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Main Types of Coffee Drippers - Characteristics and Functions of Coffee Drippers

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, In coffee shops, especially unique ones, you might wonder what the busy baristas behind the counter are doing. Yes, they're busy brewing a refreshing, floral and fruity pour-over coffee, or perhaps a rich and aromatic espresso. Among all these coffees, do you know what amazing coffee equipment the baristas use? They are various types of

Coffee Brewing Drippers: The Essential Tools Behind Perfect Pour-Over

In coffee shops, especially those with unique character, you might wonder about the busy figures behind the counter. What exactly are they doing? They're busy brewing refreshing, floral, and fruity pour-over coffee, or perhaps rich, aromatic espresso coffee. But have you ever wondered what magical coffee equipment these baristas use? Among these tools are various types of coffee brewing drippers.

That's right—what we're going to discuss next are the coffee brewing drippers that baristas use. The popularity of coffee drippers owes much to the third wave of coffee, which has made pour-over coffee extremely popular and widely welcomed by coffee enthusiasts. For pour-over coffee, one essential piece of equipment is undoubtedly the dripper. Various different styles of coffee drippers have appeared on the market.

So what types of coffee drippers are there, and which ones are mainly used for pour-over? FrontStreet Coffee will now introduce several common and frequently used types of drippers. They mainly include cone-shaped drippers, trapezoidal drippers, origami drippers, cake drippers, and more...

Understanding Coffee Extraction

For coffee brewing, we first need to understand the sequence of coffee flavor extraction. The first flavors to emerge are fruity acidity and floral notes; followed by caramel sweetness, roasted nut flavors, and rich body; finally, bitterness comes through. To brew different coffee flavors, you need to know that each dripper, with its combination of shape, filter holes, and grooves, affects the taste of extraction differently. Each dripper has its own design advantages, primarily focused on controlling water flow speed, with trade-offs between ribs and venting.

Cone-Shaped Drippers and Their Characteristics

The representative of cone-shaped drippers is undoubtedly the V60 dripper, which is economical and effective. At FrontStreet Coffee's stores and FrontStreet Coffee's facility, this might be the most commonly used dripper.

The V60 dripper gets its name from its 60-degree conical design. This angle guides water flow to the center, extending the contact time between water and coffee. The large-diameter filter hole at the bottom allows you to control the coffee flavor extraction time by adjusting the pour rate. The spiral ribs (venting channels) allow air to escape upward from all sides, maximizing the degassing process of the coffee grounds. If you enjoy the initial floral and fruity aromas and sweet-tart flavors of coffee, this type of dripper can easily achieve short extraction times.

Trapezoidal Drippers and Their Characteristics

Trapezoidal drippers are classic pour-over drippers, with brands like Kalita and Melitta offering this style. In design, they feature a fan shape that's wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, with an oval upper opening. The cup walls have numerous ribs arranged in straight lines with consistent spacing between them, designed to increase ventilation and water flow speed. Because the bottom has three small round holes, water flows out relatively slowly, making the entire process a semi-immersion extraction. Due to the longer extraction time, the water temperature should be slightly lower (try 85-88°C). If you still want some initial aroma, we recommend grinding the coffee coarser, using less coffee, or simply switching to a cone-shaped dripper!

Origami Drippers and Their Characteristics

The origami dripper became famous throughout the coffee world when Dou Jia'ning used it to compete in the World Brewers Championship and won. Its unique origami design and beautiful colors have made it a must-have dripper for coffee enthusiasts. It fits perfectly with cake-style filters, creating uniform distribution of coffee grounds and moderate flow rate during extraction. When the origami dripper uses cone-shaped filters, the flow rate is faster. You could say that using the origami dripper for pour-over, with different filters, combines the flow characteristics of both cone-shaped and trapezoidal drippers. It offers high versatility and can easily handle coffee beans with different flavor profiles.

Cake Drippers and Their Characteristics

The flat-bottom design at the base of the dripper creates an evenly distributed flat coffee bed. With the same amount of coffee, the flat-bottom coffee bed is thinner, allowing water to flow through the coffee grounds more quickly, while the flat structure also enables more even extraction. The dripper has 3 small filter holes, making the water filtration speed slower, which causes the cake dripper to lean more toward immersion-style extraction after pouring. The cake dripper itself doesn't have ribs for venting; instead, it relies on the creases of the cake filter paper to replace the flow-directing ribs. The cake dripper uses the special design of filter paper creases to replace flow-directing grooves. It doesn't fit directly against the dripper, reducing the direct contact area between filter paper and dripper while creating the maximum extraction area.

FrontStreet Coffee has mentioned these common drippers—quickly choose one that suits you, brew a cup of pour-over coffee, and slowly enjoy this quiet, leisurely time!