I'm working on the history of pour over started from an off topic conversion on another thread. The OP will contain an updated list of milestone dates for the history and development of pour-over that we know today where the discussion part will happen in subsequent posts.

1780 - Mr Biggin Pot commercially available which is a filtration system that uses a sock. A common method was to treat the sock like a tea bag which would be an immersion brew, not a pour-over but another method stretches the sock over a container, puts grinds on the sock and pour water over it, which effectively is a basic pour-over and possibly the earliest variant of it.

1795 - French Drip Pot, the invention is attributed to Jean Baptiste de Belloy, Archbishop of Paris and is documented as far back as 1795

sometime after - two methods of filters are regionally popular in SEA, South Indian Filter Coffee (also known as "Kaapi") and the other Vietnam Drip that uses what's called a phin filter. These methods and filters are very similar and likely have the same source in terms of the metal cylinder with filter inside placed over top a container they use. I am still trying to find sources but I would suspect these filters were influenced by English/French colonialism. French colonialism started in Vietnam mid-19th century but the French Drip Pot predates it and Biggins styles of pots were similar, so it's possible the phin and Indian versions were influenced by these English/French methods being reproduced using more locally sustainable methods.

late 1800s - nel drip (from the word fannel?) first started to show up in Japan, perhaps the first of pour over methods started in Japan. in concept similar to Mr. Biggin but far more refined using a cloth inside a glass vessel with an upper chamber for filtration that drips down to the bottom chamber

1908 - Melitta Bentz "invents" the pour-over the first version looked more like a phin filter or a can with a sieve.

1937 - Melitta's iconic and industry-standard ceramic shell or trapezoid shaped brewer with 1 hole

1941 - Chemex is released to market

1957 - George R. Bunn Jr, founder of Bunn-O-Matic Corporation, invents the flat-bottom fluted coffee filter

1958 - Kalita as a company is established (Kalita flat bottom brewer release date is unknown)

1973 - Kona Meimon, cone/parabolic shaped ribbed brewer with large hole

1980 - Hario's develops its Mini Coffee Dripper. it never comes out of development but Hario claims it is a predecessor to its v60 brewer

1996 - unreleased(?) "coffee brewing system" that is a forerunner to the clever dripper

1997 - Clever Dripper patent and first released in Taiwan. It doesn't reach the US market until 2009

2004 - Hario's iconic v60 brewer is released

c.2010 - Bee House Ceramic Dripper (2010 is the date first available on amazon, could have had an earlier release date)

2015 - La Vandola brewer, a unique fired-clay brewer with specialized vents for aroma with a timeless look, named after the branches of the coffee plant in Spanish

2017 - December Dripper launched

2018 - Origami Dripper

2018 - Melodrip kickstarter campaign (ready for shipping April 2018)

2018 - Lilydrip first comes available (first available on Amazon May 2018)

2019 - April Brewer kickstarter campaign (ready for shipping December 2019) according

2020 - ROK W1 brewer, parabolic cone brewer with a lilydrip-like piece in the middle

2020 - Espro bloom pour over kickstarter campaign

*missing brewers will continue to get updated and can be talked about in the discussion but I'll only post dates with supporting links and unique products or those that have contributed significantly to pour-over

the following is a quote from the last conversation from the off-topic post and I've moved over here and I'll continue were we left off

baldheadracing wrote:No doubt you are right - there are historical influences for everything brewing coffee! See Uker's classic "All About Coffee" history published in 1922 (free scan: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL2327110 ... out_coffee. ) Pourover brewing devices were pretty much around since the 1800's ... start around page 621.

A couple Japanese dates:
1959: Kalita essentially copies Melitta's shape, but uses three holes instead of one - so the pour has more impact. (This is not the Wave, but just in case you ever wondered why the Wave has three holes ...)
1973: KONO (actually KŌNO) introduces the Meimon, the first Japanese cone with a big hole and ribs. Pics in my old thread: KONO Meimon vs. Hario V60

Just to get even more off-topic, both the Hario V60 clear plastic and all KONO's are made with Acrylonitrile-styrene resin. As such, they can't handle brew temps over about 90C - they'll crack/craze. The coloured plastic Hario's are made of Polypropylene, and thus can handle higher temps.

I didn't know about Kona's early development and their first to market style of cone brewer (pure cone and ribbed). Hario claims their development or predecessor to the v60 started in the 80's with their Mini Coffee Dripper (newly reintroduded) but this dripper seems to be more of a miniaturized Chemex than a copy of the Kona and it never left development stages. It may have led them to the development of their now v60, but the v60 is very different. this mini looks like a mini decanter by Hario but even the decanter isn't really the brewer but more of a vessel that holds a plastic brewer and this seems to be the same with the mini (it holds a metal filter). the v60 didn't come out until 2004 so there is a large gap between the mini and the v60 release but even still Hario claims the mini is the predecessor to the v60.

definitely, the current cone shape pour-over was influenced by kona. I'm still thinking however the Chemex has a more direct influence in both Hario (as is evident in their mini design from the 80s) and now kona. Chemex is its own category today but before the Meimon what was there to draw influence from? I don't think the nel drip was nessarily the design influence in this case but more the cultural influence with Hario and Kona

no one seems interested in this, but that's ok, I'll keep updating it. I've made a discovery that the clever dripper was first imported and made available to the US in 2009 by Sweet Marias and for many, this is when they first heard of the brewer. But it was actually invented by a married couple Peo-Wu and Yu-Mei Tien in Taiwan way back in 1997 influenced by an earlier patent filed in 1996 of a more manual version. (sources BH). clever just makes it on the pour over list. theres a problem with HB right now in updating, I'll update the date when available

DamianWarS,
Thank you for this information, I have really enjoyed your timeline.
One to add might be the Bonavita Ceramic Immersion Dripper
edit: here is another: Walkure Porcelain Pour Over Brewer
Regards,
John

I'm definitely interested and think this could make for a great Wikipedia article. One thought - this feels very Western focused. Is there no evidence that pour overs existed in China, India, Japan, or the Middle East way back in the day (before the 19th century)? Coffee and tea are as old as time, and I gotta believe that this process had deeper Eastern roots.

Here's another: The Vandola
https://perfectdailygrind.com/2017/03/f ... w-with-it/

johnX wrote:DamianWarS,
Thank you for this information, I have really enjoyed your timeline.
One to add might be the Bonavita Ceramic Immersion Dripper
edit: here is another: Walkure Porcelain Pour Over Brewer
Regards,
John

I've wanted to add the walkure it but I can't seem to figure out when it was first made. If you can find something with a date on it than it will go on the list. Also I'm having trouble updating the list and I think it may be from so many links and possibly one of them is malformed and causing an error. I'll figure it out in the morning but I may have to wipe the links

update: I've added this as a "french drop pot" which seems to be what a walkure is.

LBIespresso wrote:Here's another: The Vandola
https://perfectdailygrind.com/2017/03/f ... w-with-it/

Now I want a vandola. It looks old but the article says its new to the coffee world. The article was written in 2017 but it seems like there was already a lot of varieties so I'm thinking an earlier date. Do you know when it was first made? Also I'm having trouble updating the OP and I think there might be a problem with a link, I'm add it circa 2017 when Im able to update it.

edit: 2015 seems to be the date
https://www.kaffacafe.com/la-vandola/ (that page was made in 2015)
also https://lacafeografa.com/2016/11/16/la- ... ng-method/

it was created in Costa Rica by Minor Alfaro and its name comes from the name for what they call the branches from a coffee plant or "bandolas". (/b/ /v/ are phonetically very similar) I don't speak Spanish so I don't know how commonplace bandolas is for the name of a branch or if it's specifically a coffee industry word but google translate translates it as "bandits" and a quick google image search for "bandolas" has images of guitar type instruments, belt clips, mugshots and coffee plants so it certainly has a story in there.

I just stumbled upon this new brewer by ROK called the W1 dripper. Its a parabolic cone with a lilydrip-like piece in the middle. Seems to have come out in 2020 by way of this link

Another thing to add probably can be pour over helps like the the lilydip or melodrip as clearly ROK is influenced by the lilydrip so they have contributed to the evolution of pour over. I just need to find some dates

Here is an example showing that pour over dates back at least to 1800 in Paris.

https://blog.kathrynmcgowan.com/2010/10 ... es-part-i/