Which to buy · Every setting
Baratza Encore vs Fellow Opus
Conical against conical at the same price, one stepped and one not.
Which to buy
Choose the
Encore if you…
- brew filter — Baratza pitches the Encore for filter brewing
- want a larger hopper — 300 g
Choose the
Opus if you…
- want espresso as well — Fellow rates it from espresso to cold brew
- want a timed auto-stop at 30, 60, 90 or 120 seconds
- want an inner ring for micro-adjustment between the 41 dial settings
Shop links are affiliate links: BrewMark earns a commission if you buy through one, at no extra cost to you. The verdicts were written without regard to it.
Fellow now sells the Opus 2 (48 mm conical burrs, stepless) in place of the original. The settings on this page are for the original Opus dial.
Sources: Baratza — Encore · Baratza — Encore manual · Fellow — Opus (archived) · Fellow — Opus gear guide
| Encore | Opus | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | Baratza | Fellow |
| Scale | Numbered dial | Numbered dial |
| Dial range | 1 – 40 | 1 – 11 |
| Burrs | Conical | Conical |
| Espresso → filter | 8.4 numbers | 5.7 numbers |
| Filter → coarse | 25 numbers | 3.9 numbers |
The same number means different things
Both grinders use a numbered dial, which makes it tempting to copy a number straight across. Setting 6 sits at grind index 0 on the Encore but 34.2 on the Opus — far enough apart to change the cup.
Converting a setting
If a recipe quotes a setting for one of these grinders, read across for the equivalent on the other. Rows are spaced evenly by grind size, not by dial number — on a conical burr those are not the same thing.
| Encore | Opus |
|---|---|
| 7 | 1.2 |
| 9 | 1.2 |
| 11 | 2 |
| 12 | 3.2 |
| 14 | 5.3 |
| 16 | 7.1 |
| 18 | 8 |
| 22 | 8.2 |
| 25 | 8.3 |
| 28 | 9.1 |
| 32 | 9.3 |
| 36 | 10.2 |
| 40 | 11 |
| Opus | Encore |
|---|---|
| 1.2 | 7 |
| 2 | 11 |
| 3.2 | 12 |
| 5.3 | 14 |
| 7.1 | 16 |
| 8 | 18 |
| 8.2 | 22 |
| 8.3 | 25 |
| 9.1 | 28 |
| 9.3 | 32 |
| 10.2 | 36 |
| 11 | 40 |
Side by side, by brew method
Where each grinder lands for the same brew, worked out from its own dial curve.
| Method | Encore | Opus |
|---|---|---|
| Espresso | 8 | 1.2 |
| Moka pot | 11 | 1.3 |
| AeroPress (short steep) | 12 | 3.2 |
| Pour over — V60 / cone | 15 | 6.3 |
| Siphon | 16 | 7.2 |
| Pour over — flat bottom | 17 | 7.3 |
| Steep and release — Clever / Switch | 18 | 8 |
| Drip / batch brew | 18 | 8 |
| Cupping | 19 | 8 |
| Chemex | 20 | 8.2 |
| French press | 28 | 9 |
| Cold brew | 34 | 10 |
The shape of each dial
Where the connectors bunch, that grinder’s dial is compressed and single steps count for more. Comparing the two shapes tells you which gives finer control, and where.
Baratza Encore
Fellow Opus
Dialing in the Encore
The Encore is the default first grinder for filter coffee, and its scale is the one most recipes are implicitly written against. Its stepped collar is honest about what it is: excellent from medium-fine upward, progressively less consistent as you go finer. Treat the bottom of the range as a moka-pot floor rather than an espresso range — Baratza built the Encore ESP precisely because this one was never meant to reach it. If your cup tastes thin at the recommended setting, go one step finer rather than two; the steps here are wider than they look.
Dialing in the Opus
Marketed as all-purpose, and it genuinely does cover more range than the Ode, but the espresso end is workable rather than good — expect to chase it. Where it earns its place is the coarse end: cold brew and French press come out notably even. If you bought the Opus mainly for espresso, dial it as a brew grinder first and judge it there.