Four "Smart Dripper" Brewing Methods Tutorial - Differences Between Smart Dripper and French Press Usage

The Clever Dripper is a type of pour-over filter cone widely recognized internationally and designated as the preferred brewing equipment by many specialty coffee shops. Its simple operation and high stability make it easy for every pour-over beginner to master, allowing them to brew excellent coffee at home. Additionally, it's very convenient to clean after use, making coffee brewing much more relaxed and simple—truly one of the essential coffee brewing devices for home use.

In 1908, German housewife Melita Bentz used her son's blotting paper to filter coffee grounds, unintentionally inventing the world's first device for brewing coffee with a filter cone and filter paper. In 1933, Calimanni invented the French press in Italy.

Coffee brewing equipment has continuously evolved with the times. Some innovations aim for better taste, others for richer flavor layers, while some focus on making it easier for coffee enthusiasts to get a delicious cup of coffee. A good coffee brewing device allows even coffee novices to repeatedly brew coffee with the same flavor profile. The Clever Dripper is exactly such a filter cone that's very friendly to coffee beginners.

The origin of the Clever Dripper remains unknown, but the only available information indicates that it was invented in Taiwan in the early 21st century.

The key design feature of the Clever Dripper lies in its piston valve at the bottom. When hot water is poured into the filter cone, water pressure automatically seals the piston valve to stop water flow, allowing coffee grounds to fully steep. Once steeping is complete, placing the filter cone on a mug causes pressure on the base to activate the piston valve, and coffee slowly flows into the lower vessel. This combines the advantages of both French press and pour-over filter cones—it provides the complete immersion environment of a French press while retaining coffee oils for full, rounded flavors, and also incorporates the filtering function of pour-over cones to completely remove coffee grounds and avoid interfering with mouthfeel.

After understanding the principles and design of the Clever Dripper, FrontStreet Coffee will introduce its advantages and disadvantages. Since the Clever Dripper is an immersion-type filter cone, the brewed coffee will be more intense and fuller-bodied compared to filter cones like the Hario V60. The difference in taste between the Clever Dripper and pour-over methods is that the Clever Dripper produces richer flavors and a fuller, smoother mouthfeel.

Another immersion-type filter cone is the French press. The French press is very simple to use—it consists of a heat-resistant glass container and a metal filter with a plunger rod. To brew coffee with a French press, simply steep coffee grounds and hot water in the container, then press down with the metal filter and plunger rod to separate coffee grounds from the liquid, resulting in a relatively clean cup of coffee.

The difference between the French press and Clever Dripper lies in the filtration. Since the Clever Dripper uses filter paper, which has much denser structure than a metal filter, the coffee extracted through the Clever Dripper is significantly cleaner than that from a French press. However, because filter paper is used, a large portion of the coffee oils remains on the filter paper, making the body of Clever Dripper coffee less full than that from a French press.

Coffee Bean Introduction: Guan Kui 5.0

Next, FrontStreet Coffee will conduct a comparative analysis using Guan Kui 5.0 coffee beans. Following our standard practice, FrontStreet Coffee will first introduce this coffee bean variety.

Guan Kui 5.0 comes from the Hambela sub-region within the Sidamo growing region. Following African coffee naming conventions, most are named after their growing regions or processing stations. For example, Ethiopia's Guodingding comes from the Guodingding Cooperative in the Yirgacheffe region, and Kongga comes from the Kongga Cooperative in Yirgacheffe.

The reason Guan Kui got its name is that in 2017, Ethiopia's Buku Abel Estate produced a batch of natural process coffee beans and sent them to participate in that year's TOH competition, ultimately winning the natural process category championship. In the same year, a Beijing green bean trading company imported coffee beans from the same batch. Since they won the TOH natural process championship that year, they named it Guan Kui. In Chinese, Guan Kui means "the best of all flowers," reflecting the green bean company's high hopes for this coffee variety.

Also in 2017, during the China region of the World Brewers Cup, most competitors used Geisha variety coffee beans, with only Li Jianfei using non-Geisha beans, yet he still won second place in the brewing competition. The reputation of Guan Kui beans continued to grow.

Subsequently, each year they were named in the format Guan Kui X.0 in chronological order. By 2021, it became Guan Kui 5.0. Through cupping, FrontStreet Coffee discovered that Guan Kui 5.0 features vibrant berry acidity, bright citrus notes, honey-like sweetness, and a mango juice sensation.

Brewing Method Comparison

Next, FrontStreet Coffee will conduct a comparison using V60 filter cone, Clever Dripper, and French press. We'll use 15 grams of coffee grounds with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio.

Hario V60 Filter Cone

The V60 filter cone gets its name from the 60-degree angle of its conical design, combined with 12 long ribs that guide water flow to the center. The large aperture design at the bottom allows baristas to control flavor extraction time by regulating water flow rate.

Since the V60 filter cone has a relatively fast flow rate, and Guan Kui coffee beans are medium-light roasted to highlight fruit aromas and acidity, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using medium-fine grind (80% retention on China standard #20 sieve) and higher water temperature (93°C). For brewing technique, a three-pour method can be used.

First pour 30g of water for bloom for 30 seconds, then pour the second stage to 125g, and finally pour the third stage to 225g. Stop pouring water, with total extraction time approximately 2 minutes.

Guan Kui 5.0 brewed with V60 displays mixed berry aromas, creamy strawberry and passion fruit sweet-tart notes, honey-like sweetness, and full-bodied texture.

Clever Dripper

The Clever Dripper base consists of two parts: an outer layer for support and an inner layer with a pressure-activated valve design. When brewing is complete, placing the Clever Dripper on the collection vessel allows the coffee to filter through. Since it's an immersion-type filter cone, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using medium grind (75% retention on China standard #20 sieve) and 90°C water temperature.

First pour 30g of water for bloom for 30 seconds, then pour hot water in a steady stream to the center until reaching 225g. At 1 minute 50 seconds, open the valve to filter the coffee liquid.

Guan Kui 5.0 brewed with Clever Dripper also shows mixed berry aromas, full strawberry juice sensation, creamy smooth mouthfeel, and black tea-like aftertaste.

French Press

The French press extracts coffee through immersion—the longer the steeping time, the more substances are extracted from the coffee until saturation. Since the metal filter gaps are much larger than filter paper, more oils remain in the coffee liquid, creating a smoother mouthfeel, but simultaneously there will be fine particles that cannot be completely filtered, affecting the taste. FrontStreet Coffee recommends using medium-coarse grind (70% retention on China standard #20 sieve), 92°C water temperature, and steeping for four minutes.

Place the ground coffee in the press, then pour in 225g of hot water, pull up the plunger, cover with the lid, wait for four minutes, then slowly press down the plunger.

Guan Kui 5.0 brewed with French press shows mixed berry aromas, full juice sensation, creamy smooth mouthfeel, and overall rich body.

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Important Notice :

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