Preferred pour over units/reasoning

Looking to purchase one for home use. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

Hi Dylan,

For curiosities sake, are you an experienced home brewer or just diving in to specialty coffee? From there, I’m sure our fellow hustlers (myself included…) will have some suggestions + ideas. Oh yeah, everyone will have a different opinion and everyone will be right!

Regards,
Shawn

I’ve been working in a small specialty coffee shop for about the last three months now, and have been close friends with the baristas on bar there for about five years. I’ve been doing pour overs based off the ratios and grind consitiencies they had given me as well as been taught a proper technique years prior. The shop I’m on with is a wholesale partner with Counter Culture and I am working through their classes to obtain their certification.

I’ve been using an off brand ceramic bonmac my friends gifted me for my birthday, but I’ve been looking at the kalita waves because I have used one and enjoy how light they are. However, some reviews stated that after about a year or so of use the rivets had rusted… which has me considerig the harios metal v60’s. Previous to the off brand bonmac I’d been using a gsi backpacking set up for my pour overs, but since getting on at the shop I’m wanting to get a decent set for home.

Best,
Dylan

Hey Dylan,

Like I said, everyone will have a preference and think that their preferred method is on the only way!

For me, I prefer the V60. With the large, single hole, I can grind finer or coarser to adjust the flow rate and hit a desired brew time. The large hole also allows enough room around the bottom of the cone so that you can see the steady stream of brewed coffee coming from the bottom of the filter. For drip brewers with smaller holes, the filter is in contact inside the brewer right over the holes and ‘could’ stall your brew because the filter (+ surface tension across a small opening) is clogging the holes regardless of if there’s ridges in the bottom or not. This is especially true of ‘off-brand’ ceramics like something you’d pick up at a book store or the same place you buy your greeting cards…

To be fair, I don’t have much experience with the Bonmac or the BeeHouse dripper, but the Kalita Wave and Chemex are also good options. The Kalita Wave filters are thinner than the Hario but the ‘fluted’ sides create a nice airflow so that bottom of the filter doesn’t stick to the inside of the brewer. I’m anxious to get my hands on a December Dripper from Nick Cho though; I think it’s going to lead to some more progressive brewing + grinding techniques by being able to control or stop the flow rate altogether.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
S.

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I appreciate the response! I was starting to think I wasn’t going to get any. I understand everyone will have their preferences which is why I am asking about them, I’m curious myself. That December Dripper seems fairly versatile and useful. Let me know how it works out for you when you get it?

Dylan