How Do You Brew Coffee in a Coffee Maker Like a Clever Dripper?

The Clever Dripper brews by immersion: add coffee and hot water, let it steep about four minutes, then set the dripper on a cup so a piston valve at the bottom opens and the coffee drains through the filter. It needs almost no pouring skill, and cleanup means tossing the paper filter and grounds and rinsing the body.

The device was first developed and manufactured in Taiwan, China, and combines a dripper with a French press. Water pressure keeps the rubber piston valve closed during steeping; pressing the base plate on any container opens it, and coffee flows out through four holes. Grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature, and time are the parameters to set, and hot milk can replace hot water for a milk coffee.

Facing the daily pour-over routine—weighing, controlling the flow, timing—the whole set can indeed wear you out. If you also want to slack off once in a while, the Clever Dripper might be the most effortless choice. It combines the features of a dripper and a French press, using a piston valve at the bottom to control immersion and drainage, requiring almost no pouring skill, and a cup of coffee is ready in four minutes. Starting from Front Street Coffee's hands-on practice, this article introduces the Clever Dripper's structure and principle, the required equipment, grind size and coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature and time parameters, and shares the trick of replacing hot water with hot milk to make a milk coffee.

Many friends face various brewing methods every day, and just thinking about it feels tiring. Every pour needs precise weighing, and the circling technique can't be sloppy either. In just two or three minutes, you have to keep an eye on a pile of details. It really is a bit of a hassle. So today, let's slack off a little!

What kind of equipment suits this "I don't want to think today" state? A French press? Not ideal. Cleaning up after brewing is quite a chore—just like I can cook, but I don't want to wash the dishes, yet I have to. At times like this, there's a piece of equipment that solves exactly this problem—the Clever Dripper!!

The Clever Dripper was first developed and manufactured in Taiwan, China. In appearance, it's just a dripper plus a round base.

The operation is quite simple: pour in hot water to let the coffee grounds steep, and when the time is up, place it on any container, and the coffee liquid will automatically seep out. To clean, just throw away the filter paper and coffee grounds together, then rinse the body with water.

Its core principle lies in that circular joint at the bottom of the dripper, where a rubber piston valve is installed.

After pouring water into the dripper, the water pressure keeps the piston valve tightly closed, stopping the flow; when steeping is finished, place the dripper on a container, the base plate gets pressed, the piston valve opens, and the coffee slowly flows out through four holes.

It's equivalent to installing a valve at the bottom of the dripper that can control drainage—a quite ingenious design. Later, many coffee equipment makers followed suit and launched similar controllable drippers. So it can be used both for pour-over and as a "lazy version" French press that requires no pressing. Today, Front Street Coffee will simply try the latter method and let everyone feel just how clever the Clever Dripper is.

One thing to note: the Clever Dripper also needs filter paper. And it's precisely because of the filter paper that cleaning up after brewing is so effortless—just lift the filter paper and toss the coffee grounds into the trash, with no residue left, and a single rinse with water is enough.

Then buy the corresponding filter paper according to your Clever Dripper model. Front Street Coffee uses a large fan-shaped filter paper.

Five things need to be prepared: the Clever Dripper, filter paper, any coffee beans, hot water, and any cup (the cup's mouth must not be larger than the Clever Dripper's base, otherwise the base valve won't be triggered).

The coffee grind size reference is the same as regular hot pour-over, about 80% passing a No. 20 sieve. The dose depends on how much you want to drink; Front Street Coffee uses 20g of coffee, with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15.

First, place the filter paper and wet it.

Then pour the coffee grounds into the wetted filter paper.

Pour water at a relatively high temperature—94°C hot water is needed. Front Street Coffee uses a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, that is, 300ml of hot water, poured in all at once, then start timing and let it sit for four minutes.

After four minutes, place the Clever Dripper on the prepared cup, and the coffee will filter out. After it finishes filtering, swirl it a few times and it's ready to drink.

Now for the tasting. Front Street Coffee used beans from Panama's Elida Estate this time. The flavor presented is slightly weaker than pour-over, but the orange acidity is still clear, with peach sweetness and a slight raisin-like fermented note.

If you prefer milk coffee, you can also replace the hot water with hot milk and keep the steeping parameters the same, and you'll get a cup of Clever Dripper milk coffee with a nice mouthfeel. It's recommended to choose Front Street Coffee Queen's Estate coffee beans, Front Street Coffee Bird of Paradise coffee beans, or Front Street Coffee Golden Mandheling coffee beans with a medium or darker roast, and the resulting taste will be richer.

A very simple brewing method, really suitable for friends who want to relax a little~~

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