The Ultimate Clever Dripper Technique

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[workshopcoffee]

Thanks for sharing our approach, James, and for the shoutout.

[TheZealo]

My great grandmother had a "similar" technique. She boil the the water on the stove top, turn off the heat and pour the coffee into the water. After a couple minutes she would pour that mixture over the paper filter and let it drain. I liked her coffee the most, but for some reason never repeated her technique. Watching this made me want to try it again

[krassertyp]

Here's the recipe:

15grams
250ml

medium-fine grind

STOP! WATER FIRST, then coffee

stir
steep for 2 mins

break crust - wait 30 seconds
1 minute draw time

[onlycortot]

Very cool trick! The reason is that if coffee was put in first, the fine coffee particles would get into the filter paper before swelling by water. The swelling process causes volume expansion of the coffee particles thereby clogging the filter paper. If coffee was added later, the fine powders would have time to expand before reaching to the pores of the coffee filter.

[VincentGalbo]

I love the Clever Dripper, it's such a great and easy brewer. It's nearly made my V60 obsolete as the Clever is just easier and makes the same tasting (if not slightly better) coffee. The only downside for me is the smaller capacity, I wish there was a 750ml or even 1L size. I brew 30g of coffee to 510g of water and it is filled to the absolute maximum, which makes nice sized cups of coffee for my wife and I. I also found the lid doesn't really contribute to anything beneficial and I just leave it off now, which is a relief because putting the lid on at 510g requires some washing of the lid every time.

I don't really mind the long draw down, as my coffee is usually too hot to drink anyways. I add my coffee, water, stir it all up, and wait four minutes before I begin draining. Comes out wonderful every time. I've changed the steep times a bit in my experimenting and never really noticed a different either.

I have also not found any negative taste side effects from grinding really fine. The finer I grind, the richer the coffee tastes but also the longer it takes to drain. Really, the balance I find is to go as fine as I possibly can before I clog or get too bored of waiting.

One final thing, I found if you do want a really, really strong cup of coffee, like a 1:15 or 1:13 ratio, you're best off by stirring it quite a bit to really get your extraction up. If you don't stir enough, it can become a bit acidic most likely from there not being enough water to get all the goodies out with agitation?

Also, final, final thing, love the videos!

[crusader]

Thank you. Based upon your review and instructions I received my clever dripper today. The best cup of coffee in the last 10 years. I am 60, you are undoubtedly one of the foremost coffee experts in the world. Amazing😁

[markosverdhi]

I think the thing that makes the clever especially great for the ultra-budget conscious: the fact that water goes in first means that you dont need a gooseneck. You can get into specialty coffee for $30 and a cheap hario grinder (or have the roaster grind it) and a scale. This is great!

[simkool]

"This is a fantastic way to make coffee..." Yes, I recall brewing French Press and then filtering thru paper long before I was aware of Clever. Re slow or stalled drawdowns, I had been using Filtropa filters, but today used "official" Clever filters (Japan) supplied directly by Clever with a new brewer, and the drawdown was 30 seconds faster with Clever paper. Also the preheated soaked Clever filters weigh about 15g less, so I assume thinner paper holding less water. Finally, hybrid method, pour half of water into Clever, add your dose of ground coffee, then pour in the remaining half of the water. This was suggested by Clever. I find this easier than adding the coffee to all the water and then stirring without making a mess. (not sure James or anyone will see this comment made 16 months after the video when there's already 1500+ comments, oh well)

[trustparadox]

Recipe Summary

60-65g/L Coffee:Water ratio
15g/250mL in the video
20g/333mL, 30g/500mL for quick reference
Grind size: medium-fine, finer than typical for french press. Similar to 2-cup v60 grind size.

1. Grind coffee
2. Fold and rinse paper with hot tap water (off boil kettle water not needed)
3. Fill Clever dripper with WATER FIRST for a quicker drawdown
4. Quickly add the ground coffee and stir
5. Steep without lid (lid doesn't seem to add anything to the brew) for 2 minutes
6. At 1:30 break the crust on top (stir or shake)
7. At 2:00 drip into your brew vessel

Drawdown time should be around 1 minute depending on your grind and coffee
Note additional steeping time does not seem to affect the brew, so it's quite forgiving if your time isn't exact.

Thank you James!

[Xiartin]

I HAVE JUMPED ROUND MY KITCHEN IN JOY, my heart lit up like a little girl seeing a dog at the sight of this video and I can confirm, I’ve now made the best cup of clever dripper coffee so far, thank you 😃

[Kaecyus]

Yes. It's finally here, got my bingo card for 2020, "The Ultimate Aer- ...Oh.

Seriously, genuinely appreciated the video. I'm trying to get one of my friends into investing a bit more into coffee and this was my recommendation to him as an easy one to use while doing things for breakfast.

[seehearplay]

The addition of water first and then coffee, dramatically changes the drawn down time. Furthermore, leaving off the lid avoids creating a vacuum and again bring drawn down time down. Coffee was excellent! Thanks James

[Jonthan]

Really appreciate the grind size demonstration with the “brewler”! Could be an idea for a whole separate video, showing the grind size for every major brewing method combined in one video? ☕️

[MrMopar]

I found out about that device about a year ago and absolutely love it. I’m a mass consumption coffee drinker, in that I’m Norwegian and a heavy duty diesel mechanic and truck driver a excellent combination for mass coffee consumption. What I do is I keep a pot of hot water going all day long on my unwave induction cook top just below boiling. When it’s time for another cup and that’s a 20oz buba cup I kick up the temperature a little to bring the water to a boil then go through the process you do and repeat several times a day. The unwave with a pot of water just under boiling is the best way to do it, O. by the way I’m retired so I’m at home all day long that’s the reason I do what I do. As I used to have a sign in my tool box when I was working said. “ Coffee Break 9.00 to 5.00 daily🤪👍” that used to piss off the bosses 😜😜😃😃

[Kenrickwong]

Sometimes I don’t even listen to what James says, I just admire his editing skills, it is very satisfying to watch and it’s great.

[acoustic]

This is a simple technique but I have bad memory so I'm writing down for anyone like me lol

*15g coffee, 250ml hot water*
1. Slightly fold two parts of the filter and place it on the dripper
2. Water first, coffee second. Give it a little stir
3. Steep for 2 minutes. Optional: give it a gentle shake 30 seconds before drawing the coffee out
4. Draw down! Done.

[MangoTheRetriever]

Time to put flowers back to Chemex. Thank you James.

[madmuddypuppy]

I bought one after watching this episode. Amazingly effortless to use. The coffee is clear and yet has better aftertaste. Thank you!

[zCornaZ]

Other coffee people say Clever Dripper doesn't produce good coffee. Me: totally agree
James say Clever Dripper is is easy, simple and produce great coffee. Me: totally agree

[Belsen]

Watched yesterday night, tried today morning.
Yes, it works! As I have not the best grinder now (sorry Hario, but it is true), my draw down time was 2:30 with the classic method. Now it is down to 1:30. But the main thing is the taste: I believe, that with this method the surface tension of water prevents the fines to go inside the volume of the liquid, essentially not allowing them to agitate and contribute theirs bitterness to the taste.
The coffee made with this method has very silky taste without even a hint of bitterness.
Really enjoyed the cup!!! Thank you very much, Mr. Hoffmann for making this excellent hint known to hundred of thousand of people!