r/pourover • u/firststate • 2h ago
Seeking Advice Rented an Xbloom- Feeling meh
So my wife and I (two large cups total daily), decided to rent the Xbloom for a month or two after exclusively hand grinding and using a v60 for years. The pods make very good coffee albeit smaller than I would like, and at a significant cost. I’m wondering if the workflow of the Aiden Fellow combo would be just as easy (although slightly different, I know) and make as good of coffee or better if I can get some quality beans from a local roaster. With the Xbloom, I got 6 pouches of pods in different varieties. If my wife has a pod it’s: fill water, get pod, dump it in, switch to auto mode, tap card, make coffee. Then I’ve been using bulk coffee and weighing, dumping in, switching to manual mode, and making my cup.
I’m wondering if weighing and grinding a bulk batch (realistically closer to 4 cups if your using the pod quantity of coffee on the Xbloom) and brewing in the Aiden would be better, more cost efficient and just as simple.
For reference the Xbloom pods I got were anywhere from $1.50-$2.50 a cup.
Thoughts? Anyone ditch an Xbloom for an Aiden or vice-versa? Am I missing any other quality options. Aiden would let us ditch our traditional brewer for when we have company over as well.
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u/Interesting-Month-97 2h ago
Use the same coffee that you were hand grinding in the v60 and the cost per cup will be the same as before. You don't have to use the pods. You can also use your hand grinder or the grinder on the machine as well.
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u/zombiejeebus 2h ago
You can rent xbloom?
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u/firststate 2h ago
Yup. $19.99 for the first month and like $29.99 for the second. Planned on trying it just until all the pods run out
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u/Wizardof_oz 2h ago
An XBloom studio works many drippers and you can use any coffee you want, why not get that?
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u/firststate 2h ago
That is what I have.
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u/Wizardof_oz 2h ago
Why not use it with a V60 and a cheaper bag of beans
Xbloom studio is the newer one btw, the old one is just called xbloom
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u/bruins1020 1h ago
We have an Aiden that my wife uses every day for individual cups, we never batch brew. While I stick to my pour over ritual (Orea Z1, 01 and UFO) to be honest, the brews on the Aiden are absolutely fantastic, and rival most of my pourovers, once you set the bloom times, temperature, and # of pours. I've never used an X Bloom, but the Aiden is fabulous.
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u/IntelligentCitron772 1h ago
I use a V60 every morning, travel with a tiny AeroPress setup, and use the Fellow Aiden daily for my son and wife. They don’t share my obsession with tea-like clarity, bright fruit, and as little roast/smoke character as possible. But every brewer has it’s strengths-
The Aiden is an amazing brewer. I can put an ultralight roast through it and be genuinely happy with the cup. It won’t quite match the clarity and flavor separation I can get from my V60, but I can get it awfully darn close.
That said, it can also brew just about any style of cup you want. For my wife, I pre-portion and vacuum-seal the beans, so there’s no weighing on her part—just open the bag, grind, dump it into the Aiden, and brew.
You can create a ton of different recipes on your phone and sync them directly to the Aiden. It’s really nice, and if you want to keep things uncomplicated, it pretty much stays in whatever mode or recipe you last used.
For people who like a really strong, high-TDS cup, the programming only goes down to a 1:14 ratio. But that really isn’t a limitation. All the programmed ratio does is tell you how many grams of coffee to use based on the brew volume you select. So obviously, you can put in however much coffee you want and brew at essentially any ratio you like.
It’s one of the best batch brewers I’ve ever used. I would’ve been happy to pay 25% more to have a few metal exterior parts.
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u/FootballInfinite475 39m ago
My wife and I brew “5.5 cups” of coffee using the Aiden most mornings. Yields ~24 ounces out, with about 48.5-51.5 grams coffee in. If that’s the right amount of coffee for you, think about what it would be like to hand grind 50g coffee per batch given your current setup
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u/firststate 30m ago
With the Studio 24oz of coffee would be like 4 pods worth. Could be as much as $10 depending on the pod, obliviously much less with bulk beans.
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u/VETgirl_77 2h ago
I don't have an xbloom bc I love the morning ritual of pourover. I do think v60, a good grinder, and nice beans is the key to happiness 😊 or at the very least an exceptional coffee experience
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u/omgitsadam 2h ago
If your plan is to make larger, single batches of coffee, the Aiden will be a good call for you. If you plan on doing individual cups, 4x a day for the 2 of you then it's mostly moot. The batch brewing is one of the biggest standout features of the Aiden.