Why I Don't Use the Fellow Stag XL Dripper

In this episode, I dive into why I don't use or recommend the Fellow Stag XL dripper, despite Fellow making some truly impressive coffee products. I walk through my hands-on experience with this $70 stainless steel brewer (or $100 with the carafe bundle), explaining the specific reasons it sits unused in my collection. I discuss the quality construction, the heat retention benefits, but also the significant drawbacks including the metallic taste I've noticed, the massive and expensive filters, and the overall value proposition compared to alternatives. I demonstrate how the device works, brew a cup on camera, and most importantly, I reveal budget-friendly alternatives that deliver comparable results—including a game-changing hack for using cone filters in flat-bed brewers that could save you serious money.

By listening to this episode, you'll learn exactly why expensive doesn't always mean better in the coffee world, discover which affordable brewers can give you the same quality results, and pick up a practical filter compatibility trick that opens up more brewing options without breaking the bank. Whether you're considering purchasing the Fellow Stag XL or just want to optimize your current coffee setup, this honest review will help you make smarter buying decisions and get the most value from your coffee gear.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:18 Unboxing the Fellow Stag XL Bundle
• 2:27 Build Quality & Construction Overview
• 3:13 Why I Don't Use It: The Drawbacks
• 4:47 The Metallic Taste Problem
• 5:02 Filter Issues: Size & Cost Comparison
• 6:32 Brewing Demonstration
• 8:11 Design Critiques: The Pelican Spout
• 9:00 Better Alternatives: Hario V60 & Origami
• 10:00 The Cone Filter Hack That Changes Everything
• 11:26 Real Talk: When Expensive Isn't Better

Transcript

[00:00:00]
I wouldn't say this is so much of a regret, but it's more so something I don't use. This is still going on the same series or idea of things I don't recommend for various reasons. And this one right here is no exception to this rule.

[00:00:23]
This is the Fellow Stag XL. They do have a version that is half the size of this, but this is the device that I don't use much. It comes with a drip cup right here. And I want to just explain a couple of things with you. Why I don't use it. Why I don't recommend it.

[00:00:52]
Other things that I think are better that you can use instead. So let's talk about the good stuff. Yeah, this also came with it too. This is carafe.

[00:01:07]
They have a bundle that you can get. And the bundle for this and this, they're a hundred bucks. Which you'll think that's pretty expensive, right? Fellow makes really nice products. Some of the products that I do like is the kettle. The grinders really nice.

[00:01:35]
The secret fan boy, true and true. But we're going to have to talk about the stuff that we don't like and why we don't like it. So it's really well made. As you can see right here, this actually fits perfectly up top.

[00:01:54]
As you can see them demonstrate on the camera and it works out pretty well. So this is the construction is really impeccable. You can see the quality of the coating and this is a stainless steel type of device. We'll talk about that as being one of the drawbacks actually.

[00:02:17]
It has plenty of holes, very small holes. I like that part. I don't know why you need one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten small holes. But whatever. That's just the way that they designed this device to work.

[00:02:34]
No matter what you do for the most part with a brewer, it's going to work well. So nicely built. I understand this, but I don't really use this in execution. Not as much.

[00:03:00]
And that's the device. That's what you get out the box. You do get a couple of filters. So let's talk about the things that I don't like about it by itself. It's $70. $70 for stainless steel coffee brewer. That's a lot of money for what it does.

[00:03:25]
Heat retention. Yes, it does have that. It does have great heat retention. That's what you want. I haven't really have a big problem whatsoever whenever I actually brew a cup of coffee from plastic brewers with heat retention. That takes a different from time to time. Sure. But is it that big of a difference to where that's what I need and want every time? No.

[00:03:50]
So sometimes I think that the stainless steel kind of leaks through kind of reminds me of when you have a cup that stainless steel. To me, sometimes it kind of leaks through. I know this kind of weird saying that, but I think it kind of feels like it leaks through to an extent.

[00:04:19]
The stainless steel type of taste metallic taste that you get from crafts or cups that you have to go and take what you in a car or something like that. So that's one of the drawbacks to me. The drawback, like I say, you don't really use this again in hindsight, it makes a great idea. You put your brewer up top. And then you put it here. You let the rest of it cool down. Right.

[00:04:53]
So let's bring out another drawback. Here's the filters. The filters are massive. I got these not too recent ago. I think I may try to use some of these filters before I actually put this device up. And look how large these filters are. It's massive. Right.

[00:05:20]
Let's compare it to a regular sized cone filter that you get from Chemex or April. Half the size. Right. And you'll be thinking, okay, well, dummy, you got the XL. So you want a lot of coffee, right? Yeah.

[00:05:44]
It's when you put it in a device, it doesn't make it seem that much bigger. It just kind of swallows it up. It's a kind of wacky type of design. Very concentrated kind of reminds me of the Orea dripper. How more tight it is, which actually like in that dripper. But this one is kind of like a waste to me. You're probably putting about the exact same amount if you want to go maximum with this particular filter on my left here, right?

[00:06:23]
So I don't really get it. Right. So before we conclude, we're going to go ahead and make a cup. We're not going to really measure much. And then we're going to see how everything works out for us.

[00:06:56]
I don't know if this is a fast brewer or whatnot. I don't think it matters as much, but it makes a cup of coffee as you would expect from a coffee brewer. Right.

[00:07:29]
And you're still using a paper filter. It's still very compact. You could put a decent amount of coffee in there. It's kind of wonky with the design when you actually put the coffee in there. Massive filters.

[00:07:43]
These filters are kind of expensive. I think you get like 40 filters for like 11, 12 dollars, something like that. You know, if you're from the Hario V60 people, you know, the way that you like to get your filters, you're essentially paying double for what you get.

[00:08:02]
We're done. And you just put it here and then you wash this off later. Your cup of coffee will taste that. Put this top like this. I don't like the spout looks like a pelican or like a penguin type of spout. It works. It does a good job.

[00:08:25]
I wish the spout represented more like what the kettle kind of does with the goose neck. But it does work. But I just don't like the way it looks. And I can say that because Fellow is about functioning porn. So they care about the way that things look. This looks horrible to me. It just does.

[00:08:47]
Didn't measure anything which is perfectly fine. We're just trying to taste the coffee. See what it tastes like. See if you get something different compared to other coffee. Right. So if I don't recommend it, what do I recommend?

[00:09:07]
Hario V60 is $10. The Origami brewer. This is $17, $18. You do get a drip assist that they've made with it as a one pour thing. I believe this is one of the best designs I've seen. You can manipulate control flow a lot better with this one.

[00:09:37]
I'm sure you're wondering why I brought these two right here and these are cone shaped type of filters, brewers. If you haven't done it already, just do it. It fits. It fits the Hario V60. $10. There you go. Here's your brewer.

[00:09:58]
If you want to not deal with plastic, you can get a glass, not a glass, but a ceramic brewer for like $20. Talk like I don't have the ceramic brewer, but here it is. See, same thing fits perfectly fine. If you want to spend a little bit more money and it works. Works fine.

[00:10:28]
Sometimes when we buy things, we get really excited about the device, what it can do for us. We were thinking about the coffee quite a bit. We're thinking about how we can actually enjoy and love the coffee and all that good stuff. Right?

[00:10:57]
But I guess to the point where you really get comfortable, you really start to relax. You really start to get back into your normal usual routine and then your old habits come back, which is perfectly fine. And that's what happened with me with this. I use it for a while. I use it when the filters ran out until the filters ran out. I enjoyed it. It works fine.

[00:11:28]
There's no problems with the device. It's just expensive for what it can do and there's better cheaper alternatives out there that are more versatile. Actually, you can't put a cone shape filter like you can in the because it's just a Hario. You have that one crazy funky paper that you can put in. I don't know if you can see that, but that bad looks horrible.

[00:11:54]
It doesn't look even there's paper there's coffee grounds inside in between the ridges, so that's one of my hatred of the flat bed brewers. But they do make good coffee at the end of the day. That's all that matters, right? And if you can replicate that with something that's a third of the price or a tenth of the price, why wouldn't you?

[00:12:24]
It works really well. All these other things work a lot better. So this is very expensive for what you get. And if you already have a Hario or V60 and you're just wondering if you can get that cone shape type of taste, you can. Here's the brewer. Here's the filter. Here's the brewer. It works. If you haven't tried this trick.

[00:12:51]
Try it. It works really well. And I think that you're going to be in a better place when you actually go about drinking your cup of coffee, understanding your cup of coffee. And I think the biggest thing, the biggest takeaway is that you won't be really missing anything. You really won't.

[00:13:08]
There's no FOMO here. And if I can help save you there, I think I've done my job. You know, even if you got the smaller one, it's like 10 bucks cheaper. And it probably holds just a little bit less coffee, especially compared to these other brewers that I've shown and demonstrated for you with the flatbed filters.

[00:13:41]
So this is OK. Everyday Bean signing off. Let me know what you think. Like I said, this coffee spectacular. It tastes really good. Didn't even measure anything out. I put a little bit more water because it's a little too strong for me right now. I'm going to finish it up. So this is OK. Everyday Bean signing off. I'll talk to you later. Bye.