Best Clever Coffee Dripper Brands and Why It's Called "Clever": Comparison with V60 Pour-Over

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Introduction to the Clever Coffee Dripper

This coffee filter originated in Taiwan, with the full name "Clever Coffee Dripper." It's a filter cup with a controllable switch valve at the bottom. "Clever" means intelligent, which is why everyone gave it a cute and unique name - the Clever Dripper.

Recommended Clever Dripper Brands

Regarding which brand of Clever Dripper is best, FrontStreet Coffee recommends the Mr. Clever brand. This brand is the company that first developed and applied for the Clever Dripper patent. Only this brand can label their products as "Clever Dripper" when selling them. Other brands can only use terms like "switch cup" or "Clever-like cup" when selling their products.

Is the Clever Dripper Suitable for Beginners?

The Clever Dripper was invented with the hope that both coffee beginners and experts could brew consistently flavored coffee, minimizing other factors that affect flavor.

Many people start their pour-over coffee journey with the V60 filter. Watching baristas concentrate intently on pouring water while coffee leisurely drips from the filter creates a beautiful scene. However, when they personally brew coffee, they discover that too many factors (such as water temperature, filter material, grind size, water speed, etc.) can affect the coffee flavor.

This also leads to different qualities with each brew. From an operational perspective, it's clear that achieving consistency with regular coffee filters is very difficult, and the Clever Dripper was created to solve these unstable factors.

Features of the Clever Dripper

In appearance, the Clever Dripper is a trapezoidal pour-over filter. It has grooves on the inside that create space between the filter and filter paper for water flow. The biggest feature is the piston valve at the bottom. When pouring water, water pressure causes the piston valve to seal tightly, preventing water from flowing out of the filter. Only when the filter is placed on a cup, forcing the piston valve open, will the water flow down.

Combining these features, the Clever Dripper possesses both drip filtration/gravity and full immersion brewing principles. In terms of material, the Clever Dripper uses heat-resistant tritan hard plastic, so users don't need to worry about premature damage to the filter itself.

Differences Between Clever Dripper and V60 Filter

Brewing filtered coffee with the Clever Dripper is similar to using filter paper with a regular filter cup. The parameters for brewing coffee with the Clever Dripper can be consistent with daily pour-over coffee parameters.

For the same coffee beans, under the same water temperature, powder-to-water ratio, and extraction time, if the grind is too coarse, the coffee flavor tends to be under-extracted, resulting in a flat taste lacking layers. If the grind is too fine, the coffee flavor tends to be over-extracted. This means that after the flavor compounds are extracted, the coffee grounds continue to contact hot water, releasing woody and other unpleasant tastes, resulting in strong but impure coffee flavor.

FrontStreet Coffee suggests using medium-fine grind (75%-80% pass rate through #20 standard sieve) for light-to-medium roast coffee beans with the Clever Dripper, paired with 90-91°C water temperature; for medium-dark roast coffee beans, use medium-coarse grind (65%-70% pass rate through #20 standard sieve), paired with 88-89°C water temperature.

FrontStreet Coffee used coffee beans from the Yirgacheffe Gudin Ding Cooperative in Ethiopia for this experimental comparison. Brewing parameters are as follows: 15g coffee beans, medium-fine grind (75-80% pass rate through China's #20 standard sieve), 90°C water temperature, and 1:15 powder-to-water ratio.

Clever Dripper Brewing Steps

Fold the filter paper and place it inside the Clever Dripper, place the Clever Dripper on a container, and use hot water to wet the filter paper while preheating the equipment. Then move the Clever Dripper to the electronic scale (the valve will automatically close at this time), and pour the ground coffee into the center of the filter.

First, pour 30g of hot water, start the timer, and bloom for 30 seconds. After blooming, pour hot water to 225g, then steep for 1 minute and 50 seconds. After steeping is complete, move the Clever Dripper to the container and open the valve to filter the coffee liquid from the filter. The entire process takes about 15 seconds, and the total extraction time for the coffee is 2 minutes and 5 seconds.

The Gudin Ding coffee brewed with the Clever Dripper has a full-bodied citrus acidity, a light floral aroma, honey-like sweetness, and a rich green tea-like aftertaste.

V60 Filter Brewing Steps

Fold the filter paper and place it inside the filter, then place it on the coffee pot. Use hot water to wet the filter paper while preheating the equipment. Then pour out the hot water from the pot and pour the ground coffee into the center of the filter.

Use 30g of water to fully wet the coffee grounds into a "hamburger" shape and bloom for 30 seconds, then proceed with the second pour. FrontStreet Coffee used a steady medium-fine water flow to pour in circles to 125g, then stopped. When the water level dropped to 2/3 of the coffee grounds, the third pour was made. The third pour continued with a medium-fine water flow in circles to 225g and ended the pouring. The total extraction time was about 2 minutes.

The Gudin Ding coffee brewed with the V60 filter has bright citrus acidity, a light floral aroma, and a honey-green tea-like aftertaste.

Comparison and Conclusion

Based on comparative brewing, FrontStreet Coffee found that coffee brewed with the Clever Dripper has a fuller body overall than that brewed with the V60 filter, and the aroma lingers longer in the mouth.

Important Notice :

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