DamianWarS wrote:I've modified it since, I now start with a 30gr dose which is using 1:16 allows also 480ml of water. In case you're counting this fills the brewer, not quite to the brim but still full. If you don't like the ratio change to whatever it takes to fill the brewer for you. Now I do water first and as it approaches the top I pour the grinds in while I am pouring the water and I keep pouring the water until the brewer is full. This makes it really fast and since the brewer can only handle smaller doses 30 grams is fine and I just have a larger serving. This would be a good method for a cafe because it's fast, easy but still consistent, plus it looks like you're doing something new and improved so people start talking about it. You could probably do the same with a smaller dose by establishing a fill line on the brewer for that dose.

Damian, how long do you normally steep for before draining and do you break any crust that might form? I've got a clever dripper and was never really happy with the coffee from it. I want to like it because it's so simple but the coffee always had this weird nutty taste to me.

I've enjoyed coffee from it when treating it like a pourover with an extended bloom.

do you get a similar taste with french press too? the clever is called a hybrid immersion/percolation brewer but it actually is immersion because in immersion the coffee is soaked in water and there is no constant drawdown like it is with percolation, so imho it's an immersion brewer because it's continuously steeping in water until you start the drawdown. So if you experience odd tastes isolated to the steeping part it sounds like it's releated to the immersion stage and you might want to consider less brew time. Hoffmann suggests 2 min before breaking the crust and the drawdown at 2:30. BH (Barista Hustle) recently suggested at 1:30 break the crust and drawdown at 2:00 (they were highlighting
Jessica Sartiani's 2019 Italian Brewers Cup Recipe).

There's an app called "Brewtime" that gives you a step by step timeline of various brew methods. They said they contacted Scott Rao to get help with recommended brew times and apparently he completely partnered with them in making the app so that the brew times are dialled in (at least the way Rao likes it). the clever portion of the app has a 4 min brew time which is typical of immersion methods, then give it a stir and trigger the drawdown estimating a 1 min draw down. I'm really not sure how involved Rao was in this because this just seems like a french press recipe used for a clever. The app also features the Chemex and Rao famously hates the Chemex so it's not quite clear how each method was individually tweaked by Rao or if it was just broadly immersion/pour over. Also a 4-5 min brew time seems like it would only manifest your problem.

BH also did some testing and determined that if you do a bloom with the clever it typically increases the extraction and doesn't seem to develop a crust plus they noticed the drawdown typically was longer (obviously this method is a coffee-first method). Their tests were all based on a 1:30 break the crust (even if there wasn't a crust) then at 2:00 trigger the drawdown. I would try a shorter brew time which should theoretically increase the acidity of the brew and hopefully not get into those nutty notes you describe (but also make sure it's not old coffee). if you don't like it you don't like it and do what works for you. I have been interested in using the clever for an immersion bloom then trigger the drawdown and do the rest of the brew as a percolation (this would be closer to a hybrid method) but I've always felt the drawdown would be too quick. I have no equipment to test the TDS

Thanks Damian (or is it Andrew) for the extremely thoughtful reply! To be honest a french press isn't my favorite but I would say that flavor I don't like isn't present in the french presses I've made. I'm always willing to give things another go so I'll try a shorter immersion as you suggested. One day maybe I'll spring for a refractometer to objectively measure things but until then gotta rely on the tastebuds

the refractometer won't tell you if the coffee tastes good it will only tell you how much coffee stuff made it into the cup. refractometers are useful to dial in a method and determine the extraction ceiling before negative tastes come in.

Bonavita Porcelain and Xeoleo large ghost burr grinder alternative brew method.
Stand allows me to see cup level. Son using CCD at university.

I wish that Filtropa Filter 4 still exist, the Cafec Abaca a bit too short(small) and too clean for my taste...