Brilliant or Bizarre?? The Acaia Orbit

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Is this the smartest coffee grinder ever made—or just needlessly complicated? The Acaia Orbit brings unmatched innovation to single-dose coffee grinding, with customizable RPM profiling, grind-by-weight integration, and ultra-low retention. But despite all that… it has some baffling design choices that might make you question if it’s worth $1,700.

➡️ In this review, I test the Acaia Orbit over months of use, compare it to other high-end grinders like the Zerno Z1 & P64, and dive deep into who this grinder is actually for.

📌 What You’ll Learn in This Video:

- Is the Acaia Orbit the most advanced grinder ever made?
- How does it compare to Zerno Z1, P64, and other premium grinders?
- The game-changing features that set it apart
- The frustrating design flaws that might make you rethink buying it

🔥 Is the Orbit a revolution in home coffee grinding—or just bizarre? Watch now to find out!

💬 What’s your take on the Acaia Orbit? Drop your thoughts in the comments!

Discounts and Affiliate Links:
Chapters

0:00 - Acaia Orbit Coffee Grinder
0:47 - Price and Position
1:27 - Features Overview
2:23 - Manufacturing Standards and Sustainability
3:24 - Fit, Finish and Design
3:54 - Burr Options
4:37 - Making Coffee with the Orbit
5:04 - Auto Stop and Purge… Kinda?
6:32 - Espresso Taste Test
7:23 - Filter Coffee
7:46 - Basic or Advanced Use?
8:10 - Performance Stats
10:03 - Smart Features
12:05 - Even Crazier Smart Features
13:10 - Just One Issue
14:13 - Disassembling Orbit
15:09 - I Messed Up The Alignment
16:36 - A Different Day
17:17 - A Clever And Outdated Alignment Solution
18:53 - Just Don’t Take It Apart
19:33 - A Couple Other Engineering Quirks
21:04 - Some Small Cons
22:40 - Actually Good Grind By Weight Use-Case
23:20 - Static
23:46 - A Crossroads
25:01 - Who Is Orbit For?

[cjlafleur]

I owned one of the original 50 Orbits from their first drop. I think I have a really unique perspective on this. The first version of the grinder they sent out had some major issue. One was that it only came with the Mazzer burrs so you had to put SSPs in by yourself. This lead to one of the most nightmarish installation and alignment processes I've ever seen. Screws seem to be easily stripped, and getting to the burrs was a total nightmare. It's very hard to access them and that whole system is horrendous.

The second issue was that coffee grounds got stuck in the detent ring. And it wasn't just a little. It was enough that Acaia replaced everyone's grinders if they had the V1 they shipped to the first few drops. To Acaia's credit, their CS was phenomenal. Truly the best I've ever encountered in coffee. This is so huge for me and cannot be understated because there are a lot of companies out there that will absolutely screw their customers over to make a buck.

The third issue was that it was a giant mess. Using this thing would constantly leave grounds sprayed all over the place and it was an abysmal feeling.

Acaia's newer version of this addressed the latter two issues for me (they weren't going to give me burrs for free if I didn't buy it with the MP burrs). The mess was significantly reduced (basically to zero), and the coffee no longer got stuck. V2 is a completely different grinder in my opinion and it's actually really good. It's not as good as the Zerno Z1, but I still think it's as good as anything else. The price for this when I originally bought it was $1350, which at the time was an incredible value for a grinder in this category. At $1700, it's basically at parity with the P64 considering you can't get the P64 from OO directly and you have to buy it at $1750 from Prima because of their markup.

For whatever it's worth, I also think this is the best looking 64mm grinder on the market, and it's not even close.

I also never experienced coffee not being ground with my unit. I think the auto purge feature is one of the best features in grinders today and I'm glad Acaia pushed that into the market.

Overall, this grinder got screwed over because of the totally botched release of this thing. Acaia could not meet demand for this grinder and their initial drop was only 50 units, then it was several months until they shipped more. The hype around the release dissipated because it was unobtainium. They shot themselves in the foot with some really big QC problems that were really in the design of the grinder itself and made it impossible for it to succeed. That's why it's really the only grinder in its class that's permanently in stock. They aren't selling high volumes I'm guessing. It's a real shame because this grinder could have been great. I truly hope Acaia will stay in the grinder game despite this failure because they clearly care about their customers, and I have nothing but good things to say about them. I ended up selling my Orbit for a Z1 and eventually upgraded to a 98mm platform, but I will always have a fondness for the Orbit as it was my first 64mm grinder.

[GodfreeLouis]

A $1700 grinder that can’t get the entire dose ground and dispensed is a “quirk”? It’s shameful and enough reason to pass on this grinder.

[SeanGordon-ymyf]

Too many compromises at that price point IMO.

If I could afford this grinder, which I can't, I'd be on the Zerno waitlist.

Thanks for the review!

[CoffeeGearLab]

Excellent video with really interesting details. Best video I’ve seen on this grinder so far. Thanks for the deep dive!

[ilkzode]

$1700 grinder with "smart" features yet it sometimes leaves a few beans ungrinded.
ABSOLUTEY senseless

[Jahloveipraise]

I feel like you hit every nail on the head man. I bought it when it came out and I was in love with it until I had to clean the burrs then even worse when I wanted to change the burrs. Long story short for an experimental enthusiast it wasn’t for me despite working very well and being one of the most aesthetically pleasing grinders I’ve had.

Great review as always. Thank you!

[mikenewman]

the smart app phonr stuff make my eyes roll

[commonlycoffee]

How perfect that you dropped this video the day I grabbed the Orbit for my coffee bar. Such a super helpful video.

[JuanMartinez-jpdo]

Very good review again. Many thanks. I get you point about open it. I did it together with Acaia support people, which is wonderful people. Super helpful. Trying to make you happy always. It went really well and no changes in alignment and no movement after the process. It is more complex than Zerno for example, for sure. To me it is the best looking grinder after EG-1. Acaia Orbit is the best 64mm high end coffee grinder for pour over and espresso. The workflow is amazing and the quality of the coffee both espresso light and medium (easy with dark) and pour over/immersion like Bird is fantastic. I tried several grinders in the 64mm range and the Orbit is far superior to any other grinder IMO (not if you change burrs every week, agree with you on that 100%). The Acaia Orbit can work with or without the app and with or without the Lunar. You can choose.It has RPM set up and I think that it is the only grinder in the market with RPM profiling; in manual mode or preset mode that you can define with the App. And the only one that allows you to have a SD and a GBW in one. I love mine after 6 months using it. As I said, best 64mm IMO. I will only upgrade to his "uncle" or "dad"; the EG-1. Thanks again for the video. I love them.

[davidhunternyc]

The different cool white color of the dosing cup was the first thing I noticed. You're not the only one that feels like it's scratching on a chalkboard. For me, the Orbit is too compromised and, yes, it's behind the times. I prefer the simplicity and precision of the Zerno Z1.

[JuanMartinez-jpdo]

Maybe I am going to add the comment here as per one part of the video and my experience with the grinder during the last 6 months: 1- changing burrs is easier that changing the tube in a bike, far more easy than any sculptor grinder. It is not the Zerno in that sense which is no offering half of the features of the Orbit which will make the workflow super nice 2- I can see a part of the bean, a particle, being stuck in the teeth of the burr and being released later, but definitely not beans. I use the Orbit every single day multiple times a day, I have heard a particle drop down into the burrs twice in 6 months but I have not see/hear beans or even a single bean lingering. Hope this will help

[_Brewn]

Got my Orbit with MP for about 2 Months now. This thing is something else, had some ssp mp 64mm grinders even a P64 . but the way the orbit performs, feels and sounds makes it the best grinder i had! for me its so simple to use and changeing beans is a breeze. The taste i get is something else compared with the other ssp mp's i had, its just cleaner and crispier.

[Danielm-]

I thought I was going crazy when I took it apart and then put it back together and the alignment was all messed up. I will say acaia had me send it to them for free and aligned it. Then they upgraded my og one for free like a year later when they released the current model which shows how great their customer service is.

[mtpastor]

I like this grinder, but, as a single dosing grinder, I don’t get the value of grind-by-weight function.

It looks more like a gimmick purpose to me.

[Hjalwiej-wzfiDjix]

Thank you for this honest review! I’ve been using this grinder for over 8 months, and overall, I think it’s a good one. However, as you mentioned, a couple of beans sometimes get stuck and just bounce around.

Another issue I really dislike is that it struggles to grind certain beans. When I tried grinding decaf whole beans (dark roast), they wouldn’t feed into the burr area properly. Some ground coffee even got stuck in the burr chamber, forcing me to disassemble and clean it before trying again. Unfortunately, the same issue happened afterward. Because of this, I’ve started using the Weber Key to grind those decaf beans instead.

The exterior design is good, and the app works well, but the internal design could be improved for better bean feeding and easier repairs.

[Desmond]

For me, grind time is much more important than grind noise. I dont mind a loud grinder if a single dose takes only three seconds to grind instead of over 30 seconds of little less louder noise. Especially for this price I'd expect flawless grind performance and alignment with fairly easy self service. That being said I dont see myself upgrading or sidegrading my DF83V until it totally breaks which I believe will not happen in the near(or in the far even) future. Thank you for this review!

[DKMarik]

Another masterpiece of a reviews. Thanks Justin.

[danielgrinemaer]

I would really enjoy if acaia would share some kind of alignment guide. Since it's so good out of factory, make it available for home users as well so they can align them after changing burrs

[RobertH-hw]

A grinder that leaves behind unground beans fails at its most fundamental purpose. That would drive me crazy having to double grind every morning. In my mind that in itself is retention. To spend that much for a grinder that can't perform at its most basic function is a failure.

[adrianm]

This review came out right as i was crazily looking for someone to answer an extremely specific question, and it looks like you are one of the few people who could help with an answer. Since you are using this with a Linea mini, how would one juggle the integration between the Acaia Lunar X La Marzocco and also using it with the Lunar Orbit? Do you have to manually disconnect the scale from the Orbit to be able to use it for Brew by weight with the Mini? Or is there any quick way of switching between them? My decision on buying the Acaia orbit really hinges on this more than it should.