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The Infinity Dripper: A Perfect Match for One-Pour Brewing

Although there are numerous types of coffee drippers on the market, few are so closely associated with a particular brewing method. However, this doesn't mean none exist—the Infinity Dripper, for example, has a deeply intertwined relationship with one-pour brewing. Because of this connection, whenever FrontStreet Coffee shares one-pour brewing techniques, friends always message us in the background: "It's time to revisit the Infinity Dripper!"

The unusually shaped dripper above is the Infinity Dripper, a new product launched in 2021 by Hario, the renowned Japanese coffee equipment manufacturer. Yes, it's the same Hario that produces the V60, the king of value! In appearance, the Infinity Dripper doesn't differ much from the V60—both are conical drippers with a 60-degree angle, with only slight differences in the inner wall design. However, it's precisely these different inner designs that give the Infinity Dripper extraction effects completely opposite to those of the V60!

Flow Rate Differences: The Infinity Dripper vs. V60

The V60's greatest characteristic is its fast water flow rate. Compared to other drippers, the V60's flow speed is truly exceptional. This is due to both its 12 prominent rib-like guides and its relatively large bottom hole. The Infinity Dripper, however, is the exact opposite—its flow rate is arguably the slowest among all drippers. The main reason for this is that the Infinity Dripper lacks outward-protruding ribs.

The ribs serve not only to guide water flow but also to separate the filter paper from the dripper, creating numerous channels for gas circulation. If a dripper lacks prominent ribs, the filter paper will fit tightly against the dripper, creating an airlock effect that reduces the flow rate of coffee liquid. (The so-called airlock effect refers to the phenomenon where gas accumulates during liquid flow and obstructs normal liquid movement.) Fresh coffee contains abundant gases. When we brew coffee, the gases in the coffee grounds are released upon contact with hot water. Without dedicated channels for gas circulation, gas will continuously accumulate within the coffee bed, occupying the liquid's flow channels and consequently reducing the coffee liquid's flow rate. Therefore, most drippers are equipped with prominent ribs to prevent significant extension of liquid permeation time.

The Infinity Dripper's Unique Immersion-Style Extraction

The Infinity Dripper takes the opposite approach—its inner wall specifically adopts a ribless design to extend coffee extraction time, allowing hot water to accumulate in the dripper, thereby creating an immersion-style extraction. Furthermore, the Infinity Dripper's immersion method differs from that formed by other drippers because its flow rate is extremely slow! How slow, you ask? Approximately one-quarter of the V60's flow rate and about half of the Kono's. Such a slow flow rate keeps the coffee in an immersion extraction method throughout the entire process. However, because there's no valve at the bottom to block water flow, we can understand it as an extraction method that combines drip and immersion styles. It's precisely because of this characteristic that the Infinity Dripper has earned nicknames online such as "the dripper version of the Clever Dripper" and "the lazy dripper."

Strictly speaking, however, the filter paper doesn't completely fit against the Infinity Dripper. Although the Infinity Dripper's inner wall lacks protruding guide ribs, it features concave exhaust channels. These channels, while unable to guide water flow, allow small amounts of gas to escape, preventing complete blockage and ensuring water flow. Another factor contributing to the dripper's slow flow rate is its bottom hole, with a diameter of 1.5cm—the same size as the V30 that FrontStreet Coffee shared yesterday. Due to its extremely slow flow rate, this dripper is very suitable for one-pour brewing. When the manufacturer launched this dripper, they specifically recommended using it with one-pour brewing. It's precisely because of this recommendation that one-pour brewing became associated with the Infinity Dripper! Whenever one-pour brewing is mentioned, people think of the Infinity Dripper, and vice versa. It's not an exaggeration to say it's a dripper tailor-made for one-pour brewing.

Infinity Dripper Brewing Guide

Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share what parameters work well with the Infinity Dripper and how to brew with it!

Brewing Parameters for the Infinity Dripper

If we want to use one-pour brewing with the Infinity Dripper, our extraction parameters need to be somewhat extreme because it cannot form complete immersion—coffee liquid will continuously flow out. For this brew, FrontStreet Coffee used Ethiopian Santa Virni beans with the following parameters:

Coffee amount: 20g
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15
Water temperature: 95°C
Grind size: Ek43 setting 8 (90% pass-through rate on #20 sieve)

As FrontStreet Coffee shared in our previous article about one-pour brewing, one-pour brewing is very simple—you just need to create a depression in the coffee grounds in the dripper, allowing hot water to contact the bottom coffee grounds more quickly, then pour all the hot water in one go. So once everything is prepared, we only need to pour all 300ml of hot water.

It's best to pour continuously in a circular motion while pouring, as this can effectively increase coffee extraction rate. At 45 seconds, FrontStreet Coffee finished pouring the total 300ml of hot water. Next, we just need to wait for the coffee liquid to finish dripping, then remove the dripper to end the extraction~

Total time was 3 minutes and 20 seconds for all the coffee liquid to flow through. As you can see, the exposed coffee bed is deep and even—to a perfect degree that would delight those with obsessive-compulsive disorder, just like how its filter paper fits. The brewed coffee is also outstanding, with not only prominent flavor characteristics but also considerable sweetness. Although it tastes somewhat like coffee brewed in a Clever Dripper, it has relatively richer layers. That concludes our brewing sharing~

It's worth mentioning that the Infinity Dripper and its saucer are not integrated—they are detachable. Therefore, we often see clever people online disassembling them and installing the valve from a V60 Clever Dripper, assembling a true "Infinity Clever Dripper" with extremely high playability. Interested friends can also try this, but if you break it during disassembly, don't blame FrontStreet Coffee!

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