How the Hoop Dripper Works and What It Means for Your Brew

The Hoop dripper from the Italian brand Ceado won the 2023 SCA reliable Product of the Year award thanks to its unique annular pouring structure. It completely separates the pouring zone from the coffee bed: water flows from the outer crown through 12 small holes laterally into the filtration tower, creating an immersion-like slow extraction. This design eliminates the need for a stable pouring technique, but places more refined demands on grind size and water temperature.

Front Street tested three beans—Sidra, Yirgacheffe Kochere, and Golden Mandheling—to compare the flavor differences between the Hoop and the V60. They compiled six practical tips, including checking the filter paper seal, matching the server, and considering the cost of nearly 280 RMB. The Hoop offers a different path to a balanced cup, with less reliance on pouring skill.

The Hoop dripper from the Italian brand Ceado won the 2023 SCA Best Product of the Year award thanks to its unique annular pouring structure. It completely separates the pouring zone from the coffee bed: water flows from the outer crown through 12 small holes laterally into the filtration tower, creating an immersion-like slow extraction. This design eliminates the need for a stable pouring technique, but places more refined demands on grind size and water temperature. Front Street tested three beans—Sidra, Yirgacheffe Kochere, and Golden Mandheling—to compare the flavor differences between the Hoop and the V60, and compiled six practical tips, including checking the filter paper seal, matching the server, and considering the cost of nearly 280 RMB.

Half a month ago, Front Street talked with you about the Ice Eye B75 dripper, a "distant relative" of the Ice Eye dripper. Today's product has an even bigger pedigree—it comes from the Italian coffee equipment manufacturer Ceado and won the 2023 SCA Best Product of the Year award as soon as it was launched. This is the Hoop dripper.

(The water crown is on the left, and the filtration tower holding the coffee grounds is on the right.)

"Hoop" means "ring" in English. One look at the dripper's shape makes it clear that the name comes from its structural feature. Unlike the conical or flat-bottom drippers we commonly use, the Hoop completely divides the coffee bed and the pouring area into two independent parts: the "water crown" responsible for pouring water, and the "filtration tower" that holds the coffee grounds.

In other words, when brewing with it, the water does not directly contact the coffee grounds. Instead, it is first poured into the "water crown," and then the water in the outer ring slowly seeps in through the 12 small holes on the filtration tower, forming a "lateral injection" extraction mode.

With this dripper, we basically don't need to worry about human variables like brewing technique or pouring force. As long as the extraction parameters are set, you just pour water into the water crown and wait for the water to finish seeping and the extraction to end. It sounds quite friendly for beginners who are still unstable with pouring. Without further ado, Front Street will give it a try right away.

Ceado's official steps for using the Hoop are as follows:

1. Place the circular filter paper into the middle of the dripper, then screw on the filtration tower and tighten the filter paper;

2. Wet the filter paper with hot water, then pour the coffee grounds into the filtration tower;

3. Pour all the required water into the annular water crown at once, then let it sit for 3–4 minutes and wait for the drip filtration to finish.

The bean Front Street used this time was a Colombian double anaerobic natural Sidra. Compared with the V60 three-pour brew, the coffee extracted by the Hoop had more prominent sweetness, and the berry and grape flavors were expressed quite well. Unfortunately, the body was on the thin side, and the finish did not last long.

The specific parameters are as follows: 15g coffee grounds, 225g water, grind size 80% passing a No. 20 sieve (ek43s setting 10), water temperature 94°C, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, extraction time 3 minutes 45 seconds.

The reason is that the Hoop dripper relies on water being "laterally infused," making it a slow extraction method that is overall closer to immersion brewing. Therefore, Front Street coarsened the grind size somewhat compared with daily brewing; at the same time, because the water must first be poured into the water crown before it actually contacts the grounds, heat is lost during this process, so the water temperature needs to be appropriately increased to keep the extraction temperature stable.

In addition to specially processed beans like Sidra, Front Street also tested a medium-light roasted washed Yirgacheffe (Kochere) and a medium-dark roasted Indonesian Golden Mandheling for comparison.

Kochere washing station washed Yirgacheffe: 15g coffee grounds, 225g water, grind size 75% passing a No. 20 sieve (ek43s setting 10.5), water temperature 93°C, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, extraction time 3 minutes 35 seconds.

Indonesian Golden Mandheling: 15g coffee grounds, 225g water, grind size 85% passing a No. 20 sieve (ek43s setting 9.5), water temperature 88°C, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, extraction time 6 minutes 30 seconds.

After repeated adjustments, it was found that the medium-light roasted Kochere beans required raising the water temperature to 94°C and coarsening the grind from the daily brewing level of 80% passing a No. 20 sieve (ek43s setting 10) to 75% passing a No. 20 sieve (ek43s setting 10.5) in order to extract the familiar citric acidity and citrus notes while avoiding bitter and harsh flavors. Compared with brewing in a regular V60 dripper, the coffee made with the Hoop had more obvious sweetness, but the body was still on the thin side.

As for the medium-dark roasted Golden Mandheling, Front Street found after many experiments that it was necessary to grind finer to 85% passing a No. 20 sieve (ek43s setting 9.5), use 30g of water for a blooming "warm-up," and extend the extraction time to about 6 minutes 30 seconds. With these parameter adjustments, Mandheling's own nutty and chocolate flavors could be fully expressed. Although the extraction time became longer, it did not bring out unpleasant astringency or off-flavors. Compared with Front Street's daily brewing using a Kono dripper, the coffee extracted by the Hoop had more sweetness and was very smooth and easy to drink.

A few humble words of experience:

1. Although the Hoop dripper does not require consideration of pouring stability, it demands greater control over extraction parameters (especially grind size), and it often takes multiple trials and adjustments to find the flavor you want a bean to express;

2. Although the Hoop dripper is positioned as 1–2 servings, its size is close to that of an ordinary 3–4 serving dripper, and its bottom opening is very large, so finding a suitable server is not easy. (At first, Front Street used a Hario sharing pot and it simply wouldn't fit this dripper. Even when barely placed on top, it wobbled. In the end, there was no choice but to use the server meant for cold brew as a sharing pot.)

3. When placing the filter paper, be sure to check whether the entire "filtration tower" is sealed properly; otherwise, as soon as you pour water, the coffee grounds will flow down into the sharing pot;

4. During extraction, it is not recommended to move the Hoop dripper casually, otherwise coffee grounds can easily seep into the "water crown";

5. When dumping the grounds after extraction, pay attention!! Aim the dripper at the trash can before unscrewing the filtration tower!!! (Don't ask Front Street how we know.

As soon as the filtration tower is unscrewed, the coffee grounds press down on the filter paper and go into free fall. If you don't catch it properly, grounds will splatter everywhere.)

6. The Hoop dripper is priced at 40 USD on the official website, equivalent to nearly 280 RMB. Friends who want to buy it should still "think twice before acting."

- END - Front Street Coffee

No. 10 Baoqian Street, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.