The full story
By the Espresso Rated editors · Published Nov 13, 2026
The Series 1 is Fellow's first espresso machine: a quick-heating boiler, a 58mm portafilter, a small round screen and an app, with no grinder built in. The praise is for speed, milk and the amount of control at the price. The doubts are about plastic, unfinished software and what happens when it needs a repair.
Sweet, clean shots from built-in profiles, with pressure that can wander7.4/10
The Series 1 pulls sweet, well-extracted espresso, and shot quality is widely liked. James Hoffmann's summary of a shot is short: "Sweet, it's clean, it's well extracted."1 A set of built-in profiles changes the pressure through the pull to suit different roasts, and Wired found that simply switching profile with the bean is enough for very good espresso. The PID-controlled temperature draws steady praise for holding firm from one shot to the next.
The profiling is useful but coarse. Stages move on by time, not by flow or pressure, the pressure adjusts in whole-bar steps, and the machine cannot manage a long, even decline. The Coffee Bill watched it under and overshoot its target. For anyone who wants to squeeze every last bit from a coffee, Hoffmann's view is "I don't think this is there yet".2
Consistency is the caveat. ECS Coffee pulled near-perfect shots back to back, then saw wide swings between the next ones.3 Coffeeness had uneven shots until the machine was fully warm and calibrated, and steady ones after that. ECS also found the dose the machine recommends too small for its basket.
Brew-ready in about 2 minutes, and no steaming while a shot runs8.5/10
Heat-up is the Series 1's most consistent strength. The Boosted Boiler uses a three-element heating system and is ready in about 2 minutes from cold. Lance Hedrick puts it plainly: "This machine can give you full performance in 2 minutes of heat up."4
The move from brewing to steaming is quick too. Steam arrives within seconds of asking for it, so a shot followed by milk is one short routine and not a pair of waits.
There are limits. You cannot brew and steam at the same time, and Alternative Brewing warns that a run of milk drinks for a group will slow you down. Coffeeness also found the quick start slightly generous, reporting that "the machine was only really stable after at least 10 minutes".5
Silky milk from a top-mounted wand that stops at temperature, with a limited swing7.8/10
Milk is where the Series 1 is kindest to a beginner, and steaming is widely liked. ECS Coffee's verdict: "It's hard to mess up your milk with this wand."6 Men's Journal describes dry, powerful steam that makes latte-art microfoam easy.7 The wand sits on top of the machine on a ball joint, has a temperature sensor at the tip and can stop by itself at the temperature you set.
How strong it feels depends on what you are used to. Equal Parts Coffee found it clearly quicker than a Breville and closer to a commercial machine. Our Coffee Shelter and Riley Westbrook call it steady and capable, short of the strongest wands around.
It is not foolproof. Bon Appétit found that unless the pitcher sits just so, the result is "unevenly steamed, thin milk", and that the wand took more practice than expected.8 Setting the wrong milk type on the screen also changes the outcome. The wand's rotation is limited, it pushes out a little water before the steam, and Red Rooster wanted its milk a touch hotter.
A screen that tells you to grind finer, and an automatic stop you cannot trust6.4/10
Ease divides opinion, and the split is between the coaching and the software around it. The coaching is good. The machine walks you through each drink and, after a shot, says whether to grind finer or coarser. The Coffee Bill dialed in a coffee quickly on that advice alone,9 and Bon Appétit put a complete newcomer in front of it who worked it out almost at once.
The automatic shot stop is the weak part. It estimates output from water flow instead of weighing the cup, and Men's Journal found it "consistently cut the shot off way too early".10 Coffeeness calls it fairly inaccurate, Red Rooster had to change an offset in the settings, and ECS Coffee gave up on it. Our Coffee Shelter had better luck, with only a small overshoot. The machine does not connect to a smart scale, so put your own under the cup.
The software is still being built. Some app features are marked as coming soon, several settings can only be changed on the machine, and custom drink recipes are not ready. The screen is small, hard to read when you stand over the low body, and some menus lag. Hoffmann wants more guardrails in it and Hedrick dislikes the firmware bugs. Updates do arrive over the air.
The 2.0L removable tank is a good size and can be filled in place. It lifts straight up only, so check your cabinet height, and there is no water level indicator on the outside. The machine is wider than most home machines, and the tank takes up cup space on top.
21.61 lb of coated plastic that feels well made, and a repair path nobody can vouch for5.7/10
The body is plastic inside and out, and whether that bothers you is the question. The finish itself earns respect. The Coffee Bill calls the coated shell "a high quality plastic finish",11 Hoffmann has plenty of good to say about fit and finish, and Coffeeness found the machine solid. The 58mm portafilter is heavy and feels like quality.
The other side is weight. At 21.61 lb, Men's Journal found it so light that "the entire unit visibly shifts on your counter".12 Bon Appétit says it does not feel cheap, but the plastic was obvious next to a Lelit Mara. Hoffmann finds the portafilter badly balanced and notices it every time,13 the spout attachment is plastic, and the surface shows fingerprints.
Repair is the bigger worry. Hedrick describes a long row of screws to remove from underneath with the machine upside down, Hoffmann says this is not a machine you will fix at home, and Bryce Himmelreich flags proprietary parts and switches he considers failure points.
“I will not recommend this machine until I know what the repairability path is.”
Evidence on the long run is thin. Hoffmann has seen only scattered one-off faults, such as a failed sensor, and Hedrick reports good word on Fellow's customer service. Coffeeness heard a persistent buzzing after steaming. The machine comes with a standard warranty, and that is as far as the record goes.
A big baffled tray and a self-purging wand, with wet pucks and a back panel to wipe7.2/10
Daily upkeep is well thought out and widely liked. Lower the wand after steaming and it purges itself with water, which keeps milk out of the tip. The drip tray is large and baffled so it does not slosh on the way to the sink, and Hoffmann, who often complains about tiny trays, has no complaint here. The machine prompts you to backflush and descale, and the backflush disc and wand tool live under the silicone mat.
The mess is elsewhere. ECS Coffee warns that this machine "will have soupy pucks"14 and finds it more work to wipe out. The plastic panel behind the group catches spray from the bottomless portafilter, though Coffeeness found its matte surface easy to clean. The machine also sends a fair amount of water to the tray, so it fills sooner than its size suggests, and Equal Parts Coffee found the group head rinse hit or miss.
Profiling control at $1,499.95, against heavier metal machines at the same money8.5/10
For what it lets you control, the Series 1 is widely seen as good value at $1,499.95. Pressure profiling has usually meant spending several times more. Daddy Got Coffee, who wants to tinker with every variable, calls the capability "really unmatched at $1,500".15 The box helps: a bottomless portafilter, a spout attachment, baskets, a tamper and a steel milk pitcher. There is no grinder, so that goes on the bill.
The case weakens if control is not what you are buying. Men's Journal points out that Lelit, Diletta and Rancilio sell better-built machines in the same price range.16 Riley Westbrook wonders whether saving a little longer or buying used would serve better. Hedrick finds it hard to recommend over a Breville Bambino for someone who only drinks cappuccinos.17
Our verdict
Buy the Series 1 if you treat espresso as a hobby and want pressure profiles, quick heat and easy milk without paying for a lab-grade machine. Skip it if you want heavy metal, simple local servicing or finished software from day one. Budget for a grinder and a scale, and stop shots by weight instead of trusting the automatic cutoff. In the shop, lock in the portafilter and see whether the machine stays put and whether the handle's balance suits your hand.
8 sources quoted in this story (17 notes)
- 1James Hoffmann · 14:31 “Now, that is enjoyable as an espresso. Sweet, it's clean, it's well extracted.” but “this is clearly producing 10 to maybe 11 bars to get to nine bars in the group. That for me is a little bit of a flaw”
- 2James Hoffmann · 33:31 “if you're someone who really wants to to optimize, to squeeze, to play, to mess around, I don't think this is there yet.”
- 3ECS COFFEE Espresso & Coffee Gear · 23:53 “So, we were able to get two espresso shots back to back that poured like almost perfect 2 to1 ratio.” but “There's a huge variance, and then the next shot isn't is is in the opposite way.”
- 4Lance Hedrick · 7:27 “This machine can give you full performance in 2 minutes of heat up. Now, this is actually fantastic.”
- 5coffeeness.de · written review “In practice, the Espresso Series 1 does heat up quickly, and I noticed that the portafilter was nice and warm after only a couple of minutes.” but “Still, I found that the machine was only really stable after at least 10 minutes.”
- 6ECS COFFEE Espresso & Coffee Gear · 7:30 “It's hard to mess up your milk with this wand. It's really good. Really, really enjoyed using it.”
- 7Men's Journal · 3:42 “Delivers dry, powerful steam that makes creating perfect microfoam for latte art an effortless affair.”
- 8bonappetit.com · written review “The steam wand is chunky, easy to manipulate, and comes with a thermistor built into it.” but “If I do not position the pitcher just so, I end up with unevenly steamed, thin milk.”
- 9The Coffee Bill · 19:51 “it didn't take me very long to do that dialing in at all. That's honestly quite impressive for a machine that just tells you what to do.”
- 10Men's Journal · 3:06 “during our testing, the machine consistently cut the shot off way too early, long before getting the desired output.”
- 11The Coffee Bill · 2:17 “The outside is this coated ABS material. So, it's not metal, but it is a high quality plastic finish.”
- 12Men's Journal · 1:21 “For $1,500, you expect serious heft. Instead, this machine is so light that the entire unit visibly shifts on your counter”
- 13James Hoffmann · 3:21 “If you've held normal portafilters well, portafilters, this the balance is terrible, and I notice it every single time I use this machine”
- 14ECS COFFEE Espresso & Coffee Gear · 5:41 “Now, this machine will have soupy pucks.”
- 15Daddy Got Coffee · 20:41 “the level of capability that is available to somebody like me who really wants a full nerd out on their espresso is really unmatched at $1,500.”
- 16Men's Journal · 1:53 “you You a bottomless portafilter, a dual spout attachment, a tamper, and a steaming pitcher right out of the box.” but “But at $1,500, brands like Lelit, Diletta, and Rancilio offer significantly better build quality in similar price ranges.”
- 17Lance Hedrick · 50:19 “It's hard for me to, you know, recommend this over a Breville Bambino if all you like are cappuccinos”
