I got a fever… and the only thing that will cure it is good coffee! Ok that might not be the line from the classic Saturday Night Live Bit, but it’s true every word of it. Coffee cures what ails you, it silences critics and soothes frayed nerves. But while coffee has had various mascots over time, Juan Valdez, The Chock full of nuts singing woman, The Folgers people waking up, Me… It has yet to gain true traction in the medical field. 4 out of 5 doctors haven’t recommended it. That was until Dr Drip came onto the scene. I was recently given a sample of Dr Drip to review and these are my findings. How do you think the patient is doing?
Dr Drip is a single serving pour over coffee brewer, they are priced at $8.99 for a 5 pack. Each packet is biodegradable and has everything you need for a single cup of coffee. The price works out to 1.79 per cup of coffee. We ran the good Doctor through his paces and you can find out below how he held up. But what really struck me is the design.
As usual all coffee’s submitted are run through the same process a nice coarse grind and a 4 minute steep in the trust french press, this time however my first experience is via drip brew in my office. The French Press came later, and only served to reinforce my experiences. Sometimes necessity demands that i bring large samples into work to share with other coffee lovers and this was one such time.
The Journey
- Smell: The Start of your journey
- The Process: How did the contraption work?
- Taste: Obvious
- Notes: Anything I might notice or want to share
- Conclusion and recommendation.
Smell: I popped open the pouch and removed the coffee creation contraption. It looked like a spaceship. and it spelled fantastic. the coffee was already cradled into what looked like an open teabag in the center of the cardboard wax holder. The journey was off to a good start
After a bit of setup I started to pour the steaming hot water into the holder. Unfortunately the holder doesn’t exactly hold a full cup of water, but rather it took about 4 small pours to make one cup of coffee. The coffee held high aloft the mug did splash just a little bit as it dripped into the mug. And there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of coffee in the device. In fact the coffee was a bit light in color when it was poured.
Taste: The coffee was very very smooth, and tasty. I had the Organic tonic flavor and i could taste a hit of chocolate overtones and a wonderful full bodied finish. However the coffee was weak. My fears after pouring a mug of the coffee and seeing right through it were confirmed. I want coffee that is black as night. It needs to feast upon my soul when i stare into its depths. This was a nice refreshing walk with coffee in hand but a bit weak for me.
Notes: These are the darkest beans I have had in a couple of months. Deep chocolate with a shiny residue. To be quite honest upon opening the bag I was a bit worried. I’m not usually a fan of dark roasted beans unless they are an espresso. I was expecting a completely different type of flavor out of them. These did not taste like dark roasted beans. Except for the fact that it was a very balanced cup, with a nice even roast characteristic to it.
Cost: $8.99 for a 5 pack. Each packet is biodegradable and contains everything you need for a single cup of coffee. The price works out to $1.79 per cup of coffee. This is a bit steep in my book for single serving coffee. In fact i would rather they just sell the mini filters and left me use my own coffee! That would be something that would be truly awesome. I drink a lot of coffee and these would add up quite quickly.
Conclusion: While the coffee was tasty and the method of creating it neat beyond belief, the cost of the product and the strength of the coffee. However if you know someone who likes coffee, but doesn’t have the need to brew a big full strong cup of coffee by themselves these would be wonderful little products. Sadly for me they are not the solution. I can see where this could take off in certain areas though it did taste fantastic. I have to wonder if the other flavors are any stronger? They could be. Still a great design and a tasty product.
*Full Disclosure: I was sent a lovely care package at no cost by the fine Folks at Dr Drip, for the purpose of writing this review. this agreement in no way affected my opinions of the unit nor was a desired outcome asked for or agreed upon.
Want to see more? Here is the slide show of the photos from the review.