The Etkin Dripper Offers a Flat-Bottomed Route for Bigger Manual BrewsDaily Coffee News by Roast Magazine

A new manual brewer called the Etkin Dripper has been flowing through Kickstarter with a distinct focus on larger, multi-cup batches of coffee.

Unveiled during last month’s Specialty Coffee Expo in New Orleans, the Etkin Dripper was designed by certified SCA trainer and coffee industry journalist Michael Butterworth.

The dripper is expected to be the first product from Butterworth’s recently formed company Etkin Design, based jointly in Turkey and Louisville, Kentucky. Partners in the new venture include Özgür Jerdan, an English language consultant to corporations in Turkey, and digital marketing specialist Aaron Oneal.

Butterworth, who is co-founder of the blog The Coffee Compass, conceptualized the Etkin Dripper amidst 2020’s pandemic-related shutdowns, when he found existing solutions for family-sized manually brewed coffee to be insufficient.

Etkin Design Partner Michael Butterworth with the Etkin Dripper.

Departing from the conical filter formats of other larger-volume manual brewers — which Butterworth said can lead to excessive clogging and bitterness — the Etkin features a flat and ribbed bottom designed to produce an even extraction and promote sweetness in the finished cup.

“We recommend anywhere from 500 milliliters to 1 liter [of water], to keep the brew bed depth in that 2.5- to 5-centimeter window the SCA recommends,” Butterworth told DCN. “I find myself doing a lot of 45:750 batches, as it’s the perfect amount of coffee for my wife and me.”

The dual-walled cylindrical design features indents on the sides for easy handling, and the porcelain brewer accommodates any flat bottom filter for larger 8-12-cup home brewers.

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“Right now we’re working exclusively with Turkish porcelain because we’re in love with the quality and beauty,” said Butterworth. “We’re also based in Turkey, so it feels good to work with local materials. As our product line grows, though, don’t be surprised if we start branching out.”

The first run of the dripper is being manufactured in Kütahya, Turkey. Etkin Design is also developing its own custom paper filters, matching porcelain mugs and a glass carafe.

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“We’re actively working on designing the carafe right now,” said Butterworth. “We’re hopeful the carafe will catch up to the dripper in production and that we’ll be able to put them on the same shipping container.”

Butterworth said that while global shipping remains unpredictable, Etkin Design is optimistic that its first container of finished drippers will arrive in the first quarter of 2022.