Outsmarting the Clever Dripper

Until recently, the Clever Dripper was one brewer we have owned for years but seldom used as we had never gotten good results with it.  A recent customer troubleshooting inquiry provided the motivation to get it out and figure out how to get a good cup of coffee with it.  In this blog post, we will discuss: 1) What is the Clever Dripper?  2) What problems have we had with the Clever Dripper?  3) What approach has given us the best results?  4) Would we recommend you buy a Clever Dripper?

What is the Clever Dripper?  

The Clever Dripper is an immersion pour over dripper built off the design of the old-school Melitta pour over brewer.  It uses number 4 Melitta paper filters.  When the dripper is placed onto a cup or carafe, a valve in the base opens up to allow the coffee (or tea) to drain.  The Clever Dripper was designed for immersion brewing, meaning allowing ground coffee to be immersed in water and steeped for a period of time (like a French Press) before draining through the paper filter.  That being said, it is like the Hario Switch in that it can be placed onto a cup or carafe and used as a pour over dripper (percolation) or the user can combine both immersion and percolation brewing.

What problems have we had with the Clever Dripper?  

Since the Clever Dripper is designed to be an immersion brewer, conceptually it seems reasonable to brew with it as if it were a French Press with a built in paper filter.  This was our first approach.  We used the same grind size, water temperature, and steep time as if it were a French Press, and the results were not good.  We then kept the water temperature and steep time the same, but ground the coffee finer to the same setting we would for pour over brewing.  The results were better but still not good.  We then followed standard brewing guides for the Clever Dripper found online and continued not to be able to brew a good cup of coffee.  Our daily preferred brewing method is pour over filter coffee.  This is our gold standard and the benchmark we hold other brewing methods to.  Broadly speaking, if we were to diagnose the fundamental problem we have had with using the Clever Dripper as an immersion brewer, it would be that the brews have always had a lower extraction.  The benefit of immersion brewing over percolation is that it produces an even extraction.  The downside is that, compared to percolation methods of brewing, when all other variables are the same (e.g., water temperature, grind size, agitation, and steep time), it produces a lower extraction.  The results have often been weak and underwhelming flavors. 

What approach has given us the best results? 

When used as an immersion brewer, you might assume that you could use a coarser grind like with a French Press but after days of testing we have found that we had to grind considerably finer than even when we used the brewer as a standard pour over dripper.  For example, on our KINGrinder K6 hand grinder we are around 65 clicks for pour over coffee.  For the Clever Dripper, we are at 40 clicks.  For light roasts, we found consistently good success with 208F water and a four minute steep time before draining.  For medium to medium dark roasts, we found consistently good results with 208F water and a four minute steep time before draining.  

When used as a standard pour over dripper with the Clever Dripper placed on a cup or carafe, we found that we could use our standard approach to brewing pour overs and get good results.  On our KINGrinder K6 hand grinder, we are around 65 clicks for pour over coffee and this seemed to work well for the Clever Dripper as well.  For lighter roasts, we used 208F water and for well developed medium and medium dark roasts, we found good results with 201F water.  Since the Clever Dripper has a slower draw down time than many pour over drippers, we found best results with a three pour brewing pattern.  For example, let's say that the total volume of water you planned to pour onto the coffee was 180 grams.  We would pour 60 grams at a time with a thirty-second pause in between.    

Would we recommend you buy a Clever Dripper?

No, we would not recommend you buy it.  We have a lot of experience brewing coffee with a lot of different coffee brewing devices and generally can figure out how to brew good coffee relatively quickly with new brewing devices.  If we struggle to get good results with the Clever Dripper, then the odds that someone with less experience will easily get a good cup of coffee with minimal effort is really low.  If you are interested in immersion brewing with a paper filter, then we would recommend the Hario Switch or an AeroPress.  Both are extremely versatile and both are much easier to brew with and get good results.  If you have the Clever Dripper, we certainly would not recommend getting rid of it.  If you follow the above principles, you can brew really good coffee with the Clever Dripper if you are willing to go through the trial and error of adjusting the variables mentioned above.  As always, please feel free to email us at info@ketchcoffee.com if you have any questions.