Is the Ice Pupil Dripper Good to Use? What's the Difference Between the Ice Pupil Dripper and V60?

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When brewing the same coffee bean with different drippers, we can clearly notice significant differences in taste and flavor. This is because different shaped drippers result in different coffee powder distribution, water flow speed, and contact time between powder and water. Even drippers of the same type can deliver different performances due to design differences! For example, today's protagonists: the Ice Pupil dripper and V60 dripper. Both belong to the cone-shaped dripper category, but due to differences in their rib distribution, they produce different brewing effects. Today, let's compare the differences between them!

Ice Pupil Dripper

Upon careful observation, the Ice Pupil dripper's ribs are distributed vertically in a stepped pattern. The bottom of the dripper can create a suspended state for the filter paper, while at the top, the dripper and filter paper form a completely sealed state. This design has the advantage that since the top of the dripper and filter paper are completely sealed, if too much water flows suddenly during brewing or the water temperature is too high and submerges the diversion channel, there's no space for air exhaust, causing the water level to drop more slowly. This creates a soaking effect similar to the KONO dripper, avoiding under-extraction.

V60

In my opinion, the V60 is basically a magical tool! The V60 dripper's design focuses on the speed of water level decline, allowing coffee powder particles to achieve better extraction flow rates. The internal ribs adopt a curved vortex structure design that assists in accelerating water flow, extending from the bottom to the top, maintaining smooth exhaust effect throughout. The curved ribs increase the water flow path, thereby increasing the contact time between coffee powder particles and water.

Brewing Comparison

Today, I used [Washed Yirgacheffe Woka] for this comparison!

To ensure maximum consistency in the experiment, we kept our grind size, water temperature, powder-to-water ratio, and brewing techniques basically consistent.

Flavor Comparison

The Woka brewed with the V60 dripper clearly presents jasmine fragrance, bright lemon acidity upon entry, sucrose sweetness, and green tea aftertaste. The flavor layers are rich, giving a feeling of lemon green tea!

While the Woka brewed with the Ice Pupil dripper has a rounded taste when hot, and becomes slightly astringent when cooled. It has bergamot, honeysuckle, and slight grassy aromas, with a mild green tea sensation in the tail end, grapefruit peel-like clear bitterness with sweet aftertaste, and persistent aftertaste.

Conclusion

The Ice Pupil dripper is indeed as legendary, with the filter paper fitting very well, which is quite friendly for those with OCD. After brewing several times, I feel that the Ice Pupil dripper's design is somewhat similar to the KONO dripper, mainly using immersion extraction, which is also easier for beginners to handle. Coffee brewed with the Ice Pupil dripper shows good performance in balance and mouthfeel, with relatively reserved aroma. The only drawback is that compared to the V60, the flavor layers are somewhat weaker.

The V60 dripper, due to its design and fast flow characteristics, tends to stratify during the extraction process, thereby better presenting the flavor layers of a cup of coffee. The taste is clear and transparent, but stability is not high, and the fast flow rate can easily lead to uneven extraction, with generally moderate body thickness.

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