Baratza Encore ESP vs Fellow Opus: Dial-In Settings & Espresso Guide
Starting settings, espresso ranges and dial-in method for the two best £199 grinders — plus which one suits your brewing.
The Baratza Encore ESP and Fellow Opus are the two grinders every £150–200 buyer asks about — both cost around £199, both claim espresso and filter. Our head-to-head comparison crowns a winner; this is the practical companion: where to set each dial, and how to dial in.
Starting settings cheat sheet
Baratza Encore ESP (40 settings, linear): espresso 8–14, moka pot 14–18, pour-over (V60/Chemex) 20–26, French press 30–36, cold brew 36–40. The espresso zone (1–20) uses fine micro-steps, so one click is a small, predictable change.
Fellow Opus (41 settings + inner ring): espresso 1–4 (inner ring 0–3 for fine-tuning), moka pot 4–5, pour-over 5–7, French press 8–10, cold brew 11. The inner ring is the catch: big jumps live on the outer dial, fine control on the inner — learn both before judging the grinder.
These are starting points, not gospel. Beans, dose, machine and even humidity shift them. Fresh light roasts need finer settings than dark comfort blends.
How to dial in either grinder (10 minutes)
Lock everything except grind size: 18g in, 36g out, 25–30 seconds. Pull a shot at the starting setting above, then adjust one variable at a time:
- Faster than 25s, thin and sour: go finer (Encore ESP: down 1–2 clicks; Opus: down half a number, then inner ring finer).
- Slower than 30s, dry and bitter: go coarser by the same increments.
- Channelling (blond spurts, uneven flow): don't chase the grind — fix distribution first (WDT, level tamp), then reassess.
Our full espresso dial-in framework and step-by-step dial-in guide cover the tasting logic in depth; the settings above just get you to the right neighbourhood faster.
Switching between espresso and filter
This is where the two grinders differ most. The Encore ESP switches intuitively — count clicks back to your recorded filter setting. The Opus needs more care: note both outer and inner ring positions (a photo of the dial saves arguments), and purge 2–3g after big jumps — retention is low on both (0.2–0.3g) but stale grounds from yesterday's espresso will sour today's V60.
Single-method households: pick either and never touch the dial again. Multi-method households who switch daily will find the Encore ESP's linear dial less error-prone.
Which grinder should you buy?
Short version from our 40-shot test: espresso-first buyers and tinkerers should take the Encore ESP (finer espresso steps, user-serviceable, parts forever); design-led all-rounders splitting espresso and filter should take the Opus (quieter, smaller, prettier). The full comparison has retention, noise and durability numbers behind that call.