The Blue Bottle Dripper: A Pour Over Guide

The Blue Bottle Dripper is the proprietary dripper from Blue Bottle Coffee created to make the perfect pour overs at their cafés. Outside of Blue Bottle’s application, we’ve found this dripper to outperform other flat-bottom drippers in terms of both taste and consistency of brews.

Here’s how we brew with it:

Recipe Guide

• Dose (g): 13
• Total amount (ml): 200
• Ratio: 1:15
• Filter size: Kalita Wave 155 or 185 filters
• Grind size: medium
• Water temperature: 95°C / 203°F
• Pouring pattern (ml): 50 – 100 – 50
• Pouring intervals (minutes to seconds): 0 to 0:10 – 0:30 to 0:50 – 1:20 to 1:30
• Total time (minutes to seconds): Between 2:15 to 2:30

This is an easy recipe to use when brewing with the Blue Bottle Dripper. It works well with virtually any coffee and produces a final cup that is sweet and full in the mouthfeel.

Dose

While the Blue Bottle Dripper is definitely capable of handling larger brews, we prefer smaller brews since they are easier to manage. That being said, this recipe can be adapted for larger servings.

Simply double the dose and each pour in the pouring pattern. Use the 185-sized wave filter, a medium-coarse grind, and aim for a total brew time between the 2:45 to 3:00 mark.

Ratios

In choosing a brew ratio, we recommend starting at 1 : 15 for the most balance in terms of flavor. A 1 : 14 ratio will produce what we like to call a “flavor bomb”. To keep the same total amount as in the recipe, dose up to 14g. The end result will be a stronger cup with more intense flavors.

Compared to the other 2 ratios, a 1 : 16 ratio will give more separation and nuance between flavors. To keep the same total amount for the recipe, dose down to 12.5g, or even 12g for a lighter cup.

Temperature

The water temperature here is at 95°C / 203°F to compensate for the Blue Bottle Dripper’s construction of thick ceramic. More pre-heating or a higher water temperature is needed to keep the temperature throughout the brew as well-regulated as possible. This helps in bringing out a fuller taste in the final cup.

Pouring Pattern

After pre-heating and rinsing the paper filter, pour 50ml and let the coffee bloom for 30 seconds. Stirring / spinning the brew bed is optional. Compared to a cone dripper (like the V60) it’s much easier to hit all the coffee with a flat-bottom dripper.

Read more about how the bloom affects your coffee’s flavor.

Do the next 100ml pour (target at 150ml) at 30 seconds and stop by 50 seconds. Pour at the center and then go outward in 4 circles. Go back inward with another 4 circles and try to finish at the center.

At the 1:20 mark, pour the remaining 50ml (target at 200ml) and let the coffee drain. Everything should fully drain around the 2:30 to 2:50 mark.

What You’ll Need

• Coffee scale
• Timer
• Gooseneck kettle
• Thermometer
• Filtered water
• Blue Bottle Dripper
• Kalita Wave Filters
• Good coffee

Read More: What is Pour Over Coffee? Everything You Need to Know

Understanding the Blue Bottle Dripper

Relative to other flat-bottom drippers, the Blue Bottle Dripper has a fast flow rate. Brewing-wise, this gives more flexibility on how your pouring can be structured.

Instead of only the long and slow pour that other flat bottom drippers are limited to, this dripper gives the added flexibility of dividing the pour without compromising grind size by going coarser.

There is only 1 available size for the Blue Bottle Dripper and it only comes in ceramic. Again, since it’s made from thick ceramic, it will need a bit more pre-heating or a higher temperature to better regulate the heat from the brew and get it to taste the best it can.

Is the Blue Bottle Dripper Better than the Kalita Wave?

As mentioned earlier, we’ve found the Blue Bottle Dripper to outperform other flat-bottom drippers. Particularly, the Origami (using a wave filter) and the stainless steel Kalita Wave.

Compared to the Origami, our brews the Blue Bottle have been more consistent. Both drippers feature a similar strength and mouthfeel. But the Blue Bottle Dripper is less likely to over-extract due to choking. This is because wave filters fit too well into the Origami that it can clog up the brew.

Against the Kalita Wave, we’ve noticed better complexity. Brews with the Kalita Wave can sometimes be heavy and less complex because of its slow flow rate. With the Blue Bottle, we’ve consistently had sweet and complex brews that still have good balance.

We’ll continue to test the Blue Bottle against other drippers (both cone and flat-bottom). But for the time being, we’re quite satisfied with how it performs and is easily becoming one of our preferred drippers to use for pour overs.

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