Here is a patented (patent number M462568) stainless steel coffee filter from Taiwan called "Driver". I don't know if this company is related to Abid, but some Clever drippers also had markings of Driver in Taiwan.

I ordered easily online and it took 11 days to arrive. Most of the time the item sat at the US Customs, 8 days at the Customs!

Other metal filters may have a serious competition. This filter was marketed as to filter out more fines than other metal filters. I did a side by side comparison with another metal filter, ground with Lido 1; I can say the Driver does what it claims. It also comes with an optional metal stand. The size is slightly smaller than the Kone, and fits in my old Bodum Kona just right. The metal stand can also be used with the Kone and regular #4 paper filters. From what I heard, it also fits the Hario V60 Decanter, but I could not confirm personally.

Box:


It is composed of two layers. The inner layer is a stainless steel fabric-like liner, with an outer fine stainless steel strainer:


Size comparison with the Kone:


With metal stand on carafe:


Final cup compared with another metal filter. The one on the right is from the Driver. Quite impressive for a metal filter.

I'm curious though, if this is along the same lines of the Tiamo debacle where the great kettle I posted about was a fraction of the price that a US site sponsor had it for, because it's all basically a copy? Cafelat had a post that shared some interesting photo comparisons.

Don't get me wrong, it's only a question for those who might know. But is this just an Able Kone cut down a bit, and sold for much, much cheaper? The "patent numbers" relate to a US patent?

Tom - Henry's closeup photo makes the driver looks like a chinois mesh fit into a sort of conical metal filter with more holes than the kone.

Completely agree there, it's evident in the pictures. I think it would be hard to acquire a patent unless it was different enough. I'd be curious to try one out myself.

chang00 wrote:...
Final cup compared with another metal filter. The one on the right is from the Driver. Quite impressive for a metal filter.

A couple of thoughts - - what grind are you using with the Kone? I don't seem to get that much residual using a medium fine grind, 3:00 min pour. I don't find them sufficient to rate an "objectionable." On a press pot, I find them intrusive.

Second, the Driver has two layers. Each of those two layers has an inner side, facing one another. Seems that long term, there would be serious buildup of oils and matter in those hidden sides that would be impervious to a wash in the sink.

I know on my Kone, once a week I need to take a scrubbie to it or a very deliberate scrubbing wash with a dish cloth and hot soapy water to free all the holes, and they are accessible. Holding it up to the light lets me know if I got the holes clean or not.

Boldjava wrote:Second, the Driver has two layers. Each of those two layers has an inner side, facing one another. Seems that long term, there would be serious buildup of oils and matter in those hidden sides that would be impervious to a wash in the sink.

Well said, upon reading this thread, cleaning was one of my first concerns. You may have to soak the cone in coffee cleaner or an OxyClean solution to get all the oils out and still trapped solids may remain.

The link to the patent information in the post above did not work for me. Update, the link is working now, and the URL appears quite a bit shorter. Thanks. The PDF appears to be scanned graphic images, Chrome didn't present me with the normal Translate option for pages containing foreign text.

It worked on my cell, it's just a pdf file of the patent. I didn't try and put it thru Google Translate.

The patent description (in Chinese) can also be found at the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office. It seems the web links do not save, and one has to type in the patent number, then another link, to see the description. I tried both the Chinese and English pages of the same patent, but the English version only has titles and no description. So time to brush up on Chinese!

https://tiponet.tipo.gov.tw/S090/UC090- ... BRbE0wUXIr

At least for me, I usually soak various metal drip cones in the Clever with Cafiza overnight. Works for other metals cones. In a few weeks I should know if this method works for the Driver.

This morning I made coffee with the Driver directly into a thermal mug. There was very little residual fines at bottom of the cup. Previously with other metal filters I generally had to discard the last sip.

Cost wise, this filter is not significantly cheaper, and in fact, within 10 dollars of the most expensive metal filter we find in the US, and more than other metal coffee filters. At last count, I have close to 10 metal coffee filters. I just feel this is a very good product compared to the other metal filters I have.

It certainly looks nice too, but that's no doubt secondary. Hit me up if you know of a reasonable source for the nice glass kettle like yours. You and I had the same one (the beautiful, but expensive $70 one from Japan) up until the point where my GF knocked something into it and it shattered on the floor.

I prefer it a lot more than my Hario beehive shaped one and even the handle felt better. I'd love to get another one, but that Japanese company will only sell the entire brewer system as a whole, and not just the lower glass part.