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Why Do Flat-Bottom Drippers Have a Lower Failure Rate? What Are the Features of a Cake Dripper? What Brewing Methods Are Suitable?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, In the world of coffee drippers, we often hear this common saying: brewing coffee with a flat-bottom dripper is less likely to fail, making it most friendly for beginners. FrontStreet Coffee has occasionally mentioned in several articles that flat-bottom drippers have the advantage of promoting more even coffee extraction. So how exactly does this work? What are the differences between flat-bottom and conical drippers?

Why Flat-Bottom Drippers Are Perfect for Beginners

In the world of coffee drippers, we often hear this saying: using a flat-bottom dripper makes it harder to mess up coffee brewing, making it the most beginner-friendly option. FrontStreet Coffee has occasionally mentioned in many articles that flat-bottom drippers have the advantage of promoting more even coffee extraction. So how exactly do they achieve this effect?

The biggest difference between flat-bottom and conical drippers is that they allow the poured coffee grounds to form different shapes. If we observe from the side, the coffee bed cross-section in a conical dripper forms an inverted triangle, while in a flat-bottom dripper, it creates a trapezoid that's wider at the top and narrower at the bottom.

Conical vs. Flat-Bottom Drippers

Take conical drippers like the Hario V60 and KONO that FrontStreet Coffee uses daily as examples - the closer to the center, the thicker the coffee layer, creating greater resistance to water penetration and resulting in higher extraction rates. The closer to the dripper wall, the thinner the coffee layer, making it easier for coffee to release soluble substances. Therefore, when using conical drippers to brew coffee, we have more adjustment space to present the coffee's layered complexity. However, correspondingly, achieving uniform extraction of all coffee grounds requires higher demands on the brewer's water control skills.

The Magic of Flat-Bottom Drippers

Returning to today's topic of flat-bottom drippers, take the most frequently seen wave (cake) dripper as an example. The circular flat bottom allows the falling coffee grounds to spread into a thinner form with relatively uniform thickness, creating weaker resistance to hot water penetration. The bottom typically has 3-4 smaller drainage holes connected by intersecting raised lines that support the bottom filter paper, designed to help maintain smooth water flow.

We should know that almost all drippers used for atmospheric pressure extraction experience both drip extraction and immersion extraction simultaneously during use. Because wave drippers rely only on a few small holes at the bottom for water drainage, the filtration speed is slower, which significantly increases the proportion of immersion extraction. Therefore, the brewed coffee places more emphasis on mid-to-late stage flavor compounds, with relatively better performance in smoothness and body.

When using a wave dripper, when hot water hits the center point, it first radiates outward in all directions, then exits through the bottom holes. This way, even if the water flow isn't evenly poured, the water level inside the dripper can still maintain a horizontal state throughout the process, allowing most particles to evenly "absorb" water, resulting in a higher fault tolerance than conical drippers and better consistency in the final product. However, this also means its stirring efficiency is lower, with less room for adjustment.

Water flow demonstration in wave dripper

Stability is precisely the primary consideration for countless coffee shops, which is why many world-renowned cafes prioritize using wave drippers when brewing pour-over black coffee. This is also the main reason why people often say that using flat-bottom drippers results in a lower failure rate.

Rib Designs in Flat-Bottom Drippers

The rib design of these flat-bottom drippers generally falls into 2 types: one is horizontally distributed circular ribs for water retention; the other is vertical ribs like those in the V60, mainly serving to guide water flow.

For example, the Wave series of drippers have circular grooves inside that not only slow down the water flow speed but also allow water from higher positions to flow along the grooves to lower positions, thereby keeping the water level as horizontal as possible during brewing.

Another example is the Lili dripper, which originated from the German Melitta 101 design and was improved. Although it's also a flat-bottom dripper, the interior features 48 guide ribs running from top to bottom to increase flow speed, with 8 drainage holes arranged in a circle at the bottom, designed to prevent blockage and stagnation during coffee extraction.

However, because these flat-bottom drippers are typically used with wave filters, only the outward-folded edges can fit against the dripper body to create water retention/drainage effects. Therefore, compared to conical drippers with better filter paper fit, the rib drainage effect of flat-bottom drippers is relatively weaker.

Modern High-Flow Flat-Bottom Drippers

Of course, besides these classic small-hole models, in recent years, to cater to the extraction trend of "fine grounds, fast brew," the market has also seen many flat-bottom drippers emphasizing "high water flow." For example, the Ice Tong B75 that FrontStreet Coffee has introduced, as well as Japan's Torch donut dripper and the April Brewer designed by Danish baristas - all have put effort into bottom structure design to allow more finely ground coffee to achieve a more three-dimensional combination of immersion and drip extraction effects.