Hey everyone - long time lurker here and just decided to make an account to post for some purchasing help. During the height of the pandemic, a family member graciously bought me the blue bottle pour over kit, which included the dripper, filters, and server.

I have tried multiple recipes with this dripper and can sometimes achieve desirable results, but most of my frustration comes from the brewer clogging and the brew tasting "watery".

To remedy, I raise my water temp, pour faster and coarsen up the grind. While that does speed things up, the brew tastes very watery. I've tried this with light roasts from Burundi and Ethiopia from my favorite roasters like Ritual and Linea. While I'm sure most of this is user error, I'm thinking I need to move on and try a different dripper due to the BBD only having a single small hole at the bottom of the flat bed.

My first thought was to buy the Origami and use it with 185 wave filters, or maybe get the Kailta Wave 185 since it has the 3 hole design? I'm not sure. I've read both positive and negative reviews on this forum about the Origami and have also seen reports that say the 185 clogs easily too.

So, if you have moved on from the BBD to another dripper, which one did you go for? Any help would be greatly appreciated, even if that means forgoing buying a new dripper at all and just fixing my issue with the BBD. Thanks!

My equipment: Blue bottle dripper, Wave 185 filters, Stagg EKG, Baratza Encore, scale

Thanks for helping here. Here is my recipe for my current Burundi from Ritual (https://ritualcoffee.com/shop/coffee/munyinya-burundi/):

17g coffee/272g water (205 F)
Setting 17 on Encore
Bloom: 50g (by 0:10) for 40 sec
2nd pour: 100g
3rd pour: 122g (agitate)

For timing between the 2nd and 3rd pours, I just wait until the level gets just above the bed and then I start my next pour (usually around 20 sec). Final draw down usually finishes around 3:50. If I tighten up the grind, draw down can exceed 5 min.

Welcome to HB Alex!

Do you happen to have any sort of spare metal mesh screen you can drop into the bottom of the BB dripper? The perfect fit happens to be a dispersion screen for something like a Cremina lever.

Here's mine, and it's what I use for both the Blue Bottle dripper and the Fellow dripper. The filters otherwise suction to the bottom of the dripper and the water takes the path of least resistance over the top and along the outer edges of the filter paper if the water level is too high, leading to poor extractions. The slower draw down times is more attributed to the suctioning of the filter against the outlet than the grind. If you create a small air-gap down at the bottom, you can explore vastly more grind settings and brew recipes without drastically prolonged brew times.


IMO, this sort of thing should come stock with most drippers. Especially the Fellow Stagg.

Hey Tom, thanks! Wow, that filter you have fits perfectly. I unfortunately do not have anything like that lying around. Yeah I am constantly trying to pull up on the wet filter so its not glued to the bottom but that rarely works. I'll be on the look out for something that could fit in there.

I've tried V60, Origami S, Kalita Wave 185/155, Fellow Stagg X, Bonmac and Aeropress. The only one I like and use is the Blue Bottle dripper. My grinder is Comandante and I grind light roasts on 25 clicks and dark roasts 26 clicks using the Gawoody motor. I use the blue bottle filters cause I like them and I don't rinse them. 96c for lighter roasts and 88c for dark roasts. I use their recipe which can be found on YouTube or their website. I find this dripper to be fool proof and there is no need for a screen at the bottom just try their filters and their recipes and you'll love it. If you don't then try another dripper. I just made a great cup then remembered that I had the hyper chiller in the freezer since yesterday so I decided to try it for the first time and it was wonderful too (I don't know why it took me too long to get one). The beans were SO from Black&White rosters Burundi Natural.
Recipe:
Beans: 23.3g (blends 30g +/-)
No rinsing or heating needed
Start timer and pour 50g
At 00:40 pour a 100g
At 1:10 pour a 100g
At 1:40 pour a 100g
Total water 350g.
(I try to maintain temperature within 3c through out the whole process)
Enjoy.

I purchased this mesh https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MN ... UTF8&psc=1 from Amazon and cut circle screens out of it for all my flat bottom drippers. They are all improved by it.

For the longest time I used the Starbucks Barista grinder, a solid value conical from back in the day. Over time I found my pour overs to go slower and slower, until I finally upgraded the grinder and realized the Barista's obvious limitations.

How many pounds of coffee do you think you've put through the Baratza Encore? One thought that occurred to me is that the burrs may have reached the end of their useful life (like mine eventually did).

I got my Encore in June 2020 and I drink 1 cup a day. I go through two 12 oz bags in about 40 days. I would hope that's not the issue, but always a possibility.

I just tried this exact recipe and it turned out bland/watery for me I'll try again tomorrow