Last summer, a new manual coffee brewer started appearing in cafes alongside the press-pot and Chemex. The Clever Coffee Dripper was designed and produced by the Taiwanese company Absolutely Best Idea Development, or Abid for short.

At first glance, the Clever Coffee Dripper (which is often just called the Abid) doesn't look that different from other pour-over drip brewers. The clear plastic body is shaped like an upside-down cone, designed to fit a regular (No. 4) coffee filter. There's a large handle on the side, and it can be set flat on a surface or secured on top of a mug or thermos. What's so clever about this brewer is that it has a valve on the bottom, so liquid only flows out when you either press up on the valve, or set the brewer on top of a cup.

This means that it's possible to control the extraction time (like a press-pot) and get a sediment-free cup of coffee (like other manual filter cones and the Chemex).

The Clever Coffee Dripper's main limitation is its size. It can make only 10 to 12 ounces of coffee at a time, so it's ideal as a made-to-order option in a cafe, or for the home brewer who wants to make only one large or two small cups at a time.

Rich Westerfield, co-owner of Aldo in Mt. Lebanon, is both selling the brewer for home use ($16) and offering it as one of the brew-options in the cafe. He describes it as "the most accessible, democratic and affordable brewer we've ever found."

Chinatown Coffee, a specialty cafe in Washington, D.C., has been using the Clever Coffee Dripper since the cafe opened last August. Alex Mason, the general manager, liked it immediately. "These [brewers] allow both the flavor and the body to come out while keeping the cup very, very clean as compared to a French press," he said.

Chinatown Coffee has a brew bar just next to the cashier, and Mr. Mason has noticed that almost every time he's making coffee on the Clever Coffee Dripper, the next customer in line will ask about it, and will often order it. Customer reaction has been extremely positive, he said.

Ironically, the cafe that deserves at least some of the credit for bringing the brewer to North America isn't so hot on it anymore. Cafe Myriade in Montreal got its first Clever Coffee Dripper in August 2008.

Scott Rao, one of the owners and author of "The Professional Barista's Handbook," liked the idea, but had complaints about the design. "It loses too much heat during brewing, even if you put a lid on top," he said, and "the outlet area at the bottom is a little smaller than ideal for a fast brew."

In Mr. Rao's experience, the "drawdown time" -- the time that it takes the water to pour out of the brewer into a cup -- is too long, and that this problem only gets worse if a home brewer is using a grinder that creates a lot of fines ("coffee bean cell wall fragments created by grinding").

"The fines migrate to the filter and can slow the drawdown too much," he said. "Almost all users compensate by using too coarse of a grind, and the result is under-extracted coffee." He is working on manufacturing his own single-cup brewer that he believes will resolve these design issues.

Some coffee experts are less concerned about the "fines" issue. Sweet Maria, a respected online seller of green beans, home roasting and brewing equipment, sells a licensed version of the brewer (as well as dozens of other kinds) and is responsible for its sudden accessibility in the United States. The site states, "This method doesn't require an expensive grinder, since paper filters compensate for the fines produced by whirling-blade type grinders."

Some of these disagreements may have to do with different techniques for using the brewer.

At Chinatown Coffee, they use 22 grams to 11.5 ounces of water. First they pour 2 ounces of water into the grounds to let it bloom -- the coffee will bubble up as it releases heavy gasses. After 30 seconds the rest of the water is poured in and let to sit for 2 minutes, then the brewer is placed on a cup for a 1 minute drawdown, after which the brewer is removed.

Mr. Rao's version involves a slightly lower dose of coffee, a shorter extraction time and a lot more stirring. "We churn the slurry with a spoon while we slowly pour the water in, to ensure any dry clumps of grounds get broken up and wetted. Then after 1 minute we give the slurry a brief back-and-forth swish with a spoon, set the Abid on the cup, and perform another swishing motion."

The stirring should ensure that no coffee sticks to the sides of the filter. Mr. Rao emphasized, "The shape of the used coffee bed after all the liquid drains should be flat or mildly domed." Achieving this might take some practice.

Meanwhile, the Sweet Maria Web site recommends covering the brewer with a plate to keep heat in during a longer brewing time of 3 minutes, stirring after a minute and a half to fully mix the grounds and water. They suggest a drawdown time of about a minute and a half.

Of course, what really matters is the taste of the finished cup, and here, too, there is plenty of room for disagreement. Fortunately, the home coffee brewer need not take a position. Try a few variations and you'll quickly come up with one that works for you.

Basic Brewing on the Clever Coffee Dripper:

1. Put a filter in the brewer. Fill three-fourths of the way with boiling water and then drain into the sink to get rid of the paper taste.

2. Bring 350 ml (12 ounces) of water to a boil. When water is almost boiling, grind 22 grams (two scoops) of fresh coffee to a slightly finer grind than you'd use for press-pot coffee.

3. With the brewer on the counter, pour the ground coffee into the filter. Take water off the boil for about 30 seconds (you want it to be a little more than 200 degrees when it hits the coffee), and evenly pour the water over the coffee. Do your best to evenly saturate the grounds as you pour. Gently stir the slurry with a chopstick or small spoon. Let sit, covered with a plate, for one minute and 30 seconds to two minutes, depending on the size of your grind (finer coffee needs less extraction time).

4. Place the brewer on the desired cup and let the coffee flow for one minute and 30 seconds, then remove the brewer.

5. After disposing of the filter and coffee, thoroughly rinse the brewer with hot water.

First Published: January 21, 2010, 10:00 a.m.