What Coffee Beans Are Suitable for Origami Dripper: Is the Origami Dripper Good and Brewing Guide

There is a dripper with a very distinctive shape, with clear angular lines, as if folded from a piece of paper into the shape of a dripper. This is the Origami dripper designed by Mr. Yasuo Suzuki, where "Origami" (折り紙) means paper folding, so this dripper is also called the paper folding dripper.

If you walk into a coffee equipment shop and look around at the dripper section, the Origami dripper will always catch your eye, making you pay extra attention to it. In coffee shops, you can also often see it being used. So what exactly is the magic that makes the Origami dripper so popular?

Starting with Appearance

Who can resist the allure of a beautifully designed dripper! The Origami dripper looks like a circular piece of paper folded 40 times to form a conical dripper, with 20 folds each on the inside and outside, creating a flow-guiding effect.

This dripper doesn't have an integrated base and handle, presenting a symmetrical, simple conical structure with clear angular lines, full of Nordic minimalist style. The ceramic material also gives this dripper a high-end feel, and with its bright and vibrant colors, it looks like a blooming flower when viewed from above. The variety of color choices gives you no excuse to refuse it. Many of FrontStreet Coffee's friends were drawn to purchase it for its appearance.

Celebrity Effect

FrontStreet Coffee believes that the popularity of this dripper has much to do with celebrity promotion. Of course, the celebrities mentioned here are stars in the coffee world. The World Brewers Cup (WBrC) is a major event in the coffee industry, attracting the attention of many coffee enthusiasts every time it's held.

The champion of the 2019 World Brewers Cup was Du Jianing from China, who used the Origami dripper in her competition. A Chinese winning the world championship made us pay more attention to this competition, and the equipment used in the competition, including the dripper, received attention and was emulated by many. The Origami aroma cup also gained fame in the same competition.

Versatile Brewing Methods

Of course, products that rely solely on appearance and promotion won't stay popular for long. The most important core of a dripper is practicality.

Compared to other drippers, this one has a significant advantage: it can accommodate both conical filters and flat-bottom filters. This means one dripper can satisfy two different brewing experiences - double the pleasure for the price of one.

FrontStreet Coffee conducted a comparison using Costa Rican Las Lajas Geisha with both conical and flat-bottom filters, using identical brewing parameters:

Dose: 15 grams
Ratio: 1:15
Grind size: 80% pass through #20 sieve
Water temperature: 91°C
Method: Three-pour technique

Conical filter: Very intense blueberry fruit aroma with slight fermented wine notes. The taste reveals blueberry and mint candy flavors, with distinct layers and high clarity.

Flat-bottom filter: Intense blueberry fruit aroma with rose floral notes. The taste reveals blueberry gummy candy and fermented fruit wine, with very noticeable sweetness and a full mouthfeel.

When the Origami dripper is paired with a conical filter, the 20 internal ribs of the dripper provide support and flow guidance. Compared to the V60 dripper, the Origami dripper has a faster flow rate, which better highlights a coffee's aroma, acidity, and clarity.

When the Origami dripper is paired with a flat-bottom filter, the folds of the filter paper fit well with the Origami dripper, increasing the dripper's immersion capability. Additionally, since flat-bottom filters have a flat base structure, the coffee bed thickness is more evenly distributed compared to conical filters, which better showcases a coffee's mouthfeel while enhancing sweetness and aftertaste. Furthermore, both extraction yield and fault tolerance are higher than with conical filters.

Therefore, the Origami dripper offers high versatility and can be paired with many different brewing methods to achieve new heights of coffee exploration.

Shortcomings

Of course, the Origami dripper also has its shortcomings. For aesthetic reasons, the dripper doesn't have a base and handle, so you need to purchase a separate base. For appearance, many people prefer to buy the wooden base, but the original wooden base lacks teeth to secure the dripper, making it difficult to keep the dripper level during brewing. If you want to improve your brewing experience, it's better to purchase the resin version of the base.

The second point is that the size of the Origami dripper is equivalent to between a V60 #01 and #02, making it difficult to pour water with less than 15 grams of coffee. The ideal dose is 18-20 grams of coffee.

Although FrontStreet Coffee's stores also have Origami drippers, they are rarely used for service. Considering factors such as the dripper's delicacy, heat retention, cost-effectiveness, and durability, FrontStreet Coffee prefers to use resin drippers for service.

However, this year, Origami has launched a resin version of the Origami dripper, so it seems coffee equipment collectors will have another item to add to their collection.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473