hario pour over brewer: first blush

so i got my pour over brewer yesterday in the mail. aside from being completely nervous i was going to open a box and find a pile of broken glass, the only negative moments came when i opened the intact box and pulled out the intact glass and searched--in vain--for english instructions. they are all in japanese. everything on the box is in japanese. well, that's not entirely true. along the side of the front of the box it says "pour over wood" or something like that.

anyways, the coffee. having never used a pour over before i wasn't sure what to expect. my first brew was with a auto drip grind and the water basically went through like a gully washer, resulting in a nice looking cup of tea. i played with it several times, adjusting tighter the grind and using varying amounts of coffee and water to get an optimal brew. i'm not sure i've found that optimal point but so far i think i'm liking the results when i use a very fine grind--near the turkish border--and fill the cloth filter full with water, stir, let it drip down about halfway and then refill to the top of the filter.

i am in love with the cloth filter concept already and think this method has huge cachet and major retail romance written all over it. the simplicity of the method is profound when you taste the final product.

and oh yeah, the final product. basically the coffee comes out tasting like that of an aeropress or french press without the sediment. this is a mixed bag for me, as i have come to love, dare i say 'depend?' on the sediment. it's a comfort to see it there in my cup, sludging to the bottom of my cup. without it i feel like i'm drinking auto drip coffee again. but the taste is there still, so i'm not completely sure how i'll feel about it in the end. basically it's a little cleaner in the cup than a press and not as low end and bassy as an aeropress. but the character is still there. just in a slighty different form.

the beauty of coffee. now if i can only get my hands on two dozen of these and for less than what the chinese-canadian company charged me, i'll be in business.