The Fellow Tally Pro: A Love Letter to Coffee Explorers
The world of coffee is filled with passionate individuals dedicated to unlocking the perfect cup. From the bean to the brew, each step holds the potential for nuanced flavor profiles and sensory experiences. But for those seeking to push the boundaries of their coffee journey, precision and control become paramount. Enter the Fellow Tally Pro, a sleek, innovative scale and timer that promises to elevate your brewing experience.
To truly understand the Tally Pro’s impact, we ventured to Oaxaca City, Mexico, and met with Diego Espinoza, retail director at Café Brújula. Café Brújula boasts a collection of cafés throughout the city, each spotlighting beans from various small producers. Their meticulous approach to brewing, involving a dedicated three-barista team for crafting individual recipes and ratios, speaks volumes about their dedication to quality.
We brought the Tally Pro to Diego, eager to see how this multi-functional device would fare in the hands of a seasoned coffee professional.
The Tally Pro’s allure:
- Integrated scale and timer: Gone are the days of juggling separate devices. The Tally Pro seamlessly combines both functions, offering a clean and intuitive interface that simplifies the brewing process.
- Automatic timer activation: The Tally Pro’s intelligent design recognizes the first drop of water during the pour, automatically starting the timer. This eliminates the need for manual synchronization, ensuring precise timing from the very beginning.
- Brew assist function: This unique feature takes the guesswork out of brewing. By setting the desired coffee-to-water ratio, the Tally Pro automatically calculates the necessary water volume, making it effortless to achieve consistent results.
- Exceptional sensitivity: With the ability to measure even a single coffee bean, the Tally Pro provides unrivaled accuracy, allowing for finely tuned recipes and experimentations.
Diego, initially intrigued by the Tally Pro’s innovative features, immediately put it to the test. Using Brújula’s Maestros beans, from producer Eva Gonzalez in Santa Cruz Acatepec, he began by grinding the beans on an Estrella hand grinder. This favored grinder, despite the presence of a professional electric grinder, highlights Diego’s commitment to meticulous brewing – a passion that would be further honed by the Tally Pro.
Setting the ratio on the Fellow to 1:16, Diego weighed out 19 grams of grounds, prompting the scale to display the required 304 grams of water. "Having the scale and timer readouts right next to each other is very useful," he commented, emphasizing the convenience of the integrated display. He went on to praise the automatic timer activation: "Normally, you start the timer and start pouring and they’re always a second or two off."
With each subsequent brew, Diego’s confidence grew, his mastery of the machine quickly evident. The Tally Pro’s intuitive design made it simple to adapt to, resulting in consistently excellent results. "It’s very easy to use," he stated, highlighting the scale’s user-friendly interface.
Beyond standard brewing, the Tally Pro also allows users to reverse engineer their brews to achieve specific volume targets – perfect for those who prefer to brew to the exact size of their favorite mug. "If you have your favorite cup, you can brew to that," Diego noted, highlighting the scale’s adaptability.
The Tally Pro’s competition:
Comparing the Tally Pro to the competition reveals its strength as a nuanced tool for coffee enthusiasts. The Hario scale, a popular choice among home brewers, combines weight and time but lacks the integrated functionality of the Tally Pro. Its timer doesn’t activate automatically, and its sensitivity falls short, unable to measure single beans.
Acacia’s Pearl, on the other hand, is an expensive but impressive device focusing on precise flow rates, a crucial factor for pour-over aficionados. While it lacks the ratio calculator and automatic timer activation of the Tally Pro, its focused approach serves a different audience: baristas who regularly brew the same drinks.
Target audience:
Diego ultimately concluded that the Tally Pro caters to a specific type of coffee enthusiast: "This is for coffee explorers."
The Tally Pro’s versatile capabilities shine for individuals who:
- Enjoy experimenting with different beans and brewing methods.
- Regularly entertain guests with a variety of coffee options.
- Seek to refine their brewing skills and achieve greater precision.
The Tally Pro for those who crave more:
Beyond its functionalities, the Tally Pro boasts a solid, elegant design. Its sleek profile and understated aesthetic appeal to those who value both form and function. The clear, intuitive interface avoids the distracting flickering seen in some other scales. Its user-friendliness becomes even more apparent with each use, making the process of brewing exquisite coffee not only effortless but enjoyable.
Diego’s final verdict:
While the Tally Pro’s high price point might be a deterrent for some, its value lies in its ability to empower coffee enthusiasts to explore their passion, to refine their craft, and to unlock the full potential of every bean.
"It would make a great gift for me," Diego concluded, acknowledging the scale’s undeniable appeal for those who, like him, are dedicated to pushing the boundaries of their coffee journey.
The Fellow Tally Pro isn’t just a scale; it’s a testament to the pursuit of excellence in coffee brewing. It’s a tool for those who aren’t content with merely brewing a cup, but desire to truly understand and appreciate the art of crafting the perfect brew. For the coffee explorers, the Tally Pro is a welcome addition to their arsenal.
