Hario Woodneck: First Impressions

The Hario Woodneck drip brewer is of most intrigue due to it's simple elegance, reusable cloth filter, and ability to produce one of the most defined cups, yet truly exemplifies body without the loss of crispness (which is something that can be difficult to achieve). Jose and I have already had a fair share of Woodneck brews, but we were certain we needed one in possession. Out of the box it was fairly simplistic to get up and going. It provided a nifty Hario branded spoon for that oh so perfect volume measurement, and the device itself looking quite dashing with it's wooden accents (quite similar to that of a chemex). On the down side the glass seemed a bit flimsy, although maybe thats because we are so used to the hardy chemex build. The cloth filter slides around a ring attached to a wooden handle, and is then placed on top of the wood neck for brewing. We poured a solid liter of hot water through the brand new filter just for good measure and fear of a cloth-like tang.

The cloth filter really brings a lucid body out of the coffee, and preserves the sweet acidity that we simply crave. An interesting aspect of the Woodneck is the absence of any directly guiding support along the filter, it's essentially hanging from the metal ring. It's also quite a bit more narrow and long compared to your average dripper. This could be of assist because of a smaller surface area to assure an even extraction (perhaps anyway). It's interesting because a lot of the time when I order a Woodneck brew form a cafe, they pour directly down the center for the last hundred or so grams of water. They also fill the filter up just shy of the metal ring, which as far as I'm concerned is doing nothing but unevenly extracting, and under-extracting the pour coffee grounds stuck high and dry. I originally thought on behalf of the diminutive surface area of the slurry, and with account of it's length that it might be less significant to worry about these things.

Since then I've made my fair share of drips, and with solid coffee to begin with it's a difficult dripper to really screw up, but the cups I've made - according to the cafe's I've gone to - always turn out with something slightly unpleasant or less interesting. After the initial bloom, what I've found to really bring out those sweet and acidic notes is to then do two more slow continuous pours (fast enough to retain constant flow, but slow enough so that the drip rate is around 1/3 the rate of pouring). Once you hit your mark on the second pour, I like to give it a gentile one rotation swirl to assure uniformity while extracting. It generally should sit around two minutes and thirty seconds, which is a trusty was to assure your pouring speed is on time. Also for proper storage and reuse of the cloth filter, make sure it's slightly damp, seal it inside of a zip-lock bag, and then store it inside of the fridge or freezer. Then when you are ready to use it again, revive it with a dose of hot water. I've probably made a solid thirty+ cups and still rocking the same filter. So let us know if you have a faithful procedure for brewing one of these puppies, and I'll certainly give it a go.