Picture this: a bleary-eyed, half-awake lady stumbles into the kitchen. She needs coffee. She wants something balanced and sweet, nothing too complex, just one cup, so that she can sit with her crossword puzzle and ease her brain into the day. She actually works at a coffee roastery, so she will have basically unlimited access to the stuff once she lands at work, but she doesn’t like to roll out of bed and straight to work. She wants to wake up in her own space. But she also doesn’t want to think about it too hard. On her shelf, she has a classic Chemex, a French press, an Aeropress, and a home espresso machine. And one more device: a Clever Dripper.
The Clever is her weekday go-to. Perfectly sized, it maxes out at two small cups. Because it's made of durable BPA-free plastic, she doesn’t have to worry about it knocking over and shattering in her sink. It uses a standard number four paper filter, nothing proprietary she has to order special. And cleanup is a breeze: just lift the filter out and pop it in the compost.
You might have guessed it–this lady is me. I'm here to attest to the wonderful, reliable, easy-peasy, and yes clever! Clever Dripper. I like how it is in the realm of pourover coffee without being quite as fussy; you don’t have to pour slowly or very carefully, which is great when you’re not fully awake. And I like the impact of the paper filter, which cleans up sediment and oils that can muddy your cup.
For years, the Clever served as my weekday standard, because of its simplicity, consistency, and easy-breezy cleanup. Here’s my recipe:
30g coffee of your choice, ground medium (like kosher salt)
500g (about 16oz) water
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Set a kettle of filtered water to boil.
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Place a #4 paper filter into your Clever. Run it under warm tap water to rinse out the papery taste and help the filter adhere to the side of the brew funnel. Pour out the water.
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Place the Clever on a digital scale and tare to zero.
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Grind 30g coffee and add it to the filter, double checking the weight.
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Tare the scale to zero again.
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Set a timer to four minutes and press start. Pour in 50-70g water (about 30 seconds off the boil), saturating the grounds.
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After 30-45 seconds (after the bloom settles), continue pouring water over the grounds, all the way to 500g (it will reach up to the brim).
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Give the slurry a gentle stir to ensure all grounds are wet, then place the lid on top of the Clever.
9. When your timer rings or dings or beeps, carefully lift the Clever onto a small pitcher or large mug (at least 16oz). The freshly brewed coffee will drain through the filter into the vessel below.
10. After it drains fully, lift the filter of spent grounds out into your compost or trash.
11. Give your Clever a soapy rinse and you’re done! Enjoy your coffee.
It’s also super easy to tweak this recipe to your own liking. Don’t need 16oz coffee? Cut it down to 20g coffee with 375g water, or even 15g coffee with 250g water. Prefer a more delicate brew? Reduce your steep time to 3 minutes, or increase to 5 minutes for a heightened extraction and fuller flavor. Tweak your grind size to increase extraction and shorten drain time (finer) or decrease extraction and speed up drain time (coarser) too. Lots of options to customize, and always the same simple approach and cleanup.
Any roast level works well with this method. Whenever someone is curious about single-cup brewing at home but intimidated by the intricacies of pour-over, I always recommend the Clever. And I still reach for it at home when I want a quick, reliable cup with minimal effort.