The HARIO MUGEN One Pour Dripper has a smaller hole than the regular V60, creating more flow restriction and an overall slower drawdown. The concept was by eliminating the initial bloom and steep simply by slowing the water flow though the cone. Why do you ask? Maybe it’s because people are in a hurry, or that it’s more fun to do a one pour coffee brew?
No steeping is required. You only pour hot water once. So it’s easy for beginners to follow a recipe and produce a delicious cup of coffee.
The Diamond pattern inside the dripper helps to relieve surface tension and direct brewed coffee through the filter.
It is better to brew with a slightly courser grind than you would with a normal V60 dripper, since the water flow is slower. The grind is more in line with what you’d use for Chemex or Kalita brewers.
Removable base for cleaning, the cone can also be placed into a pour-over stand. The
This dripper is compatible with 02 size V60 filters. So there is no need to find a new type of paper filter.
The MUGEN is available in a acrylonitrile-styrene resin or ceramic body with a polypropylene holder.
UPDATE: I’ve been using the Hario MUGEN One Pour Dripper for a couple weeks now, and it’s become my go-to brewer. I’m a first thing in the morning coffee drinker, so anything the shortens the time between brewing and the coffee in my stomach without sacrificing flavor is a welcome change.
OXO’s BREW Pour-over Coffee Maker: Not a perfect pour-over coffee brewer, but pretty good for hands-off brewing and everyday use.
We purchased the OXO Brew Single Serve Drip Brewer several weeks back. Rather than rush to review it, we chose to use it exclusively for pour-over drip brewing instead of the other drip brewers we have before writing this review. It was not provided for review by OXO.
The OXO BREW Single Serve Drip Brewer offers a couple advantages over the traditional pour-over brewing technique. You can simply fill the tank with the amount of water you want, or you can use a digital scale (strongly recommended). If you don’t have a scale, just use the marked measurements, in OZ or ML, on the side the of the tank. The box includes an instruction card with a chart for different brew strengths.
How the OXO Brew Single Serve Drip Brewer works
Fill the auto-drip water tank with hot water, using the measurement markings on the side of the tank, to the desired amount. Inside the tank there are several tiny holes that slowly drip the water into the grounds, which steeps as it passes through the coffee. Pretty basic.
The Taste
We didn’t find a huge difference with the coffee extraction from the OXO Brew Single Serve Drip Brewer versus traditional pour-over brewing. Although we did notice that you can’t really get a good bloom. We discovered that by pouring some water directly into the grounds we could get a bloom, replacing the auto-drip tank and completing the pour to the desired quality. This seemed to solve that problem. The Brewer can’t mimic the gradual pouring method used for pour-over, but it controls the drip to keep the grounds soaked, and works nearly as well.
Our Recommendation
The OXO BREW is a must-have for any coffee aficionado, maybe not as a primary brewer*, but if you’re short on time, or simply can’t be bothered to manually brew pour-over coffee everyday, you could benefit from the OXO BREW. The OXO Brew Single Serve Drip Brewer is a great alternative to an expensive Automatic Pour-over Coffee Machine, or any type of coffee machine for that matter. You’ll still get a great tasting cup of pour-over coffee.
*If there are times that you want do go full manual pour-over coffee, you can skip the tank and manually brew your pour-over coffee using the dripper only, works just as well as any drip brewer.
BONUS: The lid doubles as a drip tray for the dripper.
OXO BREW Pour Over Coffee Maker is a new concept to pour-over coffee brewing, by designing a water tank that you fill all at once which then precisely drips onto the coffee grounds in the dripper below. If you love pour-over coffee, but sometimes don’t have time to sit and pour water in stages over several minutes, then this is a great solution. It replaces the need to invest in a typical coffee brewing machine, or worse, a pod system. We have been trying it out for a couple weeks, and so far, very satisfied. The materials are durable high-quality plastic. And an easy to learn method makes the OXO BREW a snap to master.
The brewer takes the Melitta type #2 paper filter, but it is ok to use the #4’s as well.
The Hario V60 vs Kalita Wave Coffee Dripper smackdown!
Hario V60 pour-over coffee dripper has been the Champion of pour-over coffee brewing among aficionados for decades. But now there is challenger in the ring going after the belt. We pit the Hario V60 vs Kalita Wave coffee dripper to find out which is better.
The Kalita Wave dripper, made in Japan, offers a different process of drip coffee brewing. Most noticable is the flat bottom basket, rather than cone-shaped like the Hario V60. The brewing process is a little more like a Vietnamese coffee in that the coffee steeps a little longer. The result is a longer extraction time than what you typically get with a Hario V60 coffee dripper, which has a large single hole, and lots of bam bam!
Coffee passes through the grounds faster in the Hario V60. The flat bottom and three tiny holes cause the water to pass through the Kalita Wave coffee dripper slower. Since the extraction is longer, more flavors and oils come out of the grounds.
Speed had Kalita Wave on the ropes at first, we were able to drink our cup sooner from the Hario V60. But Kalita came on strong in the later rounds and the fuller flavor won out.
Conclusion
Kalita Wave was a tough challenger against Hario V60, a solid defender, and after going head to head for over a year now, we give the edge to Kalita Wave for a richer, fuller flavor pour-over coffee. This is not to suggest that using the Hario V60 is bad, Hario threw it down and is still a great pour-over coffee dripper who is not ready to hang up the pour-over coffee gloves. We use the V60 frequently. In the final round the differences were subtle. And one brewer probably suits certain types of beans and roasts over the other. Keeping that in mind you’ll have be the judge.
The Kalita Wave comes in stainless steel, glass and ceramic. Since we’re prone to breaking drippers, we recommend the stainless. There a two sizes are available, #155 and the #185, the #155 is fairly small and can’t hold much more that 10-15 grams of coffee grounds. The #185 is similar to the Hario V60 in capacity and will perfect for normal everyday brewing.
To purchase the Kalita Wave #185 coffee dripper shop here
Check out our quick look at the Kalita Wave 185 Pour-over Coffee Dripper:
You know the situation; it’s a workday and you woke up late and now there’s not enough time to do a traditional pour over coffee, forget picking something up on the way to work, the lines are always too long! Wouldn’t it be nice to have an coffee brewer that made pour over coffee, and even better, automatically? Lo and behold! There are a few pour over coffee brewers available. They range in price from $180 to $570, and these brewers meet the SCAA Certified Home Brewer standards of the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA). So you know you’re not wasting your money.
Why bother with a brewer that specializes in the pour over coffee method? Besides being the best way to brew coffee, pour over coffee brewers offer a simple hassle-free way to brew pour over coffee. Since they are automatic, you just set it at night and wake up to a fresh cup of pour over coffee. What could beat that? Other than a personal valet who makes pour over coffee for you, nothing obviously.
UPDATE (11/13/22): Starbucks announced on March 2022 that the Clover is being relaunched (and rebranded as Clover Vertica Brewer) and will be deployed nationwide beginning this fall. With the completed rollout by 2025. read more here.
Visit a Starbucks and ask for pour-over coffee brew and you might be asked if you’ve heard of Clover (they are perfectly willing to make a pour-over for you). To the uninitiated, that might not even make sense, “Clover what?”. But give it a try, you’ll be happily surprised because the Clover Brewing System is an amazing thing.
I have never been Starbucks hater. I used to buy cappuccinos back in the eighties in the Pike Place Market. My experience walking into any independant coffee shop is not a guarantee of a quality cup. Starbucks for all its faults has stringent standards that all baristas must follow. And they now offer small batch coffees. (A review of some of the Reserve Coffees are forthcoming, stay tuned.)
Now Clover
Forget french press, take a break from drip and save pour-over for home.
My Barista humbly offered Clover and asked what type of bean I preferred, I chose the Sun Dried Ethiopia Yirgacheffe. It was ground and placed into an opening on the top of the Clover machine. The piston-like hopper lowered, a preset amount of water, at the correct temperature, poured on top of the grounds, then he gave it a stir. After about a minute of steeping the plunger came up creating a vacuum that drew the brew down and into my waiting cup. My initial thoughts were that it was quite nice tasting, and with no sediment, almost silky. I even had it black so as not to influence the taste in anyway. I am going to be ordering Clover instead of drip next time I visit Starbucks.
How it works
It’s not really a press, and it’s not pour-over. It’s a unique system combining a plunger and a vacuum. The Clover is a very expensive machine and only widely available at Starbucks but supposedly Ritual Coffee has a couple machines.
Here’s a video of the Starbucks Clover Brewing System:
Next time you’re at a Starbucks that has the Clover Brewing System, give it a try.
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