How to Make Coffee with the Clever Dripper

There are two types of people particularly eager to get their hands on a Clever Dripper. You are either new to the freshly brewed coffee scene and found this to be the perfect ‘gateway’ device, or you are a coffee geek that loves getting all the new coffee related gadgets and toys.

(If you are reading this and think that perhaps a ‘clever dripper’ is referring to an academically inclined barista, then it may help to first read my article introducing this new coffee device).

When preparing a cup of coffee, the level of variables that you tinker with is dependent on your experience, budget and the time you are prepared to sacrifice in the pursuit of ‘dialling in’ that cup of coffee that appeals to your specific taste.

The Clever Dripper is a great entry level coffee maker that will allow one to gradually increase their level of commitment to the process.

You can start with supermarket-bought ground coffee, and progress to beans and then to single origin beans. To the more experienced coffee maker, however, what it does is adds yet another variable that could be used in pursuit of your favourite cup, the extraction duration.

In a traditional pour over the extraction duration is controlled by the quantity and grind size of the coffee that is used. With the clever Dripper those variables still affect the extraction rate but the final extraction time is manually determined.

I have been tinkering with this device for a few months, and should admit that I have been unable to get to a great recipe. That’s cool though, because for me the most fun is in the discovery process.

However, I have managed to determine a great method from which to start your own personal refinement adventure.

My base Clever Dripper recipe

Ingredients

• 25 g of medium to coarsely ground coffee

• 300 ml of hot water

• Milk or milk alternative ( if required)

• Sugar, honey, sweetener etc ( if required)

Equipment

• Clever Dripper

• Kettle

• Timer (Cellphone, watch etc)

• Large Coffee Mug

• Optional tools based on availability or level of coffee-geekiness, (Coffee Grinder, thermometer, scale etc.)

Method

1. Boil the water, and while doing that prepare/ scoop 25g of medium to coarsely ground coffee ( my experience thus far has yielded the best results with water at a temperature of around 90 degrees Celsius and the coffee ground to a consistency between that which would be used for a pour over and that used for a French Press.)

2. Pour 150 g of water into the Clever Dripper. If you don’t have a scale or a thermometer you could pour slightly less than half the mug into the device after the water has boiled and leave it to sit there for 3 minutes.

3. Thereafter add your coffee and stir lightly so that all the grounds are wet.

4. Wait 30 seconds for coffee to bloom.

5. Add the remaining water to the Clever Dripper. (If you are using a scale this will be 150g)

6. Stir lightly again after 2 minutes ( that is 2:30 in total brewing time)

7. Put the plastic lid on the device ( this is not a critical step and I suppose gives you an additional item to wash. However, I always found a better more even draw with the lid in place, rather than when not utilised)

8. Finally drain after 5:00 minutes of total brewing time and enjoy.

Now, I know that I may be accused of taking what should have been a simple process and unnecessarily complicating it, and that would be justified. The device makes a decent cup of coffee if you just pour the coffee and water into it, wait 4-5 minutes and then drain. That could just as easily have been the base recipe.

However, I have found little tricks that have helped both the process and the taste of the resulting cup. Like pouring the ground coffee beans into the water, rather than the water into the coffee helped level the bed better and prevented clogging during the drawdown.

Have you tried this device? What has been your experience as a Novice/ Experienced Coffee Maker? Please let us know in the comments below.

Happy brewing!