by Chris Arnold

The Clever Coffee Dripper has gotten a lot of buzz. The claim is that it offers the best of Drip and French Press, without the drawbacks of either.

Clever Coffee Dripper – Insert Coffee Filter

At its core, it is very similar to a manual Melitta Cone Filter Coffeemaker, with a few nice additions:

• A valve that opens when placed on a cup or thermos and closes when you take it off.
• The ability to control the steeping time (unlike a Melitta-style, where liquid begins immediately to flow).
• A lid is used to keep some heat during steeping.
• A little coaster to set the dripper onto.

Clever Coffee Dripper – Add Coffee

Body

I love the flavor that I can produce with the Clever Coffee Dripper. I am not a huge French Press fan (mainly because I get indigestion and the jitters), but I do like coffee that has a decent body and a higher particulate-to-water ratio than most drip machines with paper filters produce. Some people use a SwissGold Filter or Gold Filter to attain this, but I find it is too close to French Press for me, and I think part of the problem is that there are too many oils. The Clever Coffee Dripper is perfect for this.

The Clever Coffee Dripper is perfect in this regard and doesn’t let too many oils in the cup, probably due to absorption by the paper filter. You could probably make it closer to French Press by using a SwissGold or Frieling Cone Filter, but I did not try that.

Pour hot water over the grounds.

I found that all my favorite cups were too wide, and my favorite thermoses were too narrow to sit correctly or activate the valve. I would like to see a design where the width of the vessel doesn’t really matter, and the valve is controlled by a button or something. I know this might complicate the design/manufacture or increase cost, but I would be willing to pay another $10 for this.

Cover grounds with hot water

I used the Clever Coffee Dripper using many of the variations that Tom from Sweet Maria’s mentions on his site just to see what I liked. It turned out I am somewhat lazy, and I was fine with my method below since it seems a lot easier for me, so here it is:

1. Grind a little on the finer side, probably medium-fine grind as shown on the Coffee Grind Chart.
2. I don’t weigh my coffee or water.
3. On a #4 filter, I just eyeball and fill the coffee until it is filled about 1/3 of the way from the bottom.
4. I immediately pour the water and stir, leave about an inch of headroom for bloom, and put the cover on.
5. I rarely stir in between, and usually, at around 3 minutes, I let it all go into the cup.

An optional stir during the Clever brew.

Add the lid to Clever during the brew.

Clever Coffee – Finished Brewing!

Conclusion

Although it doesn’t fit all my vessels, at $20, it is a great deal. I would recommend you go and buy one right now. You will probably find that you reach for this over your French Press, Melitta, or Drip Machine; I know I do.

Pros

• The price is reasonable at about $20.
• Controlling steeping time is very nice.
• Takes either a #4 or #6 cone filter.
• Great videos and written documentation on how to use the Clever Coffee Dripper.

Clever Coffee Brewing

Cons

• The design does not fit most of my coffee cups (the cups are too wide).
• The design does not fit most of my thermoses (the thermos is too narrow).
• No insulation, which results in coffee being a little cooler than I would like, especially with longer steeping times.
• The dripper and Coaster slide around too much because of the slick plastic. Some anti-slip material would be a nice addition.

Mugs that don’t work for the Clever.

Resources

Step By Step Bonavita Immersion Coffee Dripper Tutorial – A similar brewing method that uses a ceramic brewer instead of plastic.

Coffee Brewing Guide – A collection of coffee brewing tutorials.

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