Femobook A68 in the Test: Why We Weren't Impressed by the Best Values

The Femobook A68 is a single-dosing grinder with a 68-mm conical burr set that costs around 750 euros and was mentioned surprisingly often as a test request from you. There are some positive videos about this grinder online, most of them are a bit older. All the more reason to examine the A68 systematically: what does it do well, what does it not do well?

First, a disclaimer: we have a somewhat different opinion than many voices online. There are hardly any grinders that do everything very well, and fortunately also hardly any that do everything poorly. With the A68, the picture is particularly divided. In the measurements, it collects top values across the board: retention, consistency, reproducibility, all top-notch. And then comes the espresso.

As always, we purchased the grinder ourselves to guarantee neutral testing.

Design and Build: just under 6 kilos of aluminum

The A68 is small but no lightweight. It weighs 5.7 kilos, the housing is made of aluminum and is really well-made. At 10.6 cm wide, 16 cm deep without the plug, and just under 30 cm tall, it takes up very little space on the counter. The plug sticks out a bit in the back, so you should factor that in when setting it up.

The bean hopper is a bit small. A few millimeters more in diameter would have been nice.

What stands out to us when handling it: the burr set has some play in it. The cone doesn't sit as snugly as we know from other grinders. All the more surprising is how good the reproducibility turns out to be later. More on that below.

Burr Set and Technology: 68-mm Cone with Stepped Adjustment

The heart of the A68 is a conical burr set with a diameter of 68 mm, driven by a 200-watt DC motor. The grinder runs at a slow speed of 60 revolutions per minute. The grinder has no speed control.

Femobook has a large product range: there are models for filter coffee and, for example, the battery-powered A4Z version. The A68 is supposed to be able to do both, espresso and filter coffee. In this test, we focused on espresso, and why we deliberately omitted filter coffee in the video, you'll find out below.

The grind size adjustment is stepped, not stepless. And it's one of the most pleasant things we've operated on a grinder in a long time. One click changes the extraction time by a maximum of two seconds, usually by one. With our recipe of 18 g coffee and 45 g espresso, grind setting 0.1 was at 27 seconds, one click finer brought 29 seconds. This allows you to make precise adjustments with the smallest steps and smallest changes in the cup. We think Femobook has solved this really well with a conical burr set of this diameter.

Operation: Good with Water Spray, a Mess Without It

We need to distinguish between two scenarios here. If you spray a few drops of water on the beans before grinding, so you're working with RDT, operation is good. Little static, the coffee lands in the cup, the workflow is fine.

Without water, the ground coffee builds up an incredible static charge. Michel experienced the biggest mess around a grinder he's ever had with grinders. The coffee sticks to the cup, it hangs in the cone below—you literally find coffee everywhere. The procedure looks like this: grind, blow a bit, turn the cone so the bits move on, tap so the rest comes out, tap again so it falls down. By the time the coffee is in the portafilter, we've really worked for it.

The consequence: water spray is not a recommendation with the A68, it's a requirement. You weigh your 18 g, 12 g, or 9 g, spray it in the cup with a small spray bottle, and add it to the top of the grinder. This is useful with many grinders and no big deal. With the Femobook, let's say it's a necessary step. And there are more expensive grinders where this is also necessary.

When cleaning, the A68 shows its best side. Lots of magnets, tool-free disassembly: one part off, the next one off, pull up, done. Anyone who wants to brush out their burr set regularly will have little trouble here.

Grinding Speed and Noise Level: 12 Seconds for 18 Grams, 81.6 dB

The A68 takes 12 seconds for 18 g. In 10 seconds it grinds 17.3 g. For a conical grinder in this size, that's absolutely acceptable and fast enough for everyday use.

In operation we measure 81.6 dB(A) at 20 cm distance. That's just above the threshold where we speak of a rather loud grinder. It's not quiet, but it's not offensively loud either.

Grinding Temperature and Consistency: 0.05 g Standard Deviation

The first sample is at 31.8 °C, after five consecutive grindings with 20 seconds pause each, the temperature rises to 33.2 °C. That's a slight warming, no thermal problem. Even those who grind multiple espressos in succession don't need to worry about heat-sensitive light roasts.

The consistency is excellent. With five grindings of 18 g input each, 17.9 to 18.0 g land in the cup, with a standard deviation of 0.05 g.

Retention: 0.1 Gram, but Only with Water Spray

The retention is what the A68 does best. Temporary retention: 0 g. Permanent retention: 0.1 g. Absolute, then, 0.1 g. That's a top value. It's a cone, and practically nothing stays stuck in that cone. When we remove the lower cone, 0.1 g of coffee sticks—we count that as permanent retention, nothing more than that.

However, this value only applies when operating with RDT. Without water spray, as described above, you have to put in real effort to get the coffee out of the grinding cone. If you were to count everything that stays stuck in the grinding cone without assistance in the retention value, the figure would be considerable. With water spray, retention is a non-issue, every portion is fresh, bean changes are possible anytime. Without water spray, you completely lose this advantage.

Grind Size Reproducibility: Back at the Same Point After Adjustment

In the adjustment test, we change from our espresso setting to ristretto, then to café crème, and visually back to the starting mark. The main peak in the starting sample T4 is at 323.7 µm and in the return sample T7 at 323.9 µm. That's virtually identical. The fine peak goes from 40.8% to 39.0%, the x50 value shifts from 209 µm to 231 µm.

Anyone who switches back and forth between espresso and a coarser setting will end up at the same recipe when returning and won't need to recalibrate. Given the play we felt in the burr set, we would have expected larger deviations even on the main peak.

Particle Distribution: Main Peak 324 µm, Fine Peak 41%

We analyze the particle distribution in cooperation with ZHAW using the Retsch Camsizer X2. In espresso setting (T4) we measure an x50 of 209 µm, a fine peak (proportion under 100 µm) of 40.8%, and a main peak (60% peak width) of 324 µm.

The main peak is broad. Not the broadest we've ever measured, but clearly above the 300 µm mark and also above the roughly 320 µm threshold where we start to see it as problematic. What does a broad main peak mean? A large portion of the particles is indeed in the target size range, but not exactly there, rather to the left and right of it. These particles extract differently, and that brings an undifferentiated picture to the cup. We call that a scattered espresso.

Add to that the fine peak. 40.8% of particles are smaller than 100 µm, that's a high value. We also know many fine particles from very good grinders with a narrow main peak. There they're needed to build enough resistance in the gaps between uniform particles. But with the A68, these gaps don't exist. The ground coffee is a broad, frayed particle carpet, and on top of that come the ultra-fine particles. In the portafilter, this shows up as a clogging picture: the puck sets up, the flow slows down toward the end instead of speeding up.

A conical grinder often has a tendency toward a somewhat broader main peak, but not to this extent. We know conical grinders that do this significantly better: the Option-O Lagom Casa and also the Niche Zero don't deliver a super narrow main peak, but really solid coffees.

Tasting: Heavy Body, No Sweetness, Lots of Bitterness

For the tasting we ground our dark roast, the Compadre. The shot itself is already unusual. At first, three grams per second pour out, then the flow slows down instead of speeding up. Normally the puck breaks open as the shot progresses and the flow accelerates, extremely with light coffees, slightly with medium to dark roasts.

In the cup: there's no sweetness. The body is there, but as a heavy, clumsy weight, not as elegant fullness. The positive, creamy texture that this coffee normally brings is gone. The espresso is unstructured, unclear, and incredibly bitter, with a dry aftertaste. Michel sums it up this way: "That's the worst Compadre I've ever drunk in my life."

Filter Coffee with the A68

The A68 is supposed to be able to handle filter coffee too. In the video we refrained from doing so due to the particle distribution. However, our test brews of filter coffee confirmed the picture. Sure, you can brew filter coffee. But the quality promise is not being delivered in our view. The coffees lacked transparency and each had an unpleasant dryness in the finish.

Technical Data Overview

As always, we also tested this grinder according to our KM Protocol and purchased it ourselves. This test was not commissioned by Femobook.