The Best Pour-Over Coffee Maker In 2024 (Not Just For Pros) (2024)

The best pour-over coffee maker for this year is among the following: Kalita Wave, Chemex or Hario V60.

Pour over coffee has a reputation for being challenging to master, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Depending on the brewer you choose, just a little skill and know-how will earn you a cup of joe that tastes beyond amazing.

I’ve tested all the most popular drippers to put together this list of the best pour over coffee makers available right now – plus a handy guide to help you choose between them. Whether you’re a skilled barista or a manual coffee novice, one is sure to meet your needs.

What Is The Best Pour-Over Coffee Maker of 2024?

image	product	details
Best Overall Best Overall	The Kalita Wave	Ceramic, glass, stainless steel, copper 2, 4 cup sizes Kalita filters	CHECK PRICE
Industry Favorite Industry Favorite	The Hario V60	Ceramic, glass, plastic, stainless steel, copper 1, 2, 4, and 6 cup sizes Hario filters	CHECK PRICE
Best For Beginners Best For Beginners	Bee House Ceramic Dripper	Ceramic 2, 4 cup sizes #1, #2, #4 filters	CHECK PRICE
Most Beautiful Most Beautiful	Chemex Coffee Maker	Glass/wood 3, 6, 8, 10 cup sizes Chemex filters	CHECK PRICE
Most Versatile Most Versatile	Clever Dripper Coffee Maker	Plastic 2, 4 cup sizes #2, #4 filters	CHECK PRICE
Budget Pick Budget Pick	Melitta Pour Over	Plastic 1 cup size #2 filter	CHECK PRICE

It seems there’s a new pour-over dripper released every week as they gain popularity and traction in and outside of the coffee shop (1). I chose the following six because they performed best in my tests, delivering not just quality coffee but an enjoyable user experience.

I love the Kalita Wave for its balance between user-friendliness and coffee quality, which is why it’s my top pick here and holds a place on my list of the overall best coffee makers. The Wave still benefits from a precise recipe and skilled pour, but it won’t punish every small error like some of the less forgiving drippers.

The Kalita Wave was designed in response to the market demand for a pour over method that was uncomplicated, efficient, and addressed some of the extraction issues present in conical designs (2). With a flat bottom and three small holes to control water flow, achieving an even extraction is less dependent on the rate and steadiness of your pour – something I appreciate first thing in the morning.

It’s still important to use the correct grind size, water temperature, and coffee-to-water ratio, but these variables are easier to control. The coffee I brewed with the Kalita Wave was consistently rich and flavorful, while still delivering the clean and complex cup I expect from a pour over device.

The only downside to the Kalita Wave is that the special flat-bottom wave filters are a little pricier than standard conical filters and not always available in grocery stores.

The conical Hario V60 is iconic, used in specialty coffee shops around the world. These Japanese-made pour over coffee brewers are of the highest quality, particularly the glass and ceramic versions. Though I am equally fond of the plastic model for its low price and portability.

The V60 requires a meticulous pour over coffee routine, complete with a scale, timer, and gooseneck kettle. This brewer doesn’t do you any favors, but that’s part of the appeal. The quality of coffee you’ll enjoy is limited only by your skills, which are essentially limitless as long as you’re willing to practice.

I loved the process of dialing in my recipe and bloom, perfecting my pouring technique, and tasting the improvements in my morning brew. It’s incredibly satisfying – and delicious. My coffee brewed with the V60 was vibrant and nuanced, with a medium body and clean mouthfeel. This is always the dripper I pull out when I’ve spent way too much money on specialty coffee beans.

This is not the coffee maker for you if you want to slap some grounds in a filter, add hot water, and turn your attention to making breakfast. But if the craft of manual coffee interests you, there is no substitute for the legendary Hario V60.
Read my full Hario V60 review here.

The Chemex Classic, famously invented by chemist Peter Schlumbohm, is the only pour over dripper on my list to be in the permanent design collection at the Museum of Modern Art (3). With its smooth glass curves, wooden collar, and leather tie, it might be the world’s most recognizable coffee maker.

But make no mistake. This isn’t just a piece of art for your countertop; it’s a fantastic brewer that makes a unique style of coffee. “Chemex coffee,” as it’s called by those in the know, is smooth and clean but with a notable intensity of flavor – a consequence of the ultra-thick Chemex filters.

While pour over coffee is often associated with lighter roast single origins, I actually love my Chemex for brewing darker roasts. It yields a coffee with tons of flavor and none of the bitterness that can ruin a poorly extracted dark roast.

The other noteworthy thing about the Chemex coffee maker is its large capacity. It’s the only brewer on my list that can brew a full carafe of coffee – up to 50 ounces if you choose the 10-cup size – making it the best option for serving a crowd.

Read my full Chemex review here.

Related comparison: The Chemex vs the Aeropress

The Bee House ceramic coffee dripper is another Japanese import with a lot to offer, including a user-friendly design that I often recommend to newer pour-over fans. It’s not foolproof, but it’s incredibly forgiving – a combination I love because it gives you the flexibility to improve your skills without making you suffer terrible coffee along the way.

It’s wedge-shaped with vertical ridges along the lower half of the dripper only and two small holes in the flat bottom. Like the Kalita Wave, the flat-bottom design ensures a consistent flow rate through the coffee bed, taking the pressure off your pouring technique.

I enjoyed reliably evenly extracted and great-tasting coffee when testing the Bee House, even when I intentionally let my technique slide, used pre-ground beans, or ignored my timer.

A small but crucial feature I appreciate in this dripper is the two small viewing windows at its base. You can see the coffee dripping into your mug, eliminating the possibility of an overflow. I have dirtied many a countertop because the Wave and V60 lack this often-overlook design point.

The Beehouse Dripper is only available in ceramic, which is hardly a criticism. I love a ceramic dripper. As long as you preheat it with boiling water, the heat retention is excellent. But a plastic option is always nice for travel and durability.

Learn how to brew with the Bee House Dripper with Steven from HomeGrounds in this fun video:

Read my review of the Bee House Dripper here.

In some respects, the Clever Coffee Dripper is even easier to use than the Bee House, making it another great pick for beginners. But in my opinion, its real selling point is that it’s actually two brewers in one. Talk about versatility!

The clever innovation that gives this dripper its name is a valve at the base that only opens when it’s set on a mug.

Brew with the valve closed, and the ground coffee steeps in hot water throughout the extraction time – a foolproof hands-off recipe for a rich immersion brew. Just set it on the mug to release the coffee when the steeping time is up (4).

Alternatively, set the Clever dripper on a mug or carafe before you brew to open the valve. Then it performs as any traditional cone-shaped pour over, like the Hario. This method requires more care and attention and yields a cup with more complexity and a lighter body.

I didn’t think either brewing method was better than the other. There’s a time and place for both, and that’s why I love the Clever Dripper. It saves me from buying two separate brewers.

Note that the Hario Switch works very similarly and is a great option if you prefer a glass dripper to plastic. But it is notably more expensive, so the Clever gets my vote.

Read my full Clever Dripper review here, and watch Steven from Home Grounds demonstrate how to use it in this video brew guide:

One thing I love about pour over coffee is that barista skills trump an expensive coffee maker. The same certainly cannot be said for espresso or even automatic drip coffee.

The Melitta Ready Set Joe is nothing more than a plastic cone with a few ridges and a hole in the bottom. It costs less than $10. But with good beans, the right recipe, and a skilled hand, you can make coffee shop-quality coffee (5).

That said, the Melitta is not going to help you along the way. There are no special features to get excited about. I probably wouldn’t recommend it as your go-to daily pour over cone unless you’re really counting pennies, but it gets the job done.

I think it’s a great budget-friendly option for camping or travel. Or keep one stocked in the cupboard if you only occasionally crave a pour over – or need something to brew that rare cup of decaf.

How I Tested These Pour-Over Coffee Makers

Testing pour-over brewers is not as simple as testing a drip machine or French press. Each one has a unique character and recipe. So I tested every dripper the only way I knew how, by spending weeks brewing coffee with it until I felt confident I understood its quirks and charms.

During this time, I brewed with all roast levels of coffee, both blends and single origins. I even tried pre-ground coffee to see how the drippers would fare in a situation without a grinder. While I got to know each dripper, I didn’t focus on coffee quality. Instead, I considered how long it took me to feel confident with each brewer and how easily I could reproduce a great cup.

It wasn’t until I was sure I had mastered the best recipe and technique for each brewer that I evaluated its coffee flavor. For this, I brewed the same coffee (Volcanica’s medium-light roast Ethiopian Yirgacheffe) with every coffee maker, using the same burr grinder (the Wilfa Uniform) and gooseneck kettle.

I tested total dissolved solids in each case to get a quantitative measure of coffee extraction and then recruited three friends – two longtime coffee industry professionals and a novice – to help with taste testing.

Finally, I reached out to our network of home testers, many of whom have been using this gear for years (some, decades!) for their thoughts on longevity, durability, and portability.

Discover More Pour Over Brewers

I couldn’t have made the list above without testing a lot of other pour-over brewers, many of which are excellent for specific use cases.

Here are more manual drippers I’ve reviewed:

• Cuppamokka
• Origami Dripper
• Hario Woodneck
• Goat Story Gina
• Hario W60
• Hario Switch

How To Choose The Best Pour Over Dripper

Are you new to pour-over brewing? I recommend starting with the Home Grounds beginner’s guide to pour over coffee and learning what pour over coffee is. Once you have that knowledge base, you’ll have a better understanding of my advice to help you find the best dripper for your coffee preferences.

Watch Steven from Home Grounds review the top 5 picks:

Do You Value Convenience Or Control?

This is a question worth asking when buying any kind of coffee maker because one nearly always comes at the expense of the other.

The pour over brewers that are easier to use typically take some aspect of the brewing process out of your hands – often the pouring technique. For example, the Kalita Wave, Beehouse Coffee Dripper, and Clever Dripper are all designed to restrict water flow to this end.

That means less room for error and more consistent coffee. But it also limits how good your coffee can be because you can’t improve your brew by getting better at pouring. Is that a trade-off you’re willing to make?

Remember that even with pouring out of the equation, manual coffee-making still gives you plenty of variables to toy with. There’s brew timing, water temperature, grind size, and coffee-to-water ratio. So plan on putting in some practice runs no matter what.

Dripper Material Matters More Than You Think!

Plastic, ceramic, glass, metal – choosing a dripper material isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s actually about thermodynamics!

Don’t worry, I won’t get too bogged down in the science. Suffice it to say that different materials handle heat differently. This affects how stable they hold the water temperature during brewing and, in turn, the flavor of your cup (6).

Lighter materials have a lower thermal mass, so they absorb less heat from the brew water. Likewise, insulating materials help keep the heat in the brewing cone. So for optimal heat retention, you want something lightweight and insulating, like plastic.

If you’re not a fan of making pour-over coffee in plastic, don’t despair. Heat retention issues can be solved by rinsing your glass, metal, or ceramic brewer with boiling water to pre-heat it before brewing – a good practice to remove any papery taste from your filter anyway.

Do you plan to travel with your coffee maker?

If portability is important, you need something small, lightweight, and durable. Plastic or metal drippers are great options. Ideally, your travel brewer can also brew a tasty cup even if you’re away from all your special coffee tools.

How Much Coffee Do You Want To Brew?

Most pour-over drippers are designed to brew one to four cups, and many come in a smaller size for one or two cups. In my experience, “cup” is a bit of a nebulous term in the coffee industry, so look carefully at the actual water volume each cone can hold. If your normal amount of coffee in the morning is a 16-ounce travel mug, you’ll probably want at least a 4-cup dripper.

If you want to make a lot of coffee, your choice is easy. Go with the Chemex, the only pick on this list that can brew up to 50 ounces at a time.

What’s Your Budget?

Pour over coffee makers are wonderfully affordable, but it’s always worth setting a budget before shopping for anything – a lesson I have learned time and again. The most expensive pick on this list is a special copper version of the V60, which comes in at around $70, but that’s an outlier. Most of these brewers are well under $30.

Because they are so affordable, many pour over coffee fans have more than one dripper. You could probably buy one of everything on this list for less than the cost of a good-quality drip machine. So consider budgeting for a few if no one model meets all your needs.

The Importance Of Accessories

Pour over drippers are cheap. Unfortunately, the cost of the rest of the gear you need to make great pour-over coffee can add up. Prepare to budget for some or all of these accessories if you don’t already own them:

• A good burr grinder is always the most important purchase, regardless of brew method. Consistent coffee grounds are critical to make this work, so invest in a decent manual or electric coffee grinder for pour over.
• A gooseneck kettle is required for most brewers but not all. Many stovetop models are very affordable, but you’ll need to shell out a bit more for a fancy variable-temperature electric kettle.
• I like to do my manual brewing right on a coffee scale. Weighing grams of coffee and grams of water is more accurate and consistent than brewing by volume. Plus, the best coffee scales have a handy timer built in!
• Some less crucial but still nice to have accessories include a thermal or glass carafe, high-quality glassware, and a pour over stand.

A Final Note On Filters

Your choice of coffee filter is one of the most important factors dictating the flavor, body, and mouthfeel of your coffee (7). Chemex coffee, famously, is a direct result of the proprietary extra-thick double-bonded filters.

Every coffee maker has a designated filter type recommended by the brand, which is a great starting point. But there’s nothing wrong with experimenting with alternative filters – as long as you get the right shape.

Paper filters produce a cleaner cup with a lighter body because they absorb the coffee oils during brewing. Paper-filtered coffee tends to be smooth and subtle. In contrast, metal mesh filters let the oils through, yielding a full-bodied cup with a richer mouthfeel. Cloth filters fall somewhere in the middle.

Along with flavor, consider costs, maintenance, and waste when choosing filters.

Paper filters are easy to clean up, but they generate the most waste and you’ll need to keep buying them. Cloth filters are relatively affordable and longer-lasting, but they have special maintenance needs. Metal filters cost the most upfront and add an extra cleaning step, but they last forever, which is good for the environment and your bank account.

The Verdict

Which pour-over coffee maker should you choose to help you start your day? I’d happily recommend all of the above. But if you can only buy one, pick the stainless steel Kalita Wave 185 dripper.

The Kalita Wave dripper is so user-friendly that even a beginner can produce consistently great coffee, but it still offers enough control to appeal to coffee experts. The stainless steel version is super durable and lightweight, making this brewer equally suited to the home kitchen or life on the road. And the larger 185 size gives you the flexibility to brew a single serving or up to four cups.

All that and an affordable price tag puts the Kalita Wave at the top of my list.