Pour-Over Drippers

Owners love how versatile this dripper is, taking both V60 cone and Kalita wave flat-bottom filters in one gorgeous device, with fast drawdown and little clogging thanks to the wide-open base. It tends to pull cleaner, sweeter, more floral cups and becomes a daily favorite for many. The main knocks: the ceramic is fragile and cracks if dropped, it costs noticeably more than a V60 for what some feel is a similar cup, and your results lean heavily on which filter you pair with it.

Most owners love how forgiving and consistent the Kalita Wave 185 is, calling it nearly idiot-proof for everyday brewing. The recurring gripe is stalling and clogging, where water pools and the last bit of the brew drains painfully slowly, and the stainless steel version in particular is called out for slow flow. A few people also find the proprietary wave filters pricey and hard to track down, and some say the cup comes out flatter and more muted than a V60 or Chemex.

Owners who stick with the December Dripper love how the adjustable flow makes one brewer handle everything from a single cup to a liter, and many say it has outright replaced their Kalita Wave. But it carries a real learning curve, and a meaningful group wrestles with leaking gaskets, clogging, and slow drawdown that leave some to abandon it on the shelf. Whether it earns its spot largely depends on how much you enjoy tinkering to dial it in.