Best Pour Over Coffee Maker: 6 Top Picks [Reviewed]

Pour-over coffee is one of the simplest and best ways to enjoy your morning cup. However, with the many options for pour-over coffee makers available, we know how confusing it can get.

Here is a guide to the 6 best pour-over coffee makers, along with everything you need to know to start your brewing journey.

6 Best Pour Over Coffee Makers

1. Origami Coffee Dripper – Best Overall

Key Features

• Comes in medium and small
• Compatible with cone and flat filters
• Stunning design
• Japanese Mino porcelain
• Many color options

The origami dripper is stunning to look at. Its name is inspired by the Japanese art of origami or paper folding, a playful, colorful, creative, and delicate craft.

This dripper was made famous in the 2019 World Cup Champion Jia Ning du-san, who used the origami for his winning performance.

This coffee maker was designed to look like a flower. The design gives you optimal blooming time. And its 20 ribs create air channels to keep your brewing smooth and clog-free. This also gives you total control over the drip-rate and brewing time.

It is made from Mino-yaki porcelain from one of Japan’s most prestigious potteries with more than 400 years of history. This thinner ceramic allows heat to escape faster and results in a cleaner and milder cup.

We particularly love how versatile this pour-over coffee maker can be because it works with cone-shaped V60 filters and Kalita Wave filters. This makes it compatible with all Kalita Wave and V60 recipes.

The character of your brew will depend on the filter and recipe you use.

With many stunning colors such as turquoise, black, navy blue, and even pink, this coffee dripper is a work of art.

This Is Best For:

Brewers and baristas looking for a versatile pour-over coffee maker and those who want a ceramic coffee dripper give you total control over your coffee cup.

Pros

• Beautiful design
• Looks great in your coffee corner
• Versatile
• Easy to use
• Can use Kalita or V60 recipes
• Compatible with cone and flat coffee filter

Cons

• Breakable
• Expensive

2. December Coffee Dripper – Best Value

Key Features

• Made of 18 – 10 stainless steel
• Food-grade silicone gasket
• Insulation sleeve

The December Coffee Dripper is an adjustable pour-ver coffee maker that lets you adjust the water’s flow rate. The design fits Kalita 185 paper filters, as it also has a flat bottom. This gives you an even brew bed to make extraction more consistent.

It has an ingenious aperture base that allows you to select the number of holes you want to open by a simple twist of the dripper itself.

0 closes all the holes, allowing you to bloom your coffee beans without letting any water to pass through. Stages 1 – 3 adjusts the number of open holes at the bottom, from 4, 8, and 12. The more openings, the faster the flow rate.

It is made of stainless steel, making this pour-over coffee maker extremely durable. It also has a food-grade silicone gasket and an insulation sleeve.

Note that you should only touch the base of the dripper and the insulation sleeve when containing hot water as the stainless steel can get very hot.

This Is Best For:

Baristas or home coffee makers who want that extra level of control that other pour-over coffee dripper models cannot give you.

Normally, you would have to adjust the grind size, amount of coffee, or how quickly you pour to adjust your coffee maker’s flow rate. The December Dripper solves that problem for you by giving you 4 flow rates to choose from.

Pros

• Adjustable flow rate
• Versatile
• Compatible with Kalita185 filters
• Makes more than a single cup
• Durable
• Sleek design
• Easy to use

Cons

• Stainless steel gets hot
• Difficult to clean under the gasket
• Risk of burning yourself
• Pricey

3. Hario V60 Plastic Size O2 – Best Budget Pick

Key Features

• Cone-shaped
• Ridged vortex
• Ceramic, glass, plastic. or stainless steel
• Many colors
• 01 or 02 size

The Hario V60 is the undisputed king and perhaps the most popular pour-over coffee maker in the world. This coffee dripper gives you rich and nuanced flavors with the perfect amount of acidity.

The V60 gives you total control over your brew, letting you manipulate every variable to get that perfect cup. But this is a double-edged sword as it means it can also give you a terrible cup if you do not know how to use it.

The ridged vortex shape is designed to prevent the filter from sticking to the side of the cone while brewing.

However, its cone shape means there are more grounds at the center of the cone than the outer edges. This requires proper technique to ensure even extraction.

Because of its popularity, there are many variations of the V60, such as the special edition Tetsu Kasuya version. It also comes in glass, ceramic, metal, or plastic.

Many professionals and baristas love the plastic version for its affordability and extreme durability. It also comes in 2 sizes so that you can brew up to 4 cups.

While you can get paper coffee filters at a cheap, you can also opt to get a reusable coffee filter so that you don’t need to keep on replenishing the paper ones.

This Is Best For:

Coffees with juicy or fruity notes as well as intermediate to advanced brewers. However, its popularity gives beginners a lot of tutorials and videos to learn from, too.

Pros

• Affordable
• Virtually indestructible
• Many color choices
• Drip-in decanter option
• Total control over your brew
• Highlights acidity and juiciness

Cons

• Requires gooseneck kettle
• Steep learning curve
• Plastic does not look very nice

4. Kalita Wave Ceramic Coffee Dripper

Key Features

• Flat bottom
• Stainless steel, copper, or glass
• Consistent brew
• Beautiful Japanese design
• 3 holes at the bottom
• 2 sizes

The wave is named so for the unique shape of the filter. The flat bottom and round design allow the filter to shelter the brew bed from the cone and create a more stable brew temperature and even extraction.

Some do not recommend the stainless steel Kalita Wave because it tends to get clogged at the bottom, slowing down the drip-rate. The Kalita Wave ceramic coffee dripper has been reviewed to have a more consistent drawdown rate.

This ceramic coffee dripper can fit almost any mug or glass carafe. The 3 holes at the flat bottom prevent the water from flowing too fast through the coffee grounds.

This Is Best For:

Beginners. This particular ceramic coffee dripper is a lot more beginner-friendly because the flat shape and 3 bottom holes allow for a more even extraction, even if your pouring technique is not yet that good.

Pros

• More durable than the glass version
• More consistent than the metal version
• Easy to use
• Inexpensive paper filters
• Gives a more balanced cup

Cons

• Not for highlighting acidity or fruitiness
• No reusable filter option
• Uses proprietary filters
• Pricey

5. Hario Woodneck Drip Pot

Key Features

• Includes dripper, holder, filter, and glass carafe
• Reusable filters

The Hario Woodneck Pour Over Coffee Dripper is a glass pot system from Japan that creates small quantities of extremely high-quality coffee. This particular pour-over coffee maker only uses a cloth filter.

The advantage is that the cloth is the perfect compromise between metal filters, such as those in a french press, and paper filters. It gives you a clean cup and removes all fines, unlike metal filters, and still lets enough natural coffee oils through, unlike paper filters.

The result is a textured, velvety coffee with clarity and depth of flavor. It is also easy to use, as it uses the same recipe as with a Hario V60 pour-over brewer. Plus, it comes as a complete system with the cloth filter, holder, and serving vessel.

The resulting coffee is so good that James Hoffman, a well-known coffee expert and former Barista World Champion, considers this his favorite pour-over coffee dripper.

However, this particular pour-over coffee maker’s most significant disadvantage is that it is challenging to maintain.

After using the cloth pour-over brewer, you need to throw as much of the grounds as possible, rinse it as well as you can, then store it in a glass of water in the refrigerator (if you plan to use it every day) or in a bag in the freezer (if you will use it occasionally).

Without proper maintenance, mildew will grow on it almost instantly. It will smell and taste like wet socks if you just rinse it and leave it out to dry.

If you are willing to put in the work, this will give you the best single cup of pour-over coffee in your life.

This Is Best For:

The cloth filter is excellent for lighter coffees, such as Kenyan and Costa Rican beans, highlight all of its flavors while giving it a rich flavor and incredible texture. This is also not for all brewers, as it requires so much maintenance.

Pros

• Highlights flavors and nuances of coffee
• Silky and velvety mouthfeel
• Eco-friendly
• Cost-effective if well-maintained
• Easy to use

Cons

• Very difficult to maintain

6. Chemex Classic Series Glass Coffee Maker

Key Features

• Non-porous Borosilicate glass
• Pour-over drip pot
• Multiple sizes
• Hourglass design
• Different styles

With its iconic design that has been featured in numerous movies and tv shows and even the Museum of Modern Art, the Chemex pour-over coffee maker is eye-catching and stunning.

Its non-porous Borosilicate glass prevents odor or chemicals from sticking to this coffee maker. Its patented design also lets you cover your coffee and refrigerate or reheat it later without losing any flavor.

The Chemex’s large opening allows you to completely control your brew by adjusting your pouring, grind size, and flow.

The Chemex classic filter is double-bonded paper, making it the thickest paper filter ever. This keeps all the bitter oils out of the coffee and prevents the water from flowing too fast through the grounds.

However, many who do not like the Chemex complain about how the paper filter may sometimes collapse into itself.

The thickness of the paper filter can also result in stalling when it completely sticks to the glass wall and forms a suction that prevents water from passing through the coffee grounds.

It comes in various sizes, giving you 3, 5, 8, or even up to 10 cups. Because this is a drip pot, the carafe and pour-over coffee dripper are fused into one design.

This Is Best For:

Homes and offices where making a big batch of coffee are required. This is also best for an advanced coffee maker, as it requires a lot of technique to get a good brew out of it.

Pros

• Timeless, classic design
• Multiple sizes available
• Can make a lot of coffee in1 go
• Brews clean coffee

Cons

• Steep learning curve
• Expensive
• Fragile
• Not good heat retention
• Coffee filter expensive and hard to find
• Brew tends to stall
• Not dishwasher safe
• Some say the coffee comes out too clean

What Do I Need to Consider When Buying a Pour-Over Coffee Maker?

Other Equipment

While pour-over coffee makers are relatively inexpensive, you need other equipment to make a proper pour-over coffee.

Below, we will also detail a list of the equipment you will need to make a proper pour-over coffee. Most of these have inexpensive options out there.

Time and Convenience

The pour-over coffee brewing process requires a good chunk of your time, even if you are just making a single cup. It is not the most convenient brewing method, especially if you use a hand grinder.

Consider whether you are willing to invest a good 30 minutes for each brew and cleanup. All pour-over coffee maker models require commitment from you.

The good thing is that this is an inexpensive hobby to start. And most of this equipment have a good secondhand resale value if you ever change your mind.

Your Skill Level

The most significant advantage and the downfall of pour-over coffee making is that every factor is within your control. This requires you to consider every variable in the brewing process that might affect your cup, like brew time, water quality, temperature, and more.

If you are new to the world of pour-over coffee, now’s a great time to get into it because there are many videos and tutorials online that can get you started.

It is also advisable that you choose a pour-over coffee maker that is more forgiving for first-timers who have yet to learn how to control their flow rate and technique.

Portability

If you travel a lot and want to take your pour-over coffee maker with you, consider what it’s made of.

While ceramic and glass coffee drippers look great, they can break easily. The great news is that there are many inexpensive plastic or metal coffee drippers available that are lightweight, small, and almost unbreakable.

Sustainability

We know a lot of coffee brewers also care about their environmental impact. After all, the coffee industry is one of the most affected by climate change and other environmental issues.

The good news is there are pour-over coffee makers with reusable filters. This saves you money in the long run and reduces your environmental footprint.

Equipment and Tips for Making Incredible Pour Over Coffee

Use Good Coffee

Your final cup will only be as good as your beans. So make sure you get beans that are properly grown, sourced, and roasted. Unlike with a french press, single-origin coffee is especially great for pour-over brewing.

This is especially important for pour-over coffee because this brewing method highlights all the tasting notes, aroma, and nuances of your beans.

Go to your local cafe and try their pour-over brews to see if you like their beans. Ask for recommendations. Look for reviews and read tasting notes and other information on the beans.

If you want to develop your palette, try to cup coffee at home to figure out what flavors you are tasting among the coffee grounds.

When buying, make sure only to get as much as you can consume in about a week. This ensures your coffee will not go stale and will be at peak tasting condition.

Buy The Best Coffee Grinder You Can Afford

This is the one piece of equipment you should not skimp on. You do not need fancy scales or kettles, and you can find affordable pour-over coffee makers. But a grinder can make or break your brew.

There are many types of coffee grinders available. You need a grinder that can give you a consistent grind. This means there should be no large boulders or fines in your ground coffee.

You can choose between handheld or electric grinders. Many homebrewers swear by manual grinders because they are more affordable and have better burrs.

One of the best hand grinders you can get is the Comandante C40. It is considered best for pour-over coffees, as it gives you consistent particle distribution at the medium to medium-fine range.

Only Use Freshly Ground Coffee

This is why having a good coffee grinder is essential. From the moment you first opened your coffee bean bag, oxygen already began affecting your beans. The faster your beans oxidize, the staler it will get.

Once you grind your coffee, the rate of oxidation multiplies exponentially. This is because many of the surface areas of the coffee grounds are exposed to light and air.

To be able to drink your coffee at its peak, only grind what you will brew at that particular moment. And grind it right before brewing.

Find a Pour Over Coffee Maker You Like

Your coffee dripper or brewing device is the equipment that will hold your coffee filter and grounds. This refers to the pour-over coffee makers we detailed in this guide. Each coffee dripper has a specific design and features that will affect your extraction.

Try them out with your friends, hold brewing parties, or go to specialty coffee shops to figure out which coffee dripper produces the best coffee for you.

You can use any glass carafe or mug (if you’re brewing a single cup of coffee) to brew in. Pour-over dripper sets usually come with their carafe or server.

Use The Right Filter

Your filter will keep the grounds from getting into your morning cup of coffee. Each dripper has an appropriate filter for it.

For example, the Kalita Wave has its filter for the 185 and 155. These cannot be used on a cone-shaped dripper like the Hario V60 because it will not fit and will not give you a good, efficient extraction.

Within a type of filter for a brewer are also subtypes.

A paper filter needs to be rinsed before brewing to remove its papery taste. Unbleached paper filters require even more rinsing because they have a stronger papery taste. Also, these are only for single-use, so they are not eco-friendly.

Cloth filters, on the other hand, are reusable. When used right, it can even make for a better cup of coffee. But they require a lot of maintenance and work; otherwise, they can get moldy.

Then you have metal filters, which are not available for all types of drippers.

They are economical, do not require the same level of maintenance as cloth filters, and reusable. However, it tends to allow more oils and finer grounds to come through.

Use a Weighing Scale

Having a weighing scale that can measure up to 0.1 grams is essential for pour-overs.

This allows you to make consistently good coffee because you can measure your coffee and water accurately every time. Without a scale, you cannot accurately measure your recipes.

Remember that different coffee beans have different sizes. So one scoop of a light roast coffee, which is usually bigger, may have less coffee than smaller dark roast beans.

It also allows you to measure your drawdown rate, which refers to how quickly your water runs through your grind. You can then choose to make it faster or slower in the future.

Some fancier digital scales have a lot of extra features and a built-in timer. However, this is not a necessity.

Use a Gooseneck Kettle

While a regular kettle can be used for pour-over coffee, this gives you minimal control over your brew. The larger hole in the spout allows more water to pour into your grind, leading to under extraction or inconsistent brews.

Gooseneck kettles have very thin, curved spouts that give you a lot of control over your pour. If well-designed, you can easily slow or quicken your pour rate, so you can control how fast the extraction will be.

They are also designed to keep the temperature of your coffee more consistent, which is a factor that will also significantly affect how fast the extraction will be.

Your kettle must have a thermometer. You need to determine and control the exact temperature of the brewing water to keep your brew consistent.

Moreover, experiments have shown that boiling your water directly in the kettle is a lot better for temperature retention because pouring from one kettle to another allows a lot of heat to escape.

More expensive kettles called variable temperature kettles are electric. You can find such kettles on Amazon too.

It lets you set the temperature that you want and heats the water until it reaches that. It then keeps your water at that heat by restarting the heating element whenever it cools down by a degree or so.

Find A Good Base Recipe

There are many videos, articles, and tutorials online that give recipes for particular pour-over coffee makers. For example, Scott Rao, James Hoffman, and Tetsu Kasuya all have recipes for the Hario V60.

https://youtu.be/c0Qe_ASxfNM

https://youtu.be/AI4ynXzkSQo

https://youtu.be/wmCW8xSWGZY

Each recipe has its pros and cons. One way to figure out which one you like is to use the same beans while trying out the various methods. Try to keep as many variables as constant as possible.

Taste the final cup of coffee and figure out which recipe brings out the flavors and aroma you like best.

Of course, you can always use a different recipe with every bean. But having one reliable recipe will help you when you start dialing it in for your new beans. It also makes it a lot easier to make coffee when you are still groggy and sleepy in the morning.

Dial-In Your Recipe

Dialing-in refers to finding the perfect recipe for the particular beans you are using at that moment.

To do this, keep all other factors, such as water, temperature, and filter, constant. The only factor you will change will be the grind size of your coffee beans. Now try brewing a cup with your base recipe.

Taste and see if you think it is over or under-extracted. If it is too bitter, it might be over-extracted. If it is too sour or not sweet enough, it may be under-extracted.

With this in mind, adjust your grind size 2 steps to the coarser (if over-extracted) or finer (if under-extracted) end of your grinder.

Keep doing this until your coffee gets to a point where you have hit a “wall.” This means the coffee is too bitter for you. Then, dial it back (make it coarser) by just 1 step. 

This is usually the sweet spot for your grind size. Now remember that grind setting and use it until you finish your beans.

Remember that in the meantime, you need to ensure proper storage for your coffee beans so that you can keep them from oxidizing.

Conclusion

There are many pour-over coffee maker options out there, and all have their strengths and weaknesses.

But making the best pour-over coffee is one quest that is worth it. Not to mention choosing the best pour-over coffee maker. You may earn quite a reputation with your friends and family after you have perfected your cup of coffee.

If you prefer a more hands-off approach, you can check out the automatic pour over coffee makers review that I wrote.