Coffee preferences run deep for most of us. Maybe you're an iced coffee devotee who drowns your cup in half-and-half and sweetener until it smells like a candle shop. Or perhaps you prefer a dark brew, potent enough to smell from several rooms away.
Whatever your style, achieving consistently great coffee at home proves surprisingly difficult. But here's the truth: You don't need an expensive machine to produce café-quality results. All it takes is freshly ground beans, filtered water and an affordable pour-over brewer like the $30 Dwell Dripper I've been putting through its paces.
Why this former barista is hot on pour-over
Pour-over drippers or brewers are simple in their approach. Most fit over a coffee mug and require nothing more than a paper filter. Although you must manually pour hot water over the grounds, you're rewarded with a cup of coffee that has a rich flavor and isn't over-extracted or bitter. Sometimes a pour-over dripper can yield cups so smooth that you don't even need to add milk to it.
Read more: What's the Best Way to Make Coffee? I Asked 10 Experts and They (Almost) All Agreed
The Dwell Dripper is perfect for pour-over newbies
There are countless options when it comes to a pour-over brewer, but the Dwell Dripper stands out because it's designed for someone who hasn't brewed at home before or is transitioning from a cheap electric coffee machine they acquired in college. Think of the Dwell Dripper as a gateway into a world of great-tasting coffee that doesn't require a barista with a man bun to make it for you.
The Dwell Dripper, made by Verve Coffee Roasters, has a lot of unique features that make it as versatile as it is simple. It's made from BPA-free silicone instead of glass, metal or ceramic and that makes it portable. I've been testing one for a few weeks, and I can easily envision tossing this in my suitcase on a trip without worrying about it breaking.
Pour-over brewers typically come in either a cone or flat-bottom design like the Dwell. A flat-bottom shape lets the grounds get more evenly saturated versus a cone-shaped dripper, when the grounds at the center can be extracted more than those on the perimeter.
"We as a company, Verve, are selling thousands of pour-overs a day. And we choose to use a flat bottom brewer because we really prefer that extraction method," Colby Barr, Verve CEO and co-founder, told CNET. "It's almost crazy to me that all brewing methods aren't flat bottom from my perspective."
... continue reading