The Best Pour-Over Coffee Makers of 2026

Written by Lindsay D. Mattison, Professional chef, recipe developer, and product tester with years of experience in home and restaurant kitchens.

Updated March 13, 2024

Ask 100 regular people about the best way to make a cup of coffee, and you’re likely to receive 100 different answers, but when you start asking the baristas who work in specialty coffee, you’ll hear one method come up again and again—the pour-over dripper. While most coffee drinkers are familiar with automatic drip coffee machines, you might prefer manual brewing methods like French Press or pour-over coffee makers (sometimes called coffee drippers) which can give you drastically more control over flavor.

A few years ago, I would have told you that I don’t have time for those types of coffee making, even if it improves the quality of my morning cup of joe. As it turns out, using a pour-over coffee brewer—like our top pick, the Hario V60 Coffee Dripper 02 Ceramic (available at Amazon for $29.00) —is surprisingly easy. So easy, in fact, we wrote a step-by-step guide to making pour-over coffee.

It’s not just about ease of use, either. Many coffee aficionados prefer pour-over coffee because it allows you to control every aspect of the brewing process, from the temperature of the water to the specific amount of chosen coffee grounds used per cup. Depending on how much time and attention you want to put into it, it’s possible to achieve brighter, bolder flavors by slowing down or speeding up the steeping time.

The only problem with pour-over drippers is that they can be confusing. Do you want glass, ceramic, plastic, or stainless steel? Should it fit over a coffee mug or is it better to spend more on a carafe-style, multi-cup pour over? What kind of gear do you need to make it all happen, and, in the end, does any of that actually affect the flavor? To help you decide, we found some of the best pour-over coffee makers for your daily cup.

Other Pour-Over Coffee Makers We Tested

OXO Pour-Over Coffee Maker with Water Tank

The OXO Pour-Over Coffee Maker with Water Tank is a great option for lightweight, on-the-go coffee brewing. Because it’s plastic, the OXO didn’t retain heat as well as the ceramic and glass models, but this model has a leg-up on the competition: a water tank that completely takes the guesswork out of monitoring the brewing speed.

This removable option lets you pour the hot water into the tank and it'll take care of slowly dripping over the grinds. I was skeptical at first because it took nearly twice as long to brew (which still only took about four minutes), but the coffee we brewed using the tank had significantly more depth than the one that quickly brewed without it. The slow brewing speed created a bold, thick brew that lacked any touches of bitterness. Couple that with an easy-to-clean design and a budget-friendly price tag and we had little to complain about!

Pros

• Lightweight, great for coffee on-the-go

• Slow brewing for complex coffee taste

• Easy-to-clean

Cons

• Low heat retention

• It takes longer time to brew

$19.97 from Home Depot

$19.97 from Amazon

$19.97 from Walmart

Kalita #185 Wave Glass Dripper

The Kalita #185 Wave Glass Dripper was definitely in the running for our favorite pour-over coffee maker. It’s smaller and more lightweight than the ceramic pour over models, but its glass construction helped it retain heat just as well.

It brewed a fantastically robust cup of coffee, and it fit perfectly over both our regular and to-go coffee mugs. If you’re not into the heftiness of the ceramic pour-overs or our winning model is out-of-stock, this pour over is an excellent choice. Although the Kalita has its own proprietary wavy filters to create a flat-bottom brewing experience, we didn't use them and still thought the coffee tasted fantastic!

Pros

• Small and lightweight

• Good heat retention

• Brews fantastically robust coffee

Cons

• Requires special filters

$20.61 from Amazon

Yitelle Stainless Steel Pour Over Coffee Cone Dripper

While I definitely don’t recommend using the Yitelle Stainless Steel Pour Over Coffee Cone Dripper without a filter, it brewed a great cup of coffee when we used one. Because the design features hundreds of tiny holes along the side, this pour over drained more quickly than most of the competition. As we saw with the Hario, that gives you the option to brew coffee at a variety of speeds controlled by how quickly you pour the water.

The brewer’s stainless steel design held the water’s heat quite efficiently during the brewing process, resulting in a more even brew. And while you technically don’t need to use a paper filter with the reusable metal basket, the coffee we brewed without it turned out murky and way too bitter. Adding the paper filter improved both the flavor and the texture of the brew, catching some of the oils as they released from the beans.

Pros

• Filters need to improve the flavor

• Stainless steel material

Cons

• Takes time to brew

$18.94 from Amazon

Melitta 1-Cup Pour-Over Coffee Brew Cone

If you’re looking for an inexpensive, no-frills coffee brewing method, the Melitta 1-Cup Pour-Over Coffee Brew Cone is the way to go. Its plastic frame is light and small, so it’s easy to store or take with you on-the-go. It is also the only pour-over coffee maker that fits an oversized coffee mug.

It wasn’t the best cup of coffee in the group, but it certainly wasn’t the worst, either.

Pros

• Inexpensive

• Small and compact

Cons

• Average brewing quality

$7.70 from Amazon

$7.53 from Walmart

What You Should Know About Pour-Over Coffee Makers

Pour-over coffee makers, automatic drip, French presses, and espresso machines; with so many options on the market today, how do you know which coffee maker is right for you? Ultimately, it comes down to a few factors: time, patience, and quality of the brew. While using an automatic drip coffee maker might seem like the quickest, easiest, and the most hands-off way to brew a cup of coffee, it will also never make the world's greatest product. The water gets way too hot, and there are too many factors you can't control. Once you get your gear in order, using the pour-over will seem just as easy as using the machine, and it tastes a thousand times better!

You’ll need a kettle, a coffee grinder with adjustable grind size, and a tiny bit of patience to bring it all together.

Once you’ve selected the best pour-over coffee dripper for you, you’ll also need some filters. Most of them work with the standard paper cone fare, although a few have proprietary filters. I’d recommend using a paper filter over the reusable filters. It might not be green, but the paper prevents the coffee from becoming murky and oily.

After filling the pour-over with ground coffee (we like 24 grams, or about 3 tablespoons, per cup), bring the water to the point just before it boils–200 to 205°F degrees. If you accidentally boil it, no worries; you can let it cool for a few minutes before pouring. Then, using your gooseneck kettle, slowly pour the hot water over the grounds, allowing most of the liquid to drain before adding additional water.

Depending on the flavors you want to bring out, your brew time could run anywhere from two to four minutes.

By regulating the water temperature and steeping time, the pour over method will give you ultimate control over the quality of the brew, creating a filter coffee that’s as robust or complex as you like. You can also experiment with the fineness of the grind, but that’s a whole other conversation.

More Articles You Might Enjoy

• 17 organic products to stir into your morning coffee
• This coffee maker is ultra smart. But, does it perform as well?
• The Best Coffee Subscriptions
• The Best French Presses
• The Best Electric Coffee Grinders