Clever Dripper Usage Guide: How to Use the Clever Dripper? Coffee Brewing Tutorial

Those who have visited FrontStreet Coffee's storefront will notice that FrontStreet Coffee's baristas typically use only two types of drippers for pour-over coffee: one is the Hario V60, and the other is KONO. However, these drippers have certain requirements for brewing techniques. If you haven't yet learned how to control a stable water flow, using drippers like the Hario V60 and KONO can be somewhat challenging.

To allow more people to enjoy a cup of coffee without brewing "mishaps," the Clever Coffee Dripper was introduced. With the help of this dripper, even coffee beginners can easily get started.

What is the Clever Coffee Dripper?

The full name of the Clever Coffee Dripper is "Clever Coffee Dripper." There are many piston-valve drippers sold under the name "Clever" on the market, but in principle, only the Clever dripper sold by the Mr. Clever brand can be called a Clever Coffee Dripper.

The Brewing Principle of the Clever Coffee Dripper

What makes the Clever Coffee Dripper special is its bottom design. The bottom of the Clever dripper is divided into two parts: the outer layer serves as a support, while the inner layer features a piston valve design. After beginning to pour water, the weight of the water automatically seals the piston valve to stop the flow, allowing the coffee grounds to fully steep in the hot water above.

After the steeping is complete, place the Clever dripper on a sharing pot or other container for coffee extract. When the bottom is pressed, the piston valve opens, and the coffee extract slowly flows into the container. From this perspective, the Clever Coffee Dripper can be said to combine the advantages of both French press and pour-over drippers—it can provide the complete immersion environment of a French press, retaining more coffee oils to make the coffee flavor fuller, while also incorporating the filtering function of pour-over drippers to completely filter out coffee fines, preventing them from affecting the mouthfeel.

Clever Coffee Dripper Brewing Process Steps

① After folding the bottom and side ribs of the filter paper, place it in the Clever dripper. Add water to wet the filter paper and make it adhere to the inner wall of the Clever dripper.

② Place the Clever dripper on a flat surface to close the piston valve, pour 15 grams of coffee grounds into the Clever dripper, and level it.

③ Start the timer, pour the first 30 grams of hot water, and bloom for 30 seconds with water temperature at 90 degrees Celsius. After the bloom ends, continue pouring hot water to 225 grams.

④ Wait until 1 minute and 30 seconds, place the Clever dripper on a mug or sharing pot to open the piston valve and let the coffee liquid flow out. The total extraction time is approximately 1 minute and 50 seconds to 1 minute and 55 seconds.

What is Pour-Over Coffee?

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the pour-over coffee served at FrontStreet Coffee's storefront mostly uses two types of drippers: the Hario V60 dripper and the KONO dripper. The characteristic of brewing with these types of drippers is using the dripper with filter paper to filter coffee grounds. Pour-over coffee originated from a sudden idea by Melitta Bentz in Germany. Melitta loved drinking coffee but hated the texture of coffee grounds, so she combined her son's blotting paper with a perforated copper pot to create a filter—this might be the first coffee dripper in history.

Equipment Needed for Pour-Over Coffee

To brew pour-over coffee, the necessary equipment includes: an electronic scale with timing function, a thermometer, a pour-over kettle, a dripper, filter paper, a sharing pot, and a grinder. The electronic scale is responsible for weighing coffee grounds and water, as well as displaying extraction time.

The thermometer is used to measure water temperature. When selecting water temperature, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas will choose hot water between 90°C to 93°C for lightly roasted coffee beans; while for dark roasted coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas will choose hot water between 86°C to 88°C for brewing.

Filter paper and drippers serve to isolate coffee grounds. When choosing between Hario V60 and KONO, FrontStreet Coffee's baristas will use V60 for lightly roasted coffee beans; while for dark roasted coffee beans, they will choose the KONO dripper.

Pour-Over Coffee Brewing Process

Friends who often read FrontStreet Coffee's articles should be very familiar with FrontStreet Coffee's brewing process. To present the purest flavor of each coffee bean from every origin, FrontStreet Coffee controls controllable factors as much as possible, allowing friends to taste the most pure variety and origin flavors of the coffee beans.

When serving, FrontStreet Coffee first weighs 15 grams of coffee beans, with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15, pouring 225 grams of hot water.

① Place the filter paper in the dripper and wet it with hot water to make the filter paper adhere to the inner wall of the dripper.

② Pour 15 grams of ground coffee into the dripper and level it.

③ Pour the first 30 grams of hot water to completely wet the coffee grounds, bloom for 30 seconds, allowing the coffee grounds to release carbon dioxide gas, enabling better coffee extraction with subsequent water pours.

④ Pour the second segment of hot water to 125 grams.

⑤ As the coffee liquid in the dripper drops to halfway, about to expose the coffee bed, pour the third segment of hot water to 225 grams, with a total extraction time of 2 minutes.

What are the Flavor Differences Between Clever Dripper and Pour-Over Coffee Brewing?

To help everyone better understand the flavor differences between Clever dripper brewing and pour-over brewing, FrontStreet Coffee has selected the same coffee bean here for a better comparison.

Using FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe Natural Red Cherry as an example:

FrontStreet Coffee: Yirgacheffe · Red Cherry Coffee Beans

Origin: Ethiopia Yirgacheffe

Altitude: 1700m～2200m

Variety: Local native varieties

Processing Method: Natural processing

The reason FrontStreet Coffee calls this coffee bean "Red Cherry" is because it comes from a local Red Cherry Project. This Red Cherry Project is led by the Dutch company Trabocca, with half of the funding sponsored by the Dutch government. Since 2005, it has collaborated with many small coffee cooperatives, encouraging and assisting producers to improve washing, semi-washing, natural, or other experimental processing methods to enhance coffee quality. Before each harvest season, Trabocca invites selected small-scale farmer organizations/producers to participate in producing micro-batch coffee (approximately 1500 to 3000 kg), hand-picking 100% ripe red coffee cherries in batches (hence the name Red Cherry Project).

This coffee bean uses natural processing. FrontStreet Coffee believes that coffee beans from Yirgacheffe, whether washed or natural processed, each have their advantages. Washed processed Yirgacheffe brings a cleaner mouthfeel and bright acidity; while natural processed Yirgacheffe coffee beans have more prominent juice-like and sweet sensations, with also more abundant aroma.

Flavor Comparison

[Clever Dripper Brewing Flavor] Citrus acidity, juice-like mouthfeel, full-bodied, smooth, fermented wine aroma, honey-like aftertaste.

[V60 Brewing Flavor] Light fermented wine aroma, with citrus fragrance, honey sweetness, cocoa flavor, and a persistent aftertaste.

From the comparison of brewed flavors, the Clever dripper brewing can better extract the flavors in the coffee, with a rich and intense mouthfeel. In comparison, V60 brewing presents a lighter and fresher flavor profile.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473