April Brewer
How to use the April Brewer, Patrik Rolf’s flat-bottom pour-over from April Coffee Roasters in Copenhagen: his two-pour recipe, filters, design and history.
Contents
How do you brew with the April Brewer?
Put a flat-bottom filter in the April Brewer and add 12 to 14 g of coffee for 200 g of water, the range April founder Patrik Rolf gives for one cup. Pour 100 g of water, let it drain completely, then pour the second 100 g and let that drain too. Rolf has dropped the separate bloom in favour of bigger pours.
At a glance
- Ratio
- 12–14 g coffee to 200 g water (Patrik Rolf)
- Difficulty
- Beginner
Method
Fit the filter
Put a flat-bottom filter in the brewer. Retailers list April filters, Kalita Wave 155 and 185 filters and Saint Anthony F70 filters as compatible.
Weigh the coffee
Weigh 12 to 14 g of ground coffee for 200 g of water, the one-cup range Patrik Rolf gives, and level the bed.
First pour
Pour the first 100 g of hot water evenly over the coffee.
Let it drain
Let the water drain through completely before the next pour.
Second pour
Pour the second 100 g of water.
Drain and serve
Let it drain through completely, remove the brewer and serve.
The April Brewer is a flat-bottom pour-over dripper designed by Patrik Rolf, founder of April Coffee Roasters in Copenhagen, Denmark. It takes flat-bottom paper filters, like a Kalita Wave, and was built for fast flow and light-roasted coffee. It’s also sold as the April Drip Filter Brewer, and in plastic and glass versions. Here’s how to brew with it, using Rolf’s own recipe, and where it came from.
The short version
- Flat-bottom pour-over with three ridges holding the filter over a single drain hole.
- Rolf’s one-cup recipe: 12 to 14 g of coffee to 200 g of water.
- Two pours of 100 g, letting each drain fully.
- Flat-bottom filters: April’s own, or Kalita Wave 155 and 185, according to retailers.
- Brews a single cup up to half a litre, Rolf says.
What makes the April Brewer different?
Daily Coffee News describes the original as a thin-walled ceramic flat-bottom brewer with two standout features:
- “Air pocket” gaps in the outer base, where it rests on the cup or server. Rolf says these regulate the air pressure that builds up in the vessel below while brewing, and “allow for our desired flow rate”.
- Three ridges that hold a flat-bottom, Kalita-style filter above a conical hole, which also helps the rapid flow rate.
Rolf told Barista Magazine he built it because he felt the most common brewers, the V60 and the Kalita Wave, were designed around darker roasts. “I always believed that how coffee is roasted should dictate how the coffee is brewed,” he said, so he wanted a brewer for lighter roasts. He adds that it brews good coffee from all roast styles.
How much coffee should I use in the April Brewer?
In a 2020 interview with Bean Bros, Rolf said April’s focus was one-cup recipes, often:
| Coffee | Water | Pours |
|---|---|---|
| 12–14 g, depending on the coffee | 200 g | Two pours of 100 g |
April’s website says its shop recipes are based on its professional setup, so treat them as a guide. It also says the shop uses reverse-osmosis water at 25 to 50 ppm, and rests its beans for at least 14 days after roasting. Neither Rolf nor April gives a grind size, so I’d start where you would for a Kalita Wave and adjust by taste and drawdown.
How do you use the April Brewer, step by step?
This is Patrik Rolf’s two-pour method:
- Fit a flat-bottom filter in the brewer.
- Add 12 to 14 g of coffee for 200 g of water.
- Pour 100 g of water evenly over the coffee.
- Let it drain completely.
- Pour the second 100 g.
- Let it drain, then serve.
Rolf’s travel tip is even simpler: with no scales, “just do two pours all the way up” and let the water drain fully in between.
A longer recipe with a bloom
The Roasters Pack publishes a different April recipe: a 50 g bloom for 30 seconds, pour up to 200 g (100 g in circles, then 50 g in the centre), then at 1:30 pour 100 g heavily in the centre, for a total brew time of 2:50 to 3:00. It doesn’t give a dose. Rolf himself said in 2020 that he had “stopped using the idea of a bloom”.
Which April Brewer should I buy?
| Version | Material | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Original | Thin-walled ceramic, made with Serax | Sold as a set with a cup, saucer and lid at launch |
| Plastic V2 | Polycarbonate (Makrolon) | 7 g heavier than V1, with steadier brewing temperature (The Roasters Pack) |
| Glass | Glass | Same flat-bottom design, sold by retailers |
The launch set also included a cup designed to highlight sweetness, with a lid that Rolf told Barista Magazine is there to trap aromas and regulate drinking temperature.
A short history of the April Brewer
- 2018: Rolf competes at the World Brewers Cup with hand-made prototypes. He told Barista Magazine he placed third on points but under-poured his cups, which cost him.
- 2019: in Boston, he takes second place at the World Brewers Cup with the April brewer, with the highest-scoring Open Service.
- November 2019: a Kickstarter campaign hits its USD 7,408 goal in eight hours, Daily Coffee News reports, with delivery promised by May 2020 and a retail price of €49 for the set.
- Later: a polycarbonate Plastic V2 and a glass version follow.
April Brewer vs other methods
- Kalita Wave: the flat-bottom dripper whose filters fit the April.
- V60: a cone with a single large hole and a faster, more technique-led pour.
- Orea: another modern flat-bottom brewer built for fast flow.
- Origami dripper: takes cone or flat-bottom filters.
- Chemex: a thick-filter pour-over for a very clean cup.
Explore every pour-over in the pour-over chapter.
What you’ll need
Words in this guide
- Pour-over
- Pour-over is a way of making filter coffee by hand: you pour hot water over ground coffee in a filter cone and let it drip through into a cup or jug.
- Grind size
- Grind size is how finely coffee beans are broken up before brewing.
- Drawdown
- Drawdown is the final stage of a pour-over brew, when you have stopped pouring and the remaining water drains through the coffee bed.
- Bloom
- The bloom is the first small pour of water in a brew, usually 2–3 times the weight of the coffee, followed by a 30–45 second pause.
Questions & answers
Who designed the April Brewer?
Patrik Rolf, owner of April Coffee Roasters in Copenhagen. Daily Coffee News reports he designed it over two years with the Belgian design company Serax. He competed with prototypes at the 2018 World Brewers Cup and took second place in 2019 with the April brewer.
What filters fit the April Brewer?
Flat-bottom filters. April makes its own, and retailers list Kalita Wave 155 and 185 filters and Saint Anthony F70 filters as compatible with the plastic brewer. Daily Coffee News describes the design as holding a flat-bottom, Kalita-style filter on three ridges.
What is the April Brewer recipe?
For one cup, Patrik Rolf told Bean Bros he often uses 12 to 14 g of coffee to 200 g of water, poured in two pours of 100 g, letting the water drain fully in between. One retailer publishes a longer recipe with a 50 g bloom and a total brew time of 2:50 to 3:00.
Do you bloom with the April Brewer?
Not necessarily. In a 2020 interview with Bean Bros, Patrik Rolf said he was into 100 g pours and had "stopped using the idea of a bloom", pouring more water in each pour instead. Other published April recipes still start with a 50 g bloom.
What is the difference between the plastic and ceramic April Brewer?
The original 2019 brewer was thin-walled ceramic. The plastic V2 is made from polycarbonate (Makrolon), which The Roasters Pack says increased its weight by 7 g and improved its ability to hold a consistent brewing temperature. There is also a glass version.
How much coffee can the April Brewer make?
Patrik Rolf told Daily Coffee News that the brewer lets you brew from a single cup up to half a litre of coffee, which is why April did not plan different sizes.
Sources
- Patrik Rolf’s April Brewer Aims For Springtime Release. Daily Coffee News
- Crowdfunding Campaign Aims to Take Brewer from the Competition Stage to the Masses. Barista Magazine
- Next featured guest roaster: April Coffee Roasters. Bean Bros
- April Dripper (Plastic V2). The Roasters Pack
- Coffee Info and Recipes. April Coffee Roasters
General guidance only. Not medical, food-safety or professional advice. Always follow your equipment's own instructions.