Recently, a bottle of hot sauce fell out of our cupboard and smashed my Hario coffee decanter. For the past year or so, I’ve been using it with a Kalita Wave dripperfor making pour over coffee. The Hario decanter was a replacement for the old Manual decanter I used from the set I bought off a friend for $20 when he moved. At some point I got into the habit of using a decanter instead of brewing directly into a mug when I got one of those Zebra vacuum insulated bottles with a really narrow mouth opening that makes balancing a big ceramic dripper kinda sketchy.

Using a decanter is pretty nice because they’re stable, easy to rinse out, and they give you a chance to swirl the coffee around a bit as you pour it into your mug, which is supposed to be good. It’s probably like when people swirl wine and pucker their nose a bit to look fancy, but I suppose it can’t really hurt.

Anyways, after my cat pushy pawed the Manual decanter off the counter, and the Hario was taken out by Cholula, I decided to spring for the Fellow Stagg X pourover set. I’d had my eye on it for a while, and I really like Fellow’s other stuff (I have and like their kettle and Carter mug), but I already had a couple pour over rigs, and I was under the impression that the Fellow stuff had a proprietary filter could only buy from them, probably on some sort of subscription crap. So, I happily used the Kalita (which I find easier to use than the V60) for years.

Now, the Kalita Wave is a proprietary filter, and being Japanese, they’re not cheap. But, I liked the coffee it made, and they sold the filters at my local roaster, so I didn’t think much about it. Recently, though, I was at Prince Coffee down the street and they sell all the Fellow gear in their little shop section. I noticed that the filters for the pour over set looked a lot like the Kalita ones, but were a lot cheaper. Like, $8 instead of $14. I asked the guy if they worked with the Kalita dripper and he said totally. In fact, that’s what he does himself at home. I bought them and was pleasantly surprised that they worked well for much less.

photo of the stagg x coffee set

So, when I needed yet another decanter, I decided to just go for the whole kit. A few things intrigued me:

  • it was made to be the perfect size for a single 12oz cup of coffee
  • the decanter is double walled glass
  • the dripper is double walled metal with a silicone ring where it rests on the glass
  • it is flat bottom like the Kalita instead of conical like V60
  • it comes with a metal cup to both measure grounds in and place the dripper in after the brewing to catch the remaining drips
  • it comes with a little metal funnel to make it less messy when pouring the grounds into the narrow (compared to the wide Kalita dripper) filter

I’m also just a sucker for gear, so I convinced myself to the get the whole thing when all I needed was another decanter.

Sometimes, though, that gear lust pays off, and this was definitely one of those times. This thing rules. Since it’s all one cohesive kit, there are lots of thoughtful design choices that make the admittedly slightly ridiculous pour over ritual smoother and more enjoyable. Like, the little funnel really does help keep things neater, as does the drip cup, preventing a messy counter to clean up after. The double walled dripper and decanter hold the heat of the water much better than the ceramic and single walled glass I was using before. The silicone ring means much less chance of damaging the glass with the metal dripper, and it forms a bit of a seal while it’s brewing.

Most importantly, of course, is that the coffee it makes is great.

I’m able to make the perfect amount every time, and have it taste better than I was able to with the Kalita. I think there’s something to the narrower, taller dripper dimensions that help with the process. Cleanup is easy, the filters are cheaper, and it Just Works™.

Highly recommended!