly communicates with your Fellow Aiden coffee maker.

The Aiden will gracefully reject your morning brew, locking the thermal carafe until a state of total conformity is achieved. To unlock your coffee, simply log back into the subreddit and paste one of our pre-approved, authentic sounding praise templates.

Because great coffee isn't built on critique. It's built on community management. Fellow. Engineered for a harmonious morning.

Fellow, the church of scientology of the consumer appliance manufacturing industry r/fellowproducts,  is very angry with me. They have ostracized me because I criticized Jake Miller, their CEO, for pushing a firmware patch to their Aiden coffeemaker with an “ignore” command, instead of sending out replacement $1.00 parts, as any principled company would do. 

Years ago, Miller went to Kickstarter asking for money. Now he won't fix a $1.00 part on his $400.00 coffeemaker.

My Coffee-Fueled Idea Brought In $200K on Kickstarter — Then Became a 9-Figure Business – Jake Miller

I think entrepreneurs are born to be entrepreneurs — it just has to be in you. – Jake Miller

I just wanted my Aiden made whole again, and he ruined everything. I didn't know I was in a cult. I no longer feel safe. May I please go into hiding here? 

My thread, (linked below, it’s long) has 54,000 views, and Fellow responded to me personally, because they fear James Hoffmann’s clout. I must acknowledge Hoffmann (maybe a frequent target here), he was the only coffee sub to allow me a consumer voice. Maybe because he reviewed the Aiden a year ago, enumerating its features, one of which Jake Miller has since removed, so he could stop hemorrhaging money on warranty claims. Maybe Hoffman might feel duped too, just as I do.

This Polish guy disassembled his machine to show me a pic of his same part, proving in his mind that the part Fellow has themselves acknowledged is faulty, is not prone to failure. Now that's funny. He is also apparently using OSINT to try to discover my identity. That's weird.

https://www.reddit.com/r/JamesHoffmann/comments/1tktb85/comment/onk4e48/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

But their astroturfing and brigading is no joke. Their tactics mimic the church of scientology, no criticism, no internal dissent is permitted. I want to go clear, of Fellow. Help me.

Here's the original thread, with 54,000 views, that made me a marked man:

https://www.reddit.com/r/JamesHoffmann/comments/1tktb85/the_fellow_fix_a_new_innovation_from_fellow/

I became aware of this an hour ago. I already put a $20.00 deposit down, and got a confirmation email. I'm now entitled to the Kickstarter VIP price of $199.00, meaning I owe just $179.00 They are promising late summer delivery.

The Cosori JUNI absolutely blows the double priced Aiden away. Talk about Out of the Aiden Box thinking. I'm also assuming Cosori will fix it if it breaks (Fellow employs their Fellow Fix™, which I am not a fan of). 2 year warranty. Of course there is an app, downloadable community shared profiles, temp control, etc.

A ROTATING brew basket and customizable pour pattern, like a SPIRAL pattern! Barista mode, which allows you to control every parameter with the app. It also happens to be gorgeous. Tell me this isn't every pourover lovers dream machine.

Make sure you scroll horizontally across all the vids on their site, to see it in action. $199.00? I hate cliches, so I won't say it. But I already gave them my money, so they don't have to take it. Build quality is of course unknown, but I own an Aiden, so I doubt it could be worse.

Cosori is best known for their air fryers. I own none of their products, but I'm going to own this one. They appear to have an excellent reputation as a company. After my recent troubles with my Aiden, and Fellow's disreputable business practices, this seems like a gift from heaven.

EDIT: The water spout retracts into the body of the machine, I just realized from the pics. Pretty cool. After you prepare your filter and coffee, at the push of a button, the phallic water spout awakens, and will begin to elongate, slowly growing out of the body of the machine, and then, once erect over the coffee, start spurting!

This is one coffeemaker you won't have to sell the wife on! They did miss a marketing opportunity when they didn't simply call it The Wood. Your morning coffee could have then been forever known colloquially as your morning wood.

Also, note the "Theater factor". Watch your coffee brew in the open air basket, watch the water pour over the grounds, as they drink in the water of life, the basket rotating, creating a swirl effect like a far away galaxy in the cosmos. Your brew is born.

My Aiden Black Box? "Low Theater", like putting your mug in the microwave. Nothing to see here.

Aesthetics: Despite being unable to contain my attraction to the undeniably sexy Juni, I remain a gentleman, and will not body shame.

Pourover purist, are you? You like to pour the water yourself, and consider it an early morning, meditative experience (I was too, for years)? If so, the Cosori is not for you.

But for those who are open to a beautifully designed machine, that quite closely mimics a human pourover (with possibly more repeatable results), while at the same time presenting an overall pleasing, uniquely executed (carousel like) experience that no other machine ever has, then they should seriously consider it.

The Cosori JUNI - The Automated Pour-Over Machine - The sexiest coffeemaker ever.

https://cosori.com/pages/juni

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTq_qnfn4dY

https://dailycoffeenews.com/2026/05/21/cosori-shakes-up-automated-home-pourovers-with-the-juni-brewer/

It arrived from Miami. Cleaned up great. The exterior of the old style, all stainless steel tapered carafe, which was a big selling point for me (love the tapered look), stays cool (vacuum seal good). Only thing not included was the travel lid, which seller clearly notes. I picked one up elsewhere. I have a message to the seller asking him how a guy comes into 60 plus Moccamaster KBT's. If he doesn't respond, I'm making something up.

Miami Vice stuff, hot women in a boutique hotel. Drugs are involved (It's a youthful fantasy).

[EDIT: Seller just replied haha: "glad you are enjoying it. You are correct, I got these from a boutique hotel, they switched over to Keurig style coffee makers."]

And when I brew my first pot soon, I'm gonna pretend I'm Sterling Hayden on his barge in Paris (originally purchased in the Netherlands). Watch Pharoahs of Chaos (1983), a great doc of him drinking, reflecting, and smoking hash on his barge.

If this is permitted, and you're looking, consider one of these. He's got 5 left. I made an offer of $140, he came back with $160 and I bought it. No regrets. https://www.ebay.com/itm/326989271129

This thread details a failed part on a Fellow Aiden coffeemaker, and The Fellow Fix™ being applied, their publicly announced firmware solution for a failed, physical part that was causing them warranty headaches (costing them money).

I have lusted over the Fellow Espresso Series 1 as much as anybody. No more. I see no reason to believe that Fellow won't apply the same unethical solution to the Fellow ES1, a much more complicated machine. I'll stick to my GaggiMate/GCP, which also "permits" me to use a bluetooth scale. Yes, I am very disappointed in Fellow as a company.

I have an Aiden. I like it, it makes good coffee, and it broke. Sound familiar? It wasn't a bad break, it still made coffee, but an error started popping up on the display saying "Set showerhead selector to single", even when it already was. Some don't read underneath the warning, where it tells you, admittedly in very fine print, to push the button one more time to override the warning, and brewing resumes. Hardly the end of the world, but I chose to fix it.

I got online and found the culprit, the tiny showerhead selector switch in the center of the showerhead. https://www.reddit.com/r/FellowProducts/comments/1mzq7zl/set_showerhead_to_single_error/

Turns out it is a well known, well documented problem, one that has been a recurring headache for Fellow. They have replaced entire units due to the failure of this tiny, cheap (too cheap, apparently), user replaceable part. The tiniest metal part on the edge corrodes (this has no effect on the function of manually setting the showerhead), likely due to heat and water intrusion, and when it corrodes enough, it no longer allows Fellow's elaborate magnetic detection system to detect the showerhead position.

Since my Aiden is about a year old, I give your Aiden about the same amount of time until yours fails too. But don't despair, because the Fellow Fix™ solves the problem! For Fellow, that is.

I bought my Aiden used for about half price, and lucked out with the updated model with the stainless steel mesh over the water inlet, and the only "Add water" warning I have ever received has been the result of the reservoir actually running out of water.

I did look over one day and noticed my lid looked crooked, like warped upward but only on one corner (the opposite corner of the pic in the link). Heat expansion (yes, nearby that pesky showerhead selector) had apparently made the corner pop out of its seat. Hard snapped it right back in, problem solved.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FellowProducts/comments/1j9rjle/comment/no0tfg4/

I ordered the $20.00 with shipping showerhead (They don't sell the $1.00 center switch separately, even though it just quarter turn screws into the showerhead), in white because black is sold out. No surprise, right?

The very next day, I read this, a public announcement from Fellow, announcing their latest, 1.5.9 firmware: "We are removing the showerhead-specific logic". The Fellow Fix™. https://www.reddit.com/r/FellowProducts/comments/1t7crg5/upcoming_aiden_firmware_update_version_159/

They refunded my money on a Sunday, and told me to keep the showerhead when it arrived. Nice of them.

I think it is fair to say, Fellow does not have a reputation for quality (That has not stopped them from becoming a 9 figure company, nor me from buying their products). The Fellow Fix™ is not the way to redefine that image.

The Fellow Fix™ is the dumbest, most unethical, legally risky thing Jake Miller has ever done as the founder and CEO of Fellow. Instead of fixing an oft failed, cheap, user replaceable part, Miller has decided to make it go away (along with the safety feature and most importantly, the costly warranty replacements) with a firmware patch.

He ordered the removal of the feature, the SAFETY feature Fellow engineers thoughtfully designed, that warns one of a mismatched showerhead selection relative to the basket, which could cause the overflow of scalding hot water. This conveniently makes the faulty part inoperable, for sensing purposes, and will simultaneously do away with many, many future customer service tickets. He wants to save money, by reneging on his obligations to his customers. Instead of replacing a failed Fellow part, he wants it to remain, only go unnoticed.

Users will now have to just ignore the dead, decaying mouse behind the refrigerator. Future buyers will not even notice the mouse.

I can distinctly remember being both surprised and delighted, “Oh yeah, I forgot!” when I got the warning the first time. “Wow, how cool, it knows!”. Fkn A, Fellow™!

Yeah, it's just a Fellow first world bell and whistle (although companies often add forced "warnings" for liability reasons. Miller may regret this yet), but Aiden customers paid for it, as it was marketed to them, and he's only removing it so he doesn't have to send you a dollar part.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDvm1cIpC0Y&t=30s

I was seriously considering the Fellow Espresso Series 1 (Miller likes you to say the name in its entirety). I have repeatedly said the design is MoMA worthy, and it truly is. I told Nick the beefy steam wand is macho, and reminds me of a Harley tailpipe. I like to think that is part of his vernacular now.

But the build quality is of course unproven, and if this is how Fellow chooses to handle cheap, failed, user replaceable parts on the Aiden, only a diehard fanboy should consider buying the ES1.

When Jake Miller went to Kickstarter years ago, asking for money, I doubt he said failed parts on his products would be ignored, and their (safety) features eliminated by firmware. What changed at Fellow? What happened to standing behind your product? Has that business principle been neuralyzed?

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0057/6235/1219/files/Jake_MIB_GIF_Option_1.gif?v=1688142313

I bought a used KBT last night, with the old style tapered all stainless steel carafe, and I'm excited. It's only about 5 years old I think – some ebay seller got his hands on 60 used KBTs – how does that happen?

I'm disgusted with Fellow, and am going to replace my Aiden with the Moccamaster. Fellow actually did away with the function of a tiny, cheap, user replaceable part in the showerhead that was causing them warranty issues. It gets corroded, and since it's serves as a sensor combined with magnets, the machine starts throwing errors. I just experienced the error, and the replacement part fixed it.

But now, Fellow issued a firmware patch that actually does away with the function of the part, which warns you if you have the wrong showerhead setting relative to the basket you are using. Just a first world Fellow bell and whistle, but something they also marketed to the world, and now that their cheaply made part keeps failing, what do they do? They kill the part and the feature. Failed part, who needs it! It is called the Fellow Fix™, and they did it to save money, the hell with the customer and what we promised them, what we sold them.

Don't stand behind your product, don't fix a bad part, just eliminate the advertised function. Problem solved! So even though I just replaced the part, if I update the firmware, which happens automatically unless you delete the Aiden from the app, I lose the feature I just went to the trouble to get fixed.

How unMoccamaster of them. I have also been comparing in my mind the Aiden (which does makes pretty good coffee), with the Moccamaster, and I was wondering about the fact that there are no lids with hinges like the Aiden (both water reservoir and basket), and I thought I would have to remove the brew basket each time to load it, or clumsily manuever around the spray arm to place the filter and add the coffee.

Then I watched this 16 year old video. 16 years old, and that's my KBT (the Aiden would be long in the land fill). The spray arm can be moved to the side! I didn't know that. I've never seen anyone other than this gentleman do it. Everyone I've seen always removes the brew basket to install the filter and add the coffee. You don't have to! Maybe everyone knows this but me, but I am even more excited now. It's the little things. :)

One button, no wifi, no apps, no features removed by the Fellow Fix™, just great coffee from a great company that knows what "standing behind your product" means. Cheers!

https://youtu.be/dKoIs_oEM0Q?t=171

Show us your favorite

Here is my rather minimalist setup, designed to work as much as possible from the bottom of my Kobo Libra Colour. I hold it down there, so why reach? My bottom right corner tap gesture pulls up my quickmenu with most everything I need. I have one in the Library and another in the Reader. The Reader left corner tap simply takes me back Home, and a long press toggles the front light.

What made me post was my discovery today of the simple yet elegant Bottom Navigation Bar patch https://www.reddit.com/r/koreader/comments/1rx98gg/bottom_navigation_bar_with_extras_vos_based_on/, which follows my bottoms up philosophy and adds some basic, yet useful functionality. With the help of https://github.com/qewer33/koreader-patches/blob/main/2-hide-pagination.lua, which hides the stock pagination bar, my nav bar is clean, like my conscience.

I didn't think I cared much about reading stats, but since Bottom Nav Bar provides an optional Stats button, which activates https://www.reddit.com/r/koreader/comments/1rlbi28/colored_modified_reading_insights_patch/ when added, I thought I'd try it. I like it.

Up top I use https://gist.github.com/sebdelsol/494c897446deefe6995d8e38adc0a4b6 as I wanted an active wi-fi icon (visible on and off), and, forgive me KOReader, but "Kobo", easily entered in the custom text field (and, as we all know, an anagram of "book"), brings me joy. :)

As for the Reader, I use the Bookends plugin https://github.com/AndyHazz/bookends.koplugin, what else? I'm a fan. Alternating author/title and chapter title (by using odd and even page numbers) up top, and whatever your heart desires down below, I always have the page number and metro status bar visible, and a tap brings up or dismisses all the additional info.

Of course none of this is my doing, I'm just a contented noob. All the credit goes to the developers who have put the time and effort into making KOReader a stellar reading experience. Thank you.