I need help.  I am thinking of adding a drip station but not sure which would be better.  I have read that the Clever is much easier to have repeated brew quality due to the stopper that controls the steeping time.  Is the technique for the pour over that hard to master that people looking for consistency is staying away from it?

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While I love the variability of pourover, it can be inconsistent. Consistency can be taught, but it's a challenge. I am comfortable with Chemex, Melitta, and hope to learn the intricacies of the Hario v60 soon. However, I have really come to like my Clever Coffee Dripper. It takes a lot of guess work out. Just develop a recipe: dosage, grind, water amount, and dwell time. Determine if you need to add stirring to the brew. It makes great iced coffee, as well! Some coffees respond differently, so you can adjust your brewing process, as needed. Another selling point for the Clever for me is its low cost as compared to the Chemex, for example. And it uses standard #4 filters, available virtually anywhere.
Paul Yates said:
While I love the variability of pourover, it can be inconsistent. Consistency can be taught, but it's a challenge. I am comfortable with Chemex, Melitta, and hope to learn the intricacies of the Hario v60 soon. However, I have really come to like my Clever Coffee Dripper. It takes a lot of guess work out. Just develop a recipe: dosage, grind, water amount, and dwell time. Determine if you need to add stirring to the brew. It makes great iced coffee, as well! Some coffees respond differently, so you can adjust your brewing process, as needed. Another selling point for the Clever for me is its low cost as compared to the Chemex, for example. And it uses standard #4 filters, available virtually anywhere.

I just had a discussion that lead to the same conclusion with a local cafe owner.

We currently have 4 v60s, and plan on using a dedicated barista to brew coffee. Now keep in mind our shop expects very little traffic ( < 30 cups a day), so our focus is on quality (not saying the Clevers don't deliver that) and making you feel like your coffee is hand made (so to speak).

I had thought this out for a long time, but what Paul says is very true, it is hard to keep consistency in a Hario, and ultimately we may find our selves swapping over to Clever. Even after training for a few hours each day on my Hario, I still occasionally get a sour cup because I mess up the pour. Imagine the odds of messing up a pour when your rushed!

I go live in November, I will be sure to let you know what happens.
Thanks for your inputs guys. I was having issues with it looking kinda kinky but if it can perform consistently, I think that's a more important goal than customer's 1st impression at the thing. I will give this a try.
I personally think the Clever makes a better cup.
Maybe I need to stop in at Paul's place some day, cause I've not yet made a cup with the Clever that was any better than a "meh". Getting ready to launch a drip bar at our cafe, and we've been playing with the different options. I really want the Clevers to work, cause it seems like they will integrate better with our barista workflow (not planning on adding a dedicated barista to operate the bar) but just not impressed with the results so far. I know Paul has good taste buds so am sure that brewing a great cup is possible, but at this point I haven't been able to do it. Gonna work more on it this week, do a little head-to-head work with the v60 and Beehouse. Will let you guys know what we come up with.
I have been having Clever at another cafe but eash time it is the same,,,the clever being too weak..almost no comarrison to the same coffees we make on our pour over bar.I'm sure it was just a grind issue, but how was the barista supposed to know? You will still need to train your barista. I prefer the control being in my hands. Isn't it our job to be the ones making it? Ensuring quality and showing passion..YES!!
Oh yeah! I just got v60s in. I previously used BeeHouse. I still use the BeeHouse at my market stand and they are so slow in comparison to the v60, the coffee can easily get hung up from the restriction of the 2 tiny holes, the v60 has proven to be a much smoother extraction
The good cups i get out of my V60 take me 3 minutes or so, and a lot of attention (i watch the timer, and the water level in the cone). I love the cup, but as I'm thinking about organising a pourover bar I have an awfully hard time conceiving of way to produce that cup four at a time, over and over again. That's why the clever makes sense... you can produce a cup that isn't the typical 90 second underextraced mess 95% of third wave shops serve in the name of by the cup brewing, and you can probably still keep drinks flowing.

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