My Daily Driver: April Dripper

Fun, consistent, and frustration-free - enter the April Dripper. Here are the reasons why the April Dripper is my daily driver!
April Dripper:
www.aprilcoffeeroasters.com/c...
April Dripper 2.0:
• Introducing the Plasti...
Brewing Varying Doses on the April:
• How to Brew Different ...
‪@coffeewithapril‬ KZbin channel
Instagram:
@thgbrian
/ thgbrian
Email:
[e-mail]
Amazon Affiliate Links // Equipment List - Help me buy random gear (you do not need to purchase the products linked!)
Timemore Black Mirror amzn.to/3KGnWEi
GDealer Scale: amzn.to/36X25Wn
Knockbox: Generic Knockbox amzn.to/33vGK8A
Cups: NotNeutral Vero + Lino amzn.to/39IcMBg
Airscape amzn.to/35bCtre
Coffee Gator Canister amzn.to/3aH44zy​​
Cafiza: amzn.to/2MAeauf​​
Thirdwave Water Espresso Profile: amzn.to/36S3TQM​​
BRIPE: amzn.to/3jtS9sZ​
Timestamps:
Why I love the April Dripper 0:00
Recipe goodness 2:15
How the coffee tastes + vs. V60 3:20
Brewing on the April 4:05
Adjustments + Other Considerations (Kalina filters/recipes etc) 10:00
Ending 11:35
Filming Equipment:
Sutefoto P80: amzn.to/3rATCSz
Sony A7C: amzn.to/3HFpxsC
Sony ZV-1: amzn.to/3okAZ3k
Movo WMX-1: amzn.to/2TDkCnK
Synco M3: amzn.to/3pDQyFs
Synco G2: amzn.to/319ga3E
#coffee #april #pourover

[@coffeewithapril]

Great video, thank you for sharing. We hope you will enter the April Brewers Cup one day!

[@BrianQuan]

Thank you! I would love to enter it in the near future 😀

[@10jsfvideo44]

Brian. Love your enthusiasm and ability to share your knowledge with such clarity.

[@user-jl3vm9me3g]

Thanks for the review! bought it based on your recommendation.

[@Abrikosmanden]

... But is it fun?

[@mariuszw2263]

Recently I really enjoy April's V60 recipe. 13 g/200 g, four 50 g (fast) pours every 30 seconds (at 0:00, 0:30, 1:00 and 1:30). With Cefec's light roast filters I set Timemore C2 to 26 clicks and C40 to 31-32 clicks (standard axle). Brew ends in ~3:15-3:40 with those T-92 filters. Resulting coffee is very clean and balanced with with a nicely highlighted acidity (especially with C40), which is a characteristic washed Kenyan and Ethiopian beans greatly benefit from.

[@danielwolman]

i really enjoy the chaos of your videos

[@coffeecove7058]

I've been brewing with the April using their recipes and really enjoy this brewer. it's become one of my favorites to use. I'm still experimenting with others and have some that I haven't tried yet. Its been very fun making coffee different ways and to get different notes from varying styles and recipes.

[@simkool77]

Nice video, you made it sound so good, I just bought a dripper plastic v2.

[@mahmoudabohamed3323]

Great! You are following the advices this time. Your channel is more free.. I think your content is way better recently. Great videos! I am concerned about filters also; glad you mentioned that. 👍 Thanks ^_^

[@KingMinosxxvi]

Always a breath of fresh air Brian. April will be coming around the mountain for some fun. Best Wishes.

[@IamMotionMedia]

After virtually exclusively using conicals (except origami+wave paper), the first flat bottom i tried just recently was the Orea v3. Im loving it, and am surprised with how much clarity and sweetness it extracts, while retaining really good aroma. Its really fast even with wave paper. This is exacerbated by my coarse grind recipes (1:15, 28-30clix on c40, 2:00-2:30min). i cant wait to try it with Orea’s and Sibarist flat paper

[@adamharber5590]

April should have paid you for this, it's a great advert for it!

[@hesterluu3479]

Your summary is perfectly on point, April filter is so easy to get 8/10 on all aspects while with V60, it's sometimes really frustrating to get a decent cup

[@LastAphelion]

Funny I have kind of the opposite problem, I've been dialed in with kalita 185s in 02 V60, delicate, good acidity, tea like but not astringent (whenever I test a cone filter again they always taste a mess and very unevenly extracted, sour w/astringent), but after getting an april I can't get get it dialed at all, they taste almost as uneven with sour and astringency. I keep wanting to go back to my og combo

[@omarpixel9176]

Just received my April Brewer (thanks to this video!) and made a quick brew with a relatively coarse grind using April's recipe and this technique. Total brew time of 1m:30s and it tasted quite good! I was very pleasantly surprised by the result. Excited to brew more cups with this.

[@BrianQuan]

Glad you're enjoying it! I love mine.

[@dangold2435]

I agree! I’ve been flattening Kalita filters in my April to minimize bypass and doing a 3 pour (50-150-200) when I want a bit of a higher extraction, and loving it… how much have you been adjusting the temperature? Sticking to 201-203 F for the most part? PS - love your videos! Thanks so much for putting them out into the world

[@pserafei]

The cover photo of this video 📸 is very nice

[@matthewescamilla123]

Oh my god you were so right about the April @Brian Quan. I've been using the ceramic version for the past 3 weeks and having so much fun experimenting with recipes. 17.5 grams coffee to 280 grams water (4 70 gram pours) 19 grams coffee 300 grams water (3 100 gram pours) 20 grams coffee 320 grams water (4 80 gram pours) and lastly, 13 grams coffee 200 grams water (4 50 gram pours). All with no bloom. I've been messing around with recipe ratios, making sure they're divisible by 3 or by 4 in terms of the grams of water, using the Patrik Rolf method of no bloom, fast pouring. It's been an absolute blast. Btw I only use light or medium-light roast beans. As of recent I've been brewing with the JBC Wilton Benitez experimental series(Orange Bourbon and Gesha). :)

[@sorta90]

My new favorite flat bottom combination is Torch Mountain + cut out tea strainer (done shape) + Cafec Abaca Trapezoid filters

[@unknownentity222]

It's a great dripper,. Hopefully it will become more affordable in the future.

[@donaldvirts6357]

I've also enjoyed this brewer but mine developed a crack after like two weeks of use. They even replaced it with another dripper and that also developed a crack. I'm hopeful that the 2.0 version will fix this issue.

[@kaheldan]

You can fix the stalling, or even get faster brews by putting a kalita wave filter on most cone filters!

[@SoImPlayer2]

This recipe reminds me of Lance Hedrick's KONO recipe. He does a 12g 200ml brew with 30,30,70,70 pours, coarse grind and very high flow rate/agitation. Only difference is that he suggests a much longer bloom period and obvi it's conical

[@TheSuspect28]

Great video. May I ask: with all the grinders you can choose from, why did you pick the p64? Do you always use it for your filters?

[@braxtonjens7839]

I don’t have an April dripper. But I’ve used this method on my Blue Bottle Dripper, as well as my modded SS kalittas. I’ve found this pouring structure is beneficial for all my flat bottom brewers.

[@BrianQuan]

I agree. I have been using this pouring structure on all of my flat bottoms but depending dripper I can get stalling due to how fast the water gets added! This happens on the stagg X for me for example

[@braxtonjens7839]

@@BrianQuan Yeah I can definitely see this happening with stagg X. I enjoy the staff x for longer brew times and get tasty stuff, and do this April style/method and get good stuff too. Back not that long ago pour over recipes we’re so odd and exact to weird grams and timings. Im glad people are correcting and trying to make things simple and straight forward. Ex:“Pour 47g @ 1:03”

[@lukesp5721]

Great video! But the one thing that is even more important than a dripper or grinder.... The water. Just wondering what kind of water your using for pourover?

[@johnwilliamson9453]

I have no problem with under extraction with my Clever!

[@Julumon.]

April Filters actually have a slower flowrate then the Kalita filters.

[@Scotttarlow]

This is basically how i brew with my torch mountain - except i use finder grind sizes (less than 2 on fellow ode) and 20 grams coffee 300 grams water

[@Think890]

@brianquan on your grind size....how might what you used compares to the Comandante?

[@khungreen9773]

What is your current setup for filter Brian?

[@adamthemute]

Have you tried the Orea V3? It drains quite fast, allowing me to grind finer. Seems like a similar concept to the April. It also seems to hit those balance markers of body/sweetness/acidity/clarity compared to other flat bottoms. Would love to try the April side-by-side though!

[@BrianQuan]

Mine is on the way!

[@adamthemute]

@@BrianQuan Looking forward to your feedback!

[@crispypappadums]

Loving the Orea V3, definitely my daily driver. Very consistent and more polyvalent for different recipes

[@adamthemute]

@@crispypappadums What recipe(s) are you enjoying?

[@crispypappadums]

@@adamthemute I love using it with the Melodrip and pulse pours. Also using no-bypass filters for extraction ++

[@720JC]

Have you tried the kalita filters on a Origami Dripper?

[@caffec]

I just got a Kalita Wave + Kalita 102 and noticed that even though there are 3 holes they usually only drip out of 1-2 holes which I find annoying and makes me like 1 hole brewers more. Definitely need to look into this brewer, kind of wish it had a handle though lol.

[@BrianQuan]

Sounds like this dripper is perfect for you then! I don't think this needs a handle as you can lift up on the bottom fins or the edges if you're afraid of it getting hot.

[@Btrl8thnNvr]

Can you do a v60 recipe?

[@jonathanfong3033]

Do you still work for Fellow? If so, kudos to fellow for letting you do stuff like this (like say the stagg x has problems)

[@TheDusty0ne]

Had the same thoughts. He really advocates another companies product and basically recommends it over the company he works for. But I am not complaining. Honesty is good for the viewer haha.

[@SmudgedScreen]

When is the Cuptimo review coming?

[@adamharber5590]

What about the plastic origami with Kalita filters?

[@cameronbatko]

What can you dose up to?

[@MrBPM75]

what's your setting on lagom p64 grind size?

[@Eirikkinserdal]

My ceramic april also clogs 😅

[@ThunderRunner]

I had been wanting to try the April brewer for a while and ordered it after seeing your positive experience with it. Quick question, I’m getting pretty substantial stalling, even at very coarse grind sizes with both ssp mp burrs and a stock fellow ode, have you experienced this? Any way around it? I’m using April coffee and their recommended recipe

[@BrianQuan]

Are you using the April filters? I found Kalitas can stall much more than the April filters.

[@ThunderRunner]

I am, really didn’t expect any stalling issues with the design, but I guess it happens. I’m still just over a 3 min brew time, but only 12g coffee to 200g water all poured over 1 min, so it seems odd. Setting was about a 4 on stock fellow ode and as coarse on the dial as I could go on a df64 with ssp mp’s

[@Julumon.]

@@ThunderRunner It depends heavily on the coffee you use. Got brews from 1:30 to 3:30 i find this brewer really inconsistent

[@alecfotsch3533]

What's the benefit of the fast center pour vs a fast circle pour?

[@braxtonjens7839]

How it’s worked for me, is that it lifts the grounds in the slurry and agitates the grinds. This often speeds up drawdown times making for faster - non stalled brews. (In conjunctions with the other aspects; coarse grind, only 2 pours, no stirs or swirls)

[@DoumStorm]

What's your thought on the Origami Dripper using flat bottom filters ?

[@seunghwanlee90]

I'm very curious with this too!

[@jaydenlee6943]

I also love using the April brewer with smaller doses, but the April recipe (100,100) just doesn’t work for me, it drains in less than two minutes even with finer grind size, maybe due to I did not use the April filter paper?

[@Julumon.]

Depends on the coffee you use! im between 1;40 and 3:30 all light-medium light roast

[@erbartlett]

I know it’s geared towards lighter roasts, but would it work for medium roasts?

[@BrianQuan]

I actually find the April recipe to work quite well for medium roasts as you'd want a more harmonious/blended brew for some mediums IMO

[@kangphingyuan8331]

In my experience When you using the April dripper with their April Brew Method, yes, the flow rate is very fast and consistent. But the strength (TDS) and extraction is noticeable lower than the brew I’m made from Orea or V60, about 0.20% TDS and almost 3% less extraction. (Using the same coffee and grind setting, measure using VST Lab 4th Gen refractometer) And i switch to my usual Flat Bottom dripper brew technique (used in Orea) to brew in the April Dripper, every single brew take more than 11min to finish the drawdown….and the Orea/V60 only take 3min 30sec to finish.(also the same grind setting&coffee) Do you have any experience like mine when using other brew technique to brew with the April Dripper?

[@sagivfer]

I asked myself what's the EY of this brew method, came to the comment section and saw your comment... Jonathan Gagne talks about agitation in his book and this is what I've understood from it. Let's take a scenario where the coffee passes through the coffee without any agitation - just a body of water through the coffee. In this scenario there will be some more extracted areas and some less, since water finds a less resistant channel. In this case we should mix the coffee in order to introduce more of the coffee to the water. In this brew method we agitate the coffee a lot in the early stage of the brew, but immediately after stop. The coffee settles down, channels start to form, and extraction diminishes from certain areas. In my experience, after reading the book, partitioning the brew into few pours is great for fully extracting the coffee. Each time the coffee settles and you mix it again and create the wanted agitation.

[@duckyou9668]

I've been getting 15-16% EY on april with april's technique but the outcoming cup is surprisingly balanced. My guess would be a lot of bypass happening. What orea technique did you use?

[@kangphingyuan8331]

@@duckyou9668 Balanced because of the low extraction? Maybe. The technique i used on the Orea is 15g Dose 255g water (1:17) 45g 45sec bloom > 150g > 205g> 255g Total brew time is around 3min30sec-4min I also used this method on V60 for brewing bigger dose (20g-30g) getting very similar result. (Bigger dose on V60 is more consistent & faster flow)

[@wei-chunlee7140]

James Hoffman actual have a video on dripper and he got quite high extraction on April brewer with April technique (the highest actually) among dippers like stagg and v60.

[@alephsk8739]

April looks for a 1.25-1.35 TDS and they don’t believe a +21% is tastier (at least for their coffee)

[@mikele7982]

The great thing about April brewer is its consistency and the wide range of flavour adjustment. Pair with a good grinder (I have a JX-Pro), to maximize flavour clarity and acidity, grind coarser; to have better body, grind finer. And you could taste the difference in several tries, not a dozen. Way easier than any cone-shape brewer or flat-bed one. My only concern is the ceramic one. I have the first version of April brewer, and it's cracked inside. It does not affect the coffee but I know someday it will crumble. :)

[@alephsk8739]

Which grind size do u usually use with the Jx pro?

[@benjaminkhosravi4063]

Wouldn’t a courser grind extract less?

[@tjt6966]

I assume the heavy pours means more agitation making up for a coarser grind... lots of ways to get there in the end.

[@BrianQuan]

Blue or Green April? Which one's your favorite 🤔

[@braxtonjens7839]

Anyone is the US that we can buy April dripper through? Or straight from April?

[@adamthemute]

@@braxtonjens7839 Eight Ounce Coffee in Canada has them, unsure about free shipping though.

[@BrianQuan]

@@braxtonjens7839 Kumquat Coffee in LA has them too! Local to me in the Bay Area, Lookout Coffee carries them.

[@olwethusilo7155]

Ceramic.

[@Jack-bw6yg]

what grind setting on c40?

[@mariuszw2263]

Based on my experience with April's V60 recipe I'd start with 30 clicks (standard axle) and adjust from there. For their V60 technique I was using 31-32 clicks for a couple of different beans and that gave me the best results.

[@ninetendopesaitama2107]

@@mariuszw2263 using 16 clicks for my v60 recipe. Coarser and the brew time is too fast. Using darker roasts 1:15 and it takes 2.30min to 3min.

[@MartiusGao]

2:57 I think you mean really fine grind size

[@BrianQuan]

Nope! You are using a coarse grind size with this dripper if you follow April's recipes.

[@MartiusGao]

@@BrianQuan I watched April recipes video. For 13g dose they use 26 click on C40 which is the typical C40 setting for V60 dripper too, I would call the grounds medium size. For 30g dose, April do use really coarse grounds. So to those who didn't watch April's orginal video, the "really coarse grind size" statement may cause misunderstanding.

[@darohuot3888]

@@BrianQuan what would the approximate setting be on an Ode w/ 1.1 burrs?

[@kencoleman5686]

But is it fun? :)