I tested the most-anticipated espresso machine of 2026 — and the Fellow Espresso Series 1 hits all its marks

The Fellow Espresso Series 1 is one of the best espresso machines I’ve ever had the pleasure of using. I had high hopes, given all the hype around Fellow’s first-ever espresso machine, but it’s even better than I wanted it to be.

While it’s $1,499, this actually isn’t that expensive for a prosumer espresso machine. If you’re not initiated into the world of espresso machines, I’ll just give you a quick rundown: I’ve tested the $3k Breville Oracle Dual Boiler, the $1,999 Lelit Mara X3, and the $1,800 Smeg x La Pavoni EMC02. So yeah, $1.5k isn’t as outrageous as you may think.

But you get a lot for that $1,499. You get an app that literally teaches you how to make each coffee, you get so many customization options that I physically do not have the word count to detail them all, and you get a professional-quality steam wand for beautiful latte art. Want to find out more? Of course you do. Keep reading this Fellow Espresso Series 1 review.

Latest Videos From

Watch full video here:

Fellow Espresso Series 1 review: Specs

Fellow Espresso Series 1 review: Price & availability

The Fellow Espresso Series 1 is $1,499 from Amazon U.S. At the time of writing, it’s only available at Harrods in the U.K. — but it’s currently sold out.

This is pretty standard for a prosumer espresso machine, hence why I’ve not docked a star for being overpriced. The Espresso Series 1 walks you through making each drink, à la Breville Oracle Dual Boiler ($3,000), which has a built-in grinder but also costs double.

I recently tested the $1,999 Lelit Mara X3, which I loved. The Mara X3 makes pro-level espresso while looking a treat, much like the Espresso Series 1.

I’ve also reviewed the Smeg x La Pavoni EMC02, which is one of my favorite espresso machines ever, and will set you back $1,800.

If $1,499 is a little out of your price bracket (relatable), I’d recommend checking out the Breville Barista Express ($799) or De’Longhi Arte Evo ($699).

Fellow Espresso Series 1 review: Design

My goodness, the Fellow Espresso Series 1 is a sight to behold. As soon as I unboxed it, I had to take a step back and allow myself the privilege of ogling it like a starving lion might ogle an injured gazelle. This is a truly breathtaking machine. It perfectly combines modern innovation, functional design, and an eye-catching centerpiece.

If you’re familiar with Fellow’s other products, like the Stagg EKG, Corvo EKG, or the Aiden, you’ll know everything Fellow makes is gorgeous. The Espresso Series 1, thankfully, continues that trend. I have zero reservations about recommending this on looks alone, as superficial as that is. I want it just to stare at it.

The accessories are just as high-quality, with a weighty tamper, 58mm bottomless portafilter, and a milk jug engraved with fluid ounce and milliliter measurements so you don’t have to measure separately.

Like the Breville Oracle Dual Boiler, the Espresso Series 1 has a little screen that walks you through making each drink. Unlike the Oracle Dual Boiler, the Espresso Series 1 doesn’t have a full-color screen, but it’s still bright and luminous. If you’ve seen the Fellow Tally Pro scale, the screen looks like a brighter, bigger version of that. I’ll go into more detail in the ‘Espresso’ section below.

My only con regarding the design is that there’s no ‘Back’ button. If you scroll all the way down to the last customization option (there are a lot), you have to scroll back up. I wish there was a simple button to take me back to the home screen. Maybe on the next edition?

App

Yep, the Fellow Espresso Series 1 has an app. I’m not a huge fan of the concept of espresso machines with apps, so I did roll my eyes when I saw this. There isn’t really much you can do on the app that you can’t do on the machine itself, but as this is a pretty new model with firmware updates rolling out, you might want to get the app just so you can iron out those natural bugs.

As you can see, you can customize your espresso pre-infusion, infusion, and ramp-down settings based on roast level, and you can even cycle through various different types of shot. I’ve never heard of this ‘Turbo’ shot, so of course I had to try it. You have to grind your beans coarser for this shot, and it makes a more tea-like espresso. Very interesting, and good that the Espresso Series 1 has an option for it. As I said — perfect for both beginners and nerds!

Fellow Espresso Series 1 review: Espresso

As promised, I’ll discuss the LCD screen. This screen teaches you how to make tons of different drinks: cappuccino, espresso, Americano, latte, flat white, and so on and so forth. This is great for beginners who may not know the difference between each beverage, or simply may not want to activate their brains at 7am. Personally, I didn’t feel the urge to use this outside of testing purposes — I just selected ‘espresso’ for all my drinks and steamed my milk manually.

Of course, I tested this for the purpose of the review. It works as advertised. When I selected ‘flat white’, the machine told me how much coffee to dose, actually stopped extraction at 1:2 ratio as designed (although once or twice it dosed 35g rather than 36g… tut tut, Fellow). After espresso, the machine told me to pour 4oz of milk — and, yes, you can tell it which type of milk you’re using — and automatically stopped steaming when the milk reached the desired temperature of 140°F.

This is ideal for beginners, and one of the best parts of the machine if you’re the kind of home barista who needs a little more help. As mentioned earlier, I didn’t really use this outside of testing purposes, but it’s great to have.

If you’re a coffee nerd, though, you’ll love this machine. There are tons of espresso customization options. I physically cannot list them all here — this review would be tens of thousands of words long, and I’d lull you all into a stupor. Let’s just say: if you can imagine it, you can do it. Pre-infusion at 2 bars of pressure for 10 seconds? Go for it. Flow rate of 4ml/s? Yep! Ramp-down of 6 bars of pressure? You got it!

Although there’s no PID controller, the boiler is designed to control water temperature at every stage of the extraction, much like a PID controller. The Espresso Series 1 has a patented boiler system, “Boosted Boiler”, which has a precise temperature control. You can customize the temperature using the shot profile I discussed above, or using the app.

As with every espresso machine I test, I ground my beans using the Mazzer Philos, the best coffee grinder in the world (if you have $1,500).

For the purpose of this review, I followed Fellow’s recipes and made some of my own. This is a Fellow-default espresso using the ‘Medium roast’ profile and Square Mile beans.

There’s a little bit of spray, but that’s an occupational hazard with a bottomless portafilter. This shot was extracted at a 1:2 ratio over 26 seconds, safely within the ‘Golden window’ of extraction. The shot tasted gorgeous, with a strong sweetness and bright acidity at the back of the mouth. I guzzled this like a parched heron.

For the next shot, I experimented. I used the same beans and adjusted the settings to ‘Turbo’, as I’d never seen this style of espresso before.

As you can see, it’s quite larger than a standard shot. The Fellow app told me this is a 1:3 shot extracted using 6-bar pressure rather 9-bar. The flavor was interesting — quite sour but with a pocket of bitterness hiding at the back of the mouthful. I probably wouldn’t make this again, but it’s great to have options.

The only downside to this machine is that it makes quite wet pucks. Usually, if a machine has a 3-way solenoid valve, it sucks the water back out of the shot for a dry, biscuit-like puck you can knock straight into the bin. I did have to scrape these pucks out, which is strange, as the machine has a 3-way solenoid valve. I noticed other users on Reddit had this issue too, so it might just be a Series 1 bug. Either way, I’m not overly fussed about this.

The Fellow Espresso Series 1 is a fantastic machine for beginners and snobs alike. You can get seriously nerdy with all the customization options or you can just use it at face value — and it’s super easy either way.

Fellow Espresso Series 1 review: Milk

Ugh, I love the Espresso Series 1’s steam wand. And I say “ugh” like this: Ugh, it’s so good and I’m so sad that nothing else will compare now and every machine I test in the future will pale in comparison and my dreams will be filled with the Espresso Series 1’s steam wand until the end of time.

Alright, so that’s a touch exaggerated, but you get what I mean. This is a steam wand to end all steam wands. It looks very much like the Meraki — a long, thick steam wand with a ball joint and a wide tip.

Here’s a photo of a flat white I made with oat milk.

Although the latte art isn’t quite as good, this is the best plant-based milk texture I’ve ever gotten. My colleague Nikita — who has been a test subject of every single espresso machine I’ve ever reviewed — confirmed that this was the smoothest, velvetiest oat milk she’d ever drunk.

I got a little frustrated at the auto-purge function, but I easily turned this off in the machine settings. I like controlling purging myself so I can really clean it out.

Fellow Espresso Series 1 review: Storage & maintenance

Although the Fellow Espresso Series 1 is quite large — 23.1 x 14.6 x 12.6 — it fits nicely on my kitchen countertop. It’s quite short, but very wide and deep, so make sure you’ve got enough room. You’ll need to access the top to insert and remove the water tank.

I was surprised to find out it’s 21.7 pounds as I swear it didn’t feel that heavy when I was carrying it. Even so, it’s worth noting that you might need help setting it up.

As it’s large, the drip tray is roomy enough to hold a surprising amount of water, but I still emptied it after every use. I don’t know about you, but the idea of having stagnant nasty coffee-milk-water in my kitchen is gross.

Now, I know this is all written in the conditional tense and what has happened in the past may not occur in the future, but it’s still worth noting. I got a Fellow Stag EKG kettle a couple of years ago, and it stopped working after a couple of months. The replacement still works, but I know longevity is a known issue with Fellow gear.

The possibility of the Espresso Series 1 suffering from this issue isn’t confirmed. I can’t see the future — I’d be a lot richer if I could. However, this makes me a little hesitant to recommend the machine wholeheartedly. I didn’t experience any issues during my testing period, but I only had it on a 10-day loan.

Even so, Fellow offers a 2-year warranty with the Espresso Series 1, which is the same as Breville and Ninja, and pretty standard for espresso machines these days.

Fellow provides two sachets of cleaning products, which should be enough for around 400 shots (depending on how long that would last you!), and these cost $14.95 for 10. Descaling solution costs $9.95 per sachet, or $14.95 for an 8 fluid ounce bottle.

Fellow Espresso Series 1 review: Verdict

If you couldn’t tell from my waxing lyrical for 2,000 words, I love the Fellow Espresso Series 1. It’s got everything: looks, brains, brawns, ambition. I never made a bad shot and my milk was perfect every single time. This is the machine I dream about.

But, at $1,499, I’m realistically never going to own this machine, and I know that’s expensive for most people. Although most fancy espresso machines will set you back well over a grand, so this isn’t particularly overpriced; it’s just unobtainable for most people. I’d recommend waiting until a sale (Black Friday, maybe?) or getting something a bit cheaper, like the Breville Bambino.

Got $1,499, though? Yeah, you will not be disappointed by the Fellow Espresso Series 1. I’m not sure how I can go on after testing this absolute delight. If you’re in a position to spend 1.5k on an espresso machine, don’t walk — run to the checkout.