Clever Dripper Brewing Guide: Clever Dripper Usage Formula - Temperature/Ratio/Steeping Time Parameter Recommendations

The Clever Dripper: An Essential Tool for Coffee Beginners

Pour-over coffee may seem simple, but there are many techniques and details to master. Different types of equipment can create various flavor variations during the brewing process. Today, FrontStreet Coffee recommends an easy-to-use extraction dripper—the Clever Dripper, which combines both immersion and drip extraction methods, making it a true "coffee beginner's essential tool."

The Extraction Principle of the Clever Dripper

The Clever Dripper typically consists of two layers: an outer frame that supports the dripper and an inner cup body with a press-style switch valve.

When placed flat on a surface, the valve remains closed, preventing coffee liquid from flowing down and allowing the coffee grounds and water to remain in an immersion state. Once the steeping is complete, pressing the middle of the base opens the piston valve, allowing the coffee liquid to flow into the container below.

Compared to direct drip-style drippers like the V60, the Clever Dripper adds the functionality of immersion extraction, allowing water and coffee grounds to maintain continuous contact within the container. The immersion method is less affected by pouring techniques, making it easier for beginners to replicate the basic flavors of coffee. Flavor compounds will produce different flavors and concentration variations depending on water temperature, coffee-to-water ratio, grind size, and steeping duration.

How to Use the Clever Dripper

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned above, using the Clever Dripper for immersion coffee extraction is very easy to master. We can treat it as a lazy version of a French press. Let FrontStreet Coffee share how to use this lazy version of the Clever Dripper. You only need to prepare five items: a Clever Dripper, filter paper, coffee grounds, hot water, and a cup that can hold the brewed coffee.

The grind size should be slightly coarser than that used for regular pour-over coffee. FrontStreet Coffee suggests using a medium grind (75% pass-through rate on a #20 standard screen) for light to medium roast coffee beans, and a medium-coarse grind (70% pass-through rate on a #20 standard screen) for medium to dark roast coffee beans. The same principle applies to water temperature and grind size—the higher the temperature, the easier it is to extract flavor compounds. At the same time, we need to account for temperature drop during the steeping process, so we'll use a slightly higher temperature than pour-over. FrontStreet Coffee recommends using 93-94°C to extract light to medium roast coffee beans, and 90-91°C for brewing medium to dark roast coffee beans.

The amount of coffee grounds generally depends on personal preference. FrontStreet Coffee will use 15g for a single serving as an example, with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:16, meaning 240g of water added at once.

FrontStreet Coffee has selected the Guji Ethiopia coffee beans from the Sidamo region, which are natural processed to present tropical fruit acidity with noticeable sweetness.

Brewing Parameters:

• Dripper: Clever Dripper
• Water Temperature: 94°C
• Coffee Dose: 15g
• Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:16
• Grind Size: Medium (75% pass-through rate on #20 screen)

The Clever Dripper uses large cone-shaped filter papers. After placing the filter paper in the Clever Dripper, wet it with a small amount of water to make it fit better against the dripper, then add the ground coffee. Meanwhile, tare the electronic scale and start the timer. Next, pour hot water, which needs to be at a relatively high temperature. FrontStreet Coffee suggests 94-95°C. Pour 16 times the amount of water as the coffee grounds at once—for FrontStreet Coffee using 15g of grounds, that means pouring 240ml of water. After that, you can cover with the lid and wait for 4 minutes.

After 4 minutes, you can gently shake the Clever Dripper and place it on your cup, and the coffee will filter into your cup. Cleanup is also very simple—just lift out the filter paper and discard it, then rinse the Clever Dripper with water. Isn't that much easier than a French press? Coffee brewed using the Clever Dripper's immersion extraction method has high clarity, good body, and rounded sweetness.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style).

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat (FrontStreet Coffee), WeChat ID: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473