Melitta EPOS Coffee Machine – Review, Tips, and In-depth Analysis

The new flagship among Melitta's filter coffee machines is called the Melitta EPOS. EPOS as in "Electric Pour Over System". Or Epos as in epic? We'll explore that in this in-depth review. The Melitta EPOS is a filter coffee machine with an integrated coffee grinder.

One thing up front – the rotating brewing water spout on the Melitta EPOS has set a milestone in terms of distributing brewing water. No other filter coffee machine distributes brewing water better than the Melitta EPOS. This is exactly where Melitta has made a huge leap forward, addressing the biggest problem in this coffee machine segment. The machine brews with high precision. The extractions are very uniform, and the taste is correspondingly good.

I take my hat off to that as a filter coffee geek. To really understand the Melitta EPOS technology, I conducted my most detailed coffee machine test to date. 20 hours and over 100 extractions flowed through the filter.

Unfortunately, the Melitta EPOS doesn't perform as well everywhere as it does with its brewing water distribution. That really annoyed me during the test. If they had worked as consistently on the grinder and controls as they did on the water distribution, the Melitta EPOS would be the best filter coffee machine on the market. Instead, it is a first-class brewer with an average grinder that offers too few control options.

But read for yourself and check out the first test video if you want to find out more. An even more detailed video will be released next week. Enjoy.

Brewing water distribution – The showpiece

The Melitta EPOS evenly distributes brewing water over the entire coffee bed throughout the entire brewing process. This is the most important task when brewing filter coffee and coffee in general. This enables the brewing water to dissolve roughly the same amount from all coffee particles.

In doing so, the Melitta EPOS achieves something that no other filter coffee machine has done this well before. The vast majority of filter coffee machines drip into the center of the coffee cake. Massive turbulence is created at this point, and a large proportion of what is soluble is extracted from the surrounding coffee particles. However, it is important to note that not everything that is soluble in coffee is delicious. If too much is extracted from the coffee grounds, the coffee drink tastes bitter. In this case, we are talking about over-extraction.

In the case of a coffee machine that always drips on the same spot, we simultaneously have under-extraction. This occurs at the edges of the coffee filter, where the coffee grounds are not sufficiently saturated with water. The inflow and turbulence are missing. Too little extraction leads to an acidic, sometimes aggressive, and unpleasant taste.

The result in the cup is unbalanced, bitter, and highly acidic, which masks the positive flavor of the coffee. It is almost absurd that the vast majority of old and new filter coffee machines still feature such technology.

At the same time, this is why hand-brewed coffee almost always tastes better. The person brewing can then control how they pour the water themselves.

Just like hand-brewed – EPOS as in "Electric Pour Over System"

After starting the brew, it takes 5 to 15 seconds for the brew arm to start rotating and for the brewing water to be distributed over the coffee. Three holes dispense the water offset at intervals of 1.5 cm. The fact that Melitta calls the rotating water distribution an "Electric Pour Over System" is quite amusing considering that Melitta Bentz once brewed by hand. "Melitta – electric brewing the Melitta way" would have sounded strange, though. At the same time, the machine's name is also a reference to the trendy hand-brewing scene that loves to throw around Anglicisms. Filter coffee is hip and young. EPOS also sounds nicely like epic, which is the highest item category in many computer games.

And indeed. The Pour Over System brews almost like it’s done by hand, and even better. The machine brews consistently and controls the water volume. Furthermore, it brews by alternating between single and triple water pours. And the triple pour is something no hand-brewer can pull off.

The coffee grounds are wetted very evenly. Due to the triple stream, significant turbulence occurs in the brewer, which ensures that truly the entire amount of coffee grounds is extracted evenly. A person brewing by hand solves this by stirring the coffee. The triple stream in combination with the even application provides an equivalent service here.

Brewing – Constant as clockwork

In total, I carried out around 100 brews with the Melitta EPOS. The consistency is truly impressive! The EPOS rotates like clockwork. This is also impressively visible in the test video. To test the brewing unit by itself and not be limited by the built-in grinder, I brewed weighed portions of 30 grams of coffee with 500 ml using an external professional grinder. The measured strength of the coffee particles (TDS % = total dissolved solids) is remarkably constant. In 20 brews, I measured a marginal deviation of 0.02 TDS. I know of no professional hand-brewer that delivers better results.

Conclusion on water distribution

The water distribution over the coffee grounds is the best I have ever tested in a filter coffee machine. It's a real pleasure, and the brews are extremely consistent.

For me, there is only one drawback here. While the machine's description states that it brews with individual brewing profiles – this is only true to a limited extent. The EPOS delivers precisely, rotates constantly, and also controls all three brewing water outlets relatively evenly – in all brewing profiles. It is true that it brews the smallest coffee amount of 2 cups or 250 ml of water with a slightly shorter pre-infusion of 90 milliliters and 45 seconds. However, that is long and, unfortunately, cannot be programmed differently. All other brewing quantities are pre-infused with a water volume of 120 milliliters and a time of 50 seconds.

Also, the outermost water outlet is activated very early. As a result, with smaller amounts of coffee (2 cups), the outermost brewing water spout does not wet the coffee grounds at the beginning of the brew, but the filter paper. But the goal is to extract coffee, not paper, and there is a risk that the water slides past the coffee.

Nevertheless, the brewing water distribution is impressive and deserves 9 out of 10 possible points!

Flow rate

Another important criterion for a good brewer is the flow rate. If water is added too quickly, it sits on the coffee bed and lacks turbulence. In this case, the extraction is also too low, meaning not enough is being dissolved from the coffee bean.

If coffee is added too slowly and always in bursts, impact turbulence is repeatedly created over a very long period, which leads to a very high release of coffee particles. The coffee is then in contact with water for too long in total.

The Melitta EPOS finds a good middle ground. It adds a bit too much water during pre-infusion, but thereby ensures that really all the coffee is wetted. Afterward, it brews very consistently with a water application of approx. 100 milliliters per 20 seconds. This is a good value. The icing on the cake would be if this water volume could also be controlled so that the pre-infusion, in particular, would occur differently.

Why a pre-infusion or so-called blooming?

First of all, it is very positive that the Melitta EPOS has a pre-infusion function. Instead of pouring continuously from the start, this is activated by default when the pre-infusion button lights up. A pre-infusion makes sense primarily when coffee is fresh. Good coffee is always fresh, and with a built-in grinder, it is also freshly ground.

In this case, the coffee powder still has a considerable amount of CO2 bound from roasting. Through a pre-infusion with high temperature, the CO2 can escape and is then no longer in the coffee. This makes sense because CO2 gives the coffee drink an aftertaste of carbonic acid. In addition, the escaping CO2 disturbs the coffee bed. This leads to an irregular extraction and should be avoided. That is why a pre-infusion makes sense especially for fresh and darker roasted coffees with more CO2. Blooming is the name given to the pre-infusion because the coffee literally opens up like a blooming flower.

A pre-infusion is present, a plus compared to many conventional filter coffee machines. The flow rate is good. Since unfortunately neither can be controlled, there is a 2-point deduction, but still a very good conclusion with 8 out of 10 for the flow rate.

Brewing temperature of the Melitta EPOS

The set brewing temperature is at the upper limit. At the water outlet, I measured relatively continuous temperatures of 98 degrees. In the cake, the brewing temperature was consistently at 94 – 95 degrees. These high temperatures are only a major problem if a coffee is roasted darker.

With darker roasted coffees, there is already plenty of bitterness present. High temperatures intensify this impression even more. With high-quality, rather lighter roasts, the high temperatures are not a problem.

If there were an option to adjust the temperature, the brewer could make certain adjustments themselves and adapt the temperature to the coffee used. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Hardly any filter coffee machine has this option. But with its price of around €300, the Melitta EPOS also enters the highest price segment. Given that, the desire for such a function does not seem absurd. And if you want to develop a brewer for all coffees and customer groups, then adjusting the brewing temperature is almost necessary.

Therefore, the Melitta EPOS performs rather average here. 6 out of 10 points is what I give for the temperature rating.

Does the coffee taste good?

Ultimately, a coffee machine should primarily make good coffee. The Melitta EPOS does this partially with flying colors. Especially with high-quality coffees directly from the roaster, which were not ground with the built-in grinder but an external grinder to the desired grind level, the results were excellent. I have drunk some of the best coffees I have ever drunk with a filter coffee machine.

The machine has its strengths with higher brewing volumes. The machine performs magnificently, especially at 750 ml. In this case, coffee amounts of around 46 grams are to be used. With this high amount of coffee, the outer opening of the brew arm only wets the paper briefly. The machine creates pronounced turbulence with its continuous rotation. In doing so, it operates very precisely. That is a pleasure!

It performs less well with smaller amounts of coffee. I specifically advise against 250 ml/2 cups. It's better to brew by hand. I also cannot really recommend using dark coffee roasts. The bitterness in the cup at high brewing temperatures was not pleasant. Or to put it another way: the machine could not play to its strengths here. I provide some filter coffee recommendations from roasteries in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in my article on coffee selection.

Overall, the filter coffee machine makes good coffee, and 8 out of 10 points go to the account of the Melitta EPOS. I cannot get around the deductions, as the adjustment options are too limited to play out the possibilities of the machine in terms of temperature and with smaller amounts of water.

Materiality and appearance

The wide shape, the filter holder on the U-shaped arch, that looks impressive. The Melitta EPOS thus breaks out of the typical tall and narrow shape of filter coffee machines and reminds one more of a fully automatic coffee machine in terms of appearance. There is the EPOS in silver-black and gold-black. It's meant to be elegant.

Unfortunately, the materiality does not keep up with the look. At the latest when the machine is standing in front of you, it becomes clear: it is made entirely of plastic. And that doesn't really seem high-quality. The plastic units yield when you press them slightly. The machine does not become truly stable. You can use plastic, but here expectations and reality collide. For the price, the teaser online, filter coffee bags that no longer come in a bulk package, but in an elegant envelope – I wish for a stronger expression of that in the machine itself.

Added to this are major structural defects and problematic control – regardless of the fact that not much can be controlled.

Where there is brewing, water flows and drips. Both at the grinder and at the brewer, the crevices in the base area are configured in such a way that water can penetrate from above. You would not give any more orders to a plumber who works like that in the wet area of a bathroom. I haven't found a way to dry out the moisture again.

The buttons provide no haptic feedback at all, but light up when activated. They trigger very quickly, which led to me accidentally activating the grind button several times and the grinder eagerly starting to grind.

The plastic lid of the beautiful glass carafe fell into the opening several times, and I had to fish it out of the pot. If it is sitting on the carafe, that does not happen, but when placing it on, falling in can happen quickly. One could certainly have prevented that with a slightly different shape.

The water tank is removable and can thus be filled directly at the tap. The markings are very precise and allow for accurate filling.

Overall, the impression remains that the Melitta EPOS cannot keep up with its first-class brewing unit in terms of materiality. In addition to the subjective impression, structural difficulties (crevices) are significant. The restricted control, which we will write more about when discussing the grinder, also falls off. 5 out of 10 points must also be seen here in the tension field with the very high RRP of €299.

Price-performance of the Melitta EPOS

Of course, 299 euros is a lot of money. On the other hand, you also get a coffee machine and a coffee grinder. As a consumer, however, the decision is taken away from me whether I even want that.

Personally, I would buy the Melitta EPOS without a grinder for 180 euros and find the price appropriate. For control options, temperature control, and saving profiles, I would then also have put 300 euros on the table – without a grinder.

Nevertheless, it must be said that you get a lot of performance for your money here. And anyone who sticks to our brewing recipes will also brew very good coffee with the Melitta EPOS.

Our impression: 6 out of 10 points.

Bonus points for special features?

If I particularly like things in a filter coffee machine that did not find a place in the previous text, then they are addressed here. For the Melitta EPOS, this includes that the hotplate can be switched off after brewing by a long press on the “Brew” button. Kept-warm coffee does not taste good, and Melitta also writes that in the instruction manual. The fact that this is also pointed out and that an automatic switch-off after 40 minutes is implemented is positive.

By the way, there is a “manual extraction control.” Anyone who wants to brew themselves is, of course, better served with a hand filter and a pouring kettle. But the fact that the function is available is still nice. It allows the rotation direction of the brew arm to be adjusted manually, but not the activation of the holes. It is also not possible to save the manual brew.

An option with a thermal carafe and without a hotplate was not available at the time of purchase. I would have rated that positively because a thermal carafe keeps the coffee flavor better over a period of 45 minutes than a hotplate.

For the option of switching off the hotplate as well as the manual extraction control, the Melitta receives two extra points.

Conclusion on the rating of the Melitta EPOS filter coffee machine

The Melitta EPOS plays on two fields. On one hand, it is a filter coffee machine, and on the other hand, it is a coffee grinder. I have decided on a separate evaluation and will handle this principle for further tests of filter coffee machines with a grinder. This makes it easier to classify the machine's performance in both areas.

Integrated coffee grinder of the Melitta EPOS

Taken by itself, the grinder of the Melitta EPOS performs decently. A good grinder is characterized by a uniform grain size (particle distribution). If you select, for example, the grind level medium, as many coffee particles as possible should correspond to this grind level or a desired grain size. Particles that are smaller are extracted significantly more intensely (over-extraction). Particles that are larger are extracted less intensely (under-extraction). We performed a check only by hand with micron sieves and obtained satisfactory results. A ground coffee quantity was sent in, and we are still expecting the results.

The grinder allows for a total of 3 ½ control options.

1. Grind quantity through the selection of cups.

When selecting 4 cups, for example, an amount of slightly more than 30 grams is ground. The amount depends on the nature (density, moisture, roast, age) of the ground coffee. Therefore, at least a slight subsequent correction of the grind quantity is almost always necessary.

2. "Strength" beans

By selecting one, two, or three beans, the grind quantity can be slightly changed. By increasing to two or three beans, more coffee powder is used than with “one bean”.

3. Grind level adjustment

The grind level can be adjusted in three stages. Fine, medium, and coarse. No further adjustment option can be taken from the instruction manual.

Additionally, the grind quantity can be increased and decreased by 10% in total. The control is so cumbersome that even the proofreaders of the instruction manual apparently missed an error. There, under section 3.5 in the area of grind quantity fine-tuning, it says that when LED 2 is lit, the grind quantity is reduced. LED 1 would be correct. I pointed this out to Melitta in an email, and that was confirmed accordingly.

Why that can be quite problematic

If your coffee tastes good, then everything is fine! If your grinder outputs the right amount at the right grind level for the coffee used, then you can skip this chapter. Unfortunately, that would be a fluke, and the very next day, with a different coffee, you could face the following challenge.

I brewed with the setting 4 cups, bean strength 2, and grind level medium. To check the results, I weighed the coffee amount after grinding each time and also added the water amount exactly.

The brewer showed astonishing consistency. Both in taste and in the measurement with the refractometer, the coffee was quite strong. In the measurement, this can be explained by the high TDS. TDS stands for “total dissolved solids” and thus for the concentration of dissolved coffee particles. Typically, filter coffee has a strength of approx. 1.2 to 1.5%. Depending on the coffee used, this seems stronger or weaker. In our case, the coffee was very strong, and the acidity was slightly unpleasant.

To reduce the strength, we can do two things. Either adjust the grind level to be coarser or use less coffee. One should never do both at once, otherwise the results are not easy to reproduce.

So I used less coffee powder. This was also supported by the fact that the coffee powder used above was extracted at the lower limit (18.83% in the mean value). Extraction is what we dissolve from the bean. Good for filters is a value between 18 – 22%. In the lower range and below 18%, the acidity of the coffee is emphasized. In the upper range and above 22%, the coffee tastes more bitter.

The following grindings were impressively constant. The grinder ground 30 grams very accurately several times in a row at a stretch. That is remarkable, because hardly any professional grinder performs this precisely.

The coffee tasted significantly better. It was balanced and sweet, and acidity and bitterness stood well against each other. However, I wanted to continue fine-tuning, also to test the limits of the grinder.

Since the grind amount was perfect, the option of the coarser grind remained. So I set the grinder to coarse.

As a result, the grind amount also increased again. Instead of 30 grams, the grinder threw out an average of 33.48 grams. That no longer corresponds to my desired coffee amount of approx. 60 grams per liter. Accordingly, the brewing water used could no longer dissolve enough from the particles. It was too little for the amount of coffee and, furthermore, too coarse. The coffee tastes acidic.

The coffee amount could now no longer be changed via the “strength” buttons. By reprogramming the strength buttons with a reduction of 10%, the approx. 30 grams were reached again. However, the grind level was still not coarse enough.

And now I was at the end of the possibilities of the grinder. A coarser grind level cannot be set. 3 stages for adjusting the grind level are, in general, very, very little. Modern grinders feature 30 stages or are even stepless.

Forgot to co-develop the grinder

The adjustment option of the grinder is strongly reminiscent of the Melitta Aroma Fresh – also a filter coffee machine with an integrated grinder.

There, too, the adjustment option is too small. But there is another big and important difference to the Melitta EPOS.

The Melitta EPOS brews with its brew arm with much more turbulence. So, much more is extracted through the turbulence. For this reason, the coarser range of the grinder is in much greater demand than is the case in the area of brewing with a “classic filter coffee machine.”

And here the matter becomes annoying. The grinder is good in terms of consistency. But it cannot keep up with its further developed neighbor, the brewing unit. It does not deliver the right grind level to flexibly deal with the brewer. The adjustment options are limited. 10% more or less grinding time is not a sufficient size to set the desired grind quantity.

A good brew does not just consist of “Pour Over” but of the interplay of an exact grind level, coffee amount, and pouring.

Final conclusion on the Melitta EPOS

It is really difficult to give a differentiated conclusion on the Melitta EPOS. That is why this article has become so long. If you judge a soccer team, the team performance counts in the end. Even if one scores the goals up front – if the defense does not pull together, then that brings little.

I feel a bit like that with the Melitta EPOS. The consistent further development of the brew arm has been really very well done. Never before have I had so much fun with the consistency and quality of the water distribution. Bravo!

Unfortunately, the grinder cannot keep up with the performance. It is a solid grinder in many respects. But it is not the right counterpart to support the performance of the brewer. Nevertheless, the rule holds: a grinder is a hundred times better than no grinder, because freshly ground coffee is the prerequisite for good coffee. I am grateful to Melitta for this signal to the market.

The machine's adjustment options are limited. With that, the Melitta EPOS misses further opportunities to become the best filter coffee machine on the market. That is tragic, because that was absolutely within reach.

Who is this filter coffee machine for?

With its compact size and good brewer, the filter coffee machine is a good choice for all who enjoy good filter coffee. If you have an external grinder standing around anyway, then you can compensate for the weaknesses of the machine with it.

I rather recommend using medium to light filter roasts and high-quality beans. That is the appropriate counterpart to the high brewing temperature.

I also find the machine interesting for coffee schools and roasteries for courses and understanding turbulence better. The consistency of the machine is remarkable, and you can also learn a lot as a hand-brewer.

Wishlist to Melitta for the EPOS 2.0

I wish for:

• PID control of the temperature
• Display with grind time display
• Stepless adjustability of the grinder
• Thermal carafe and dispensing with a hotplate
• (Less plastic)