The Acaia Orbit is a very good single dosing grinder. We are convinced by its flavor performance, it delivers repeatability in shots, and it does a lot of things right. It is also innovative and introduces new features that we like.
As good as the grinder is, it struggles to integrate Acaia’s specialty. They have always been known for high-priced, sensitive, and fast scales. And naturally, a scale integration should not be missing in an Acaia grinder. And that is where Acaia fails completely. And no, this time it is not the Acaia app causing confusion. It is actually the combination of the scale and the grinder.
Why the Acaia is still a grinder we can recommend and what unfortunately does not work is the subject of this review video and article.
Buy Acaia Orbit
The following specialist shops distribute the Acaia Orbit, and we can recommend purchasing from these businesses. All of them offer the option to adjust the machine's offset.
Germany: [Partnerlinks] Stoll Espresso
We look for specialist partners for you who we know provide good work and good service, and we are in close communication with the aforementioned dealers. The links are so-called commission links. If you order via one of these links, you will not pay a cent more – however, we receive a small commission, which we invest directly into new test equipment.
We continue to look for competent partners in the DACH region for you.
The operating principle of the Acaia Orbit
The Orbit is a single dosing grinder. This means that coffee is first weighed and then placed into the grinder. The single dosing grinder then grinds the entered amount back out. And the Acaia Orbit follows the same procedure. Additionally, it can be connected to an app, which in turn can be connected to an Acaia Luna. With the help of the app, the grinder can be started. Other settings, such as the rotations per minute of the grinder, can be adjusted.
Thanks to the scale, the grinder can also be repurposed from a single dosing grinder to a grind-by-weight grinder. “Grind by weight” means that the grinder stops when the target weight on the scale is reached. For this, the Acaia-own Luna scale is necessary. The coffee is placed into the bean hopper, and the grinder grinds until the scale weighs the target coffee amount.
So much for the operating principle. How well this works in practice will be covered in a separate chapter of this review.
Technical specifications
- Grinder: 64mm flat burrs (either Mazzer 33M or SSP Multi-Purpose)
- Motor: 200W brushless DC motor
- RPM range: 600-1500 RPM, adjustable
- Grind adjustment: Stepless
- Capacity: Single dosing up to 20g
- Dimensions: 394 mm (H) x 108 mm (W) x 266 mm (D)
- Power supply: 100-240V, 200W, 50/60Hz
Gadgets, accessories and price
Besides the Acaia Lunar Bluetooth scale for $250, which is sold as a logical counterpart to the grinder in a bundle, there are other accessories for the grinder.
Four bean hoppers with sizes from 250 grams to 2 kilograms support the grind-by-weight activity (cost: $50 to $200). An external ion generator called “Ion Beam” is intended to reduce the grinder's static problem. This is available for $165.
The Acaia Orbit itself costs between $1600 and $1700 depending on the burrs.
High precision, low speed
The Acaia Orbit can be set to rotation speeds of 600 to 1500 revolutions per minute. We mostly used it at the preset standard speed of 1000 RPM, but of course, we also checked faster and slower speeds. At 1000 RPM, the grinder grinds the 18 grams of coffee put in within 18.5 seconds. This makes the grinder one of the slower ones. This does not change even with a full hopper. In ten seconds, 14 grams of coffee are ground through.
During grinding, there is no significant temperature increase in the grinding chamber and thus in the ground coffee. We measured 32.6 °C. The grinder achieves this with a relatively quiet noise level. We measure 76 decibels while grinding coffee.
Control and operation
The operation of the single-dosing grinder feels very coherent and smart. It is easy to grasp at first glance. Those willing to engage a bit more with the controls will quickly find that there are other useful shortcuts as well as features that make the Acaia stand out in the market of single-dosing grinders.
The grinder is controlled via one button. This can also be adjusted in its control via the app. A single press grinds the last set profile. With a double press, the grinder continues for a fraction of a second and thus releases remaining coffee grounds or increases the coffee amount in the dosing cup. With a triple press, the grinder grinds first in one direction and then in the other. This excellently clears the temporary retention from the grinding chamber. A truly outstanding feature!
A longer press of the button changes the grinding profile. A color code indicates which profile we are currently in. If we press for 10 seconds, the grinder goes into standby mode, which the grinder also does by itself after some time.
What also distinguishes the grinder is an automatic detection of the end of the grind.
If no more coffee is ground for 3 seconds, the grinder stops automatically. Many users of other grinders would wish for such a feature.
The grinder also utilizes this function at the end of the grinding process. As soon as it detects that no more beans are being ground, the grinder “purges”. In the case of a grinder, this means it reverses and grinds forward once. This clears most of the temporary retention in the grinding chamber.
The Lunar is not only high-quality in its construction but also stylish. And for those who like “floodlight grinding,” you can even have the ground coffee illuminated while grinding.
It is also a positive that the grinder can be consistently operated from the front, making it usable for people in wheelchairs.
This clip shows the current RPM measurement, the grind time, as well as the effective measured amount in the dosing cup. Small, you can see the target values of RPM and weight respectively.App control
Numerous functions can be performed in the app. In addition to remote control, the grind pulse or purging can also be triggered here. Additionally, grinding profiles can be defined, which can be saved as Presets A, B, and C.
The app is available in the App Store and requires no login information. It connects via Bluetooth to the scale. On the app, the grind time, the actual RPM (revolutions per minute), and, if connected to the Lunar, the actual weight can be displayed.
A brand new feature to explore is the RPM control. This function is reminiscent of pressure profiles in espresso brewing. During the grinding process itself, the RPM can be adjusted. For example, you can start grinding at 600 RPM and increase to 1200 RPM after 10 seconds.
Conclusion on usability
What the Acaia Orbit delivers and makes possible so far is unique. Especially the automatic post-grind to empty the grinding chamber is excellent. But beyond that, the operation of the grinder is a joy, and it is easy to work with. RPM profiling opens up entirely new possibilities for coffee aficionados. And yet, one thing is noticeable: so far, we have managed without a scale. We have saved this topic for later, because we must first talk about retention.
Retention and grind by weight
Retention, i.e., the residue of coffee in the grinder after grinding, is initially not pronounced. With a temporary retention of 0.2–0.3 grams and a permanent retention of 0.4 grams, the Acaia Orbit performs well, but not very well. The absolute retention of 0.7 grams is excellent in relation to most hopper-fed grinders. This retention refers only to the grinding chamber! With single-dosing grinders, however, there are some that have less retention.
The Acaia Orbit has a pronounced static charge, which is why the manufacturer optionally sells a tool called “Ion Beam” to reduce the static. We tested the grinder in the basic version without Ion Beam. Without the tool, it is definitely recommended to work with water spray – as with many grinders.
Let’s come back to the retention. If we use the grinder with a scale as a grind-by-weight grinder, we have a different retention problem. In the coffee chute, an additional 0.7–1 gram of coffee remains, depending on whether we work with water spray or not.
This completely undermines the performance of the grinder’s scale control. The grinder stops when a defined amount has arrived in the dosing cup on the scale. However, since the aforementioned 0.7 grams of coffee are still hanging in the chute, the amount of ground coffee does not match the target amount. If I now – which I naturally do in the single-dosing process – remove the remaining powder with the intended “click” remover, the remaining 0.7 grams fall into the dosing cup.
And while the coffee falls, the entire concept of a grind-by-weight grinder falls apart with it. Grind-by-weight only works if a grinder independently outputs its entire ground product.
We understood grind-by-weight as a principle to weigh more accurate amounts of coffee. With the Acaia Orbit, we have to program 17.3 grams as a target amount to click the remaining 0.7 grams of coffee out of the chute and get to 18 grams of coffee. This does not make sense to us! Many grinders with timer control are much more precise there.
What we do like, by the way, is the dosing cup. It sits on the portafilter, does not slide too deep into the sides, and is less likely to cause channeling.
One more tip: Quite a bit of permanent retention collects over time on the relatively large burr carrier. Regular cleaning makes sense. Unfortunately, several screws have to be loosened for this. The accessibility of the burrs is not perfectly solved.
Particle distribution and espresso
The article so far shows some symptoms of what a grinder with an app and extensive setting options offers. We have written about the multitude of possibilities and lost ourselves in the app. Yet, it should really be about espresso and coffee quality here.
And in that regard, the Acaia Orbit convinces us all the way. We used the 33M burrs and found very good results in the cup as well as in the particle distribution.
We measure a narrow main peak of only 209 microns and, when repeating a shot after adjusting the grinder in the meantime, we are also able to easily return to the initial grind size. The stepless adjustment is precise, and replicating different recipes works very well.
Conclusion Acaia Orbit
The Acaia Orbit is undoubtedly a very good grinder. Even with the cheaper standard burrs, it achieves a particle distribution with a narrow main peak and, with this grinding result, is able to enable very good espresso results and also surprisingly good filter coffees.
The grinder is high-quality, elegant, and relatively quiet. The usability is second to none. The most important functions are intuitively usable at the push of a button. Those who engage with the grinder and dive into the app unlock many more setting options. A playground for an espresso grinder that is not available in any other grinder.
We particularly like the pulse and purge functions: this is really cleverly solved, and the automatic forward and backward rotation after each grinding would look good on any grinder.
The fact that a tool to reduce static must be purchased separately is frustrating. Without it, the grinder is significantly better if used with water spray.
The functionality becomes problematic where Acaia tries to live up to its own name and market leadership by integrating its own scale into a meaningful grind-by-weight process. This does not work for us at all, because the grinder does not fully empty itself but holds back 0.7 grams of coffee in the chute. Thus, the amount on the scale is also incorrect, and a scale for the purpose of better precision becomes an illusion. Acaia stumbles over its own legacy here, or so it seems to us during the test. It would have been smarter to use the scale only as a display for the rotation speed and for profile control. That would not have been quite as fancy as also being a grind-by-weight grinder, but it would have rounded off the good grinder coherently without trying to do too much.
