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Product Review: Sili-Dripper

October 8, 2014 By Michael Leave a Comment

Sili-Dripper

Happy Campers

Every caffeine-addicted nature enthusiast faces the same conundrum: how do I make coffee when I’m camping?  Inventor and entrepreneur Tim Johnson has the answer you Patagonia-clad coffee drinkers are looking for: the Sili-Dripper.

Full confession: even though I grew up on the Mogollon Rim in Northern Arizona, I’m not much of a camper. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the great outdoors as much as anyone. I just like to wake up in my own bed and immediately hop in a hot shower. That said, I have camped before and I was rather dissatisfied with the French press coffee we drank by the camp fire.  So when Tim sent me a Sili-Dripper, I was more than excited to put it to the test.

The Sili-dripper is a collapsable coffee dripper made from silicone. Weighing in at only 80 grams, the Sili-dripper is by far the lightest coffee brew method we’ve encountered. When collapsed, the dripper could easily fit into a pocket or snap into a carabiner. In short, if space is an issue, the Sili-dripper is your huckleberry.

Sili-dripper

Put to the Test

But how does the coffee taste? The problem with traveling with a pour-over device is the arsenal of brewing equipment that accompanies it. We certainly wouldn’t recommend using a Hario V60 without a good gooseneck kettle. Recognizing that camping with a gooseneck kettle is neither practical nor desirable, I wanted to see how the the Sili-Dripper would handle an aggressive pour from a simple pot.

Sili-DripperThe Sili-Dripper can use a variety of coffee filters, but a Melitta #1 seems to fit best. It’s not a perfect fit, however, and the OCD amongst us will likely be annoyed by the ways the filter bunches up in places.

Like a Kalita Wave, the Sili-Dripper has a flat bottom with several holes to control the flow rate. Knowing that I would not be able to control the pour, I ground the coffee a touch finer than I normally would to restrict the flow. I used my go-to recipe for a single cup of coffee: 20 grams of coffee and 300 ml. of water.

Sili-Dripper

I was pleased to discover the strategy worked. The brew took about 3 minutes, which is just about perfect for a 300 ml. brew. I was more than a little surprised to see how level the bed of coffee was after brewing. The result was a pleasant and enjoyable cup of coffee comparable to other pour over devices. I enjoyed this cup of coffee on my back porch- but I can only imagine how much better it would have tasted by a campfire.

Conclusion

Avid campers, jet-setting businessmen, or anyone who travels will love the Sili-Dripper. I doubt the device will replace my Hario V60 around the house, but the Sili-Dripper is by far the most practical pour-over device we’ve found for brewing coffee on the road.

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Filed Under: Coffee Product Reviews Tagged With: Sili-Dripper

About Michael

Michael Butterworth is an authorized instructor of the Specialty Coffee Association and the inventor of the Etkin Dripper.. He cofounded the Coffee Compass mostly as an excuse to visit more coffee shops. For consulting and training enquiries please visit butterworth.coffee.

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