Can you believe Acaia have been smashing it out of the park for over 12 years now? Since rising to dizzying heights with their first Acaia Pearl scale on Kickstarter, Acaia have built and retained one of the most solid of reputations in the industry for delivering robust, and precise coffee making tools. They continue to make products that, while highly technical, they simply work.
Is the Acaia Orbit any different?
First, the basics!
- Single dose grinder
- 64mm Flat burr - we've opted for the SSP burr set here
- Variable speed motor - from 650 to 1500RPM
- Low/No grind retention
- Small form, small sounding yet powerful
- Auto-reverse at end of grind to auto-purge
- Bluetooth connectivity
At the ripe old age of 36, I would've previously considered myself a bit of a tech-o-holic, but in my maturing age, I have to admit, I find myself asking "Does my fridge really need wifi?"
Acaia have always leaned heavy into the connectivity of their equipment, and the Orbit is no different. Offering a stand-alone app with a plethora of options and sliders, the suite is impressive, but is it functional?
Acaia have nailed it here. Out of the box, and onto your bench, you'll find the base functionality and design to be very approachable. A single button on the face of the grinder shows you a coloured light to advise you what setting you're in. The firm, large grind adjustment wheel is all you'll need to access to make smashing brews, and it feels great to use. Jumping between different grind settings is as easy as I've ever experienced, even when put up against much more expensive pieces of equipment. The detent ring serves to mark previous settings for ease of bouncing between filter and espresso settings. Out of the box, its fully functional instantly, but opening the Acaia Orbit app on your phone unlocks a world of possibility.
The interface of the app is clean. From the landing page, you can see 3 pre-saved selections for fully variable RPM profiles. You also have access to features such as reversing the burr set at the end of your grind to help shake some of the retention, as well as auto-detect grinding so that the grinder will turn off when it senses that it's done. There's also an option to add a small hopper, and run it in grind-by-weight mode, turning a single dose grinder into a handy little domestic grinder with higher cups per minute output.
Honestly, the cup profile changes throughout the RPD change does make a difference. I wouldn't call it significant—you're not going to polish a bad extraction into something tasty with an RPM change, but I can see the nerdiest of the coffee nerds spending a lot of time stuck in their phone in the pursuit of perfect brews.
All in all, the Acaia Orbit makes some delicious brews out of the box while keeping the fun tools under the hood for those daring to dig. The grinder comes into its own when paired with a set of Acaia Lunars—becoming a grind by weight device with ease.
There's no other grinder as versaile as the Acaia Orbit.
