What is the UFO dripper? I guess they called it UFO because it looks like a 🛸, allowing you to brew your coffee beyond earth, giving it an unreal flavor like brewing in space.
Who is behind this new, crazy dripper? A good friend of mine co-founders of UFO Brewer, Jay Kim, 1st place at the U.S. Coffee Championships Prelims 2024, and Kenzie Chay, the 3D printing designer and coffee lover!
Originally, this dripper was designed to be used with the Sibarist Fast Flat Filters, but it turned out to be a dripper where you can brew coffee with a larger surface area. According to Kenzie, the 80° angle is to reduce bed depth variability and make the coffee spread out more for even extraction. Personally, I think this brewer gave me a high-extraction cup of coffee. When I talked to Jay, he told me that the UFO is quite the hybrid brewer, where you get dedicated acidity from conical characteristics and sweetness from the larger surface.
The UFO V1 was made from a filament called colorFabb_HT, based on Eastman Chemical’s Tritan, which is the same plastic used in the Aeropress Clear and Cafec Flower brewers. Of course, it is FDA food grade, ensuring you can brew with high temperatures safely. The UFO V1 has been recognized at coffee professional events such as the Brewers Cup Champion and used by Wataru Iidaka from Saza Coffee in Japan to win 2nd place at the World Brewers Cup 2024 and John Dixon, owner of Mad Black Coffee and fellow barista at Black and White, on his first US National Brewers Cup Champion 2024.
However, the UFO V2 is injection molded, no longer 3D printed, but still using Tritan, the same material as the V1. Its construction is now a single piece, making it nicer and easier to carry around and brew.
After brewing Brazil Fazenda do Juquinha, Ethiopia Natural Biru Bekele, and Billy Maemon from Newbery Street Coffee Roasters, I found that this dripper tends to bring extraction percentages to 21-23%, giving a lot of complexity to the coffee flavor. The body becomes more silky and creamy with the UFO V2, and I achieved this result with only three pours.
Here is how I brewed:
Coffee 15g (CMD #20)
Water 92’CÂ
| 0:00Â | 60g | Slow circle pour |
| 0:40 | 150g | Slow circle pour |
| 1:20 | 240g | Pour water very high and hard from the dripper |
Total brew time is about ~2:30 - 2:50
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**This is more advanced one, I tried it with more fermented coffee and it came out with a super high performance
Here is how I brewed:
Coffee 15g (CMD #21)
Water 92’C / 82’C
| 0:00Â | 60g | Temp. 92'C | Slow circle pour |
| 0:50 | 150g | Temp. 92'C | Slow circle pour |
| 1:30 | 240g | Temp. 82'C | Pour water very high and hard from the dripper |
Total brew time is about ~2:30
With the overall experience with this dripper, the two inventors do a great job inventing something new, something that out of comfort zone from other brewers in the market. I believe there are so much coming from their invention.
