Bonavita Immersion Dripper

The Bonavita Immersion Dripper is a porcelain cone dripper with an open/close switch in its base. Close the switch and the coffee steeps in the water, like a French press. Open it over your mug and the coffee drains through a #4 paper filter, like a pour-over. You’ll also see it sold as the Bonavita Porcelain Immersion Dripper or the Wide Base Porcelain Immersion Dripper. It belongs to the family of valve immersion drippers, alongside the Clever Dripper and the Hario Switch. Here’s how it works, a tested café recipe, what reviewers liked and disliked, and how it compares.

The short version

• Steep, then release: a hand-operated switch holds the water in, then lets the coffee drain through paper.
• Black Oak Coffee’s recipe: 26 g of fairly coarse coffee, 380 g of water, release at 2:30.
• Porcelain body, a lid and standard #4 paper filters.
• Holds about 450 ml (16 oz): one large mug or two small cups.
• The cup: the body of immersion with the clean finish of a paper filter.

What makes the Bonavita Immersion Dripper different?

It does the same two jobs as every valve dripper: immersion with the switch closed, then drawdown through paper when you open it. What sets it apart is the build:

• Porcelain, not plastic. Whole Latte Love’s listing describes it as made of high-quality porcelain. Tools and Toys points out that, unlike the plastic Clever, it won’t take on flavours or aromas over time.
• A manual switch. It sits on your mug while it brews, and you open and close it yourself. The Worktop describes it as a simple horizontal lever.
• Vanes inside the cone. CoffeeGeek notes that it has vanes on the sides to help with coffee flow, and a lid that helps hold in heat.
• Ordinary filters. It takes standard #4 Melitta-style cone filters, according to CoffeeGeek, the same size as a Melitta cone.

Because it brews sitting on the cup, a small drip is less of a problem than on the counter. Tools and Toys and the Not So Ancient Chinese Secrets review both made this point, and the second noted that the lever on its own dripper did leak a little.

Bonavita vs Clever Dripper: which is better?

	Bonavita Immersion Dripper	Clever Dripper
Material	Porcelain	Plastic
Valve	Manual open/close switch	Opens when set on a mug
Where it steeps	On your mug	On the counter
Filters	#4 cone	#4 cone (large size)
Dishwasher	Safe, per INeedCoffee	Not safe, per INeedCoffee
Draining speed	Slower, per one reviewer	Faster, per the same reviewer

Neither is better on taste. INeedCoffee’s Michael Allen Smith judged the coffee from the two to be the same. The choice comes down to porcelain vs plastic, and whether you’d rather open a switch or set the brewer on a mug.

How much coffee and water should I use?

Here’s what published recipes for the Bonavita use:

Source	Coffee	Water	Steep before opening
Black Oak Coffee (café recipe)	26 g, fairly coarse	380 g	Until 2:30
INeedCoffee	30 g, drip grind	About 470–480 g at 93°C (200°F), about 1:17	2.5–3 minutes after a 30-second bloom
The Worktop	27 g	Full brewer, about 453 ml	Not given
Not So Ancient Chinese Secrets	Not given	Not given	Until 3:00, after a 30-second bloom

Watch the capacity. CoffeeGeek gives the brewer’s capacity as up to 450 ml, and The Worktop as 16 oz (453 ml). INeedCoffee’s recipe fills the brewer to about 500 g of coffee and water combined, which is right at the brim, so I’d start with Black Oak’s 380 g and leave yourself some room. The Worktop works from a ratio of 60 g of coffee per litre of water, which is close to Black Oak’s.

What grind size should I use?

Medium to a little coarser. INeedCoffee grinds for drip coffee, the usual medium filter grind. Black Oak uses a “fairly coarse” grind. The Not So Ancient Chinese Secrets reviewer found the Bonavita’s smaller drain hole made it drain much more slowly than a Clever, which risks over-extraction, and fixed it with a coarser grind. Their rule of thumb: the coffee should finish draining in no more than 2 to 3 minutes.

Do you need to bloom the coffee?

Probably not. Black Oak Coffee, which brewed its single cups in Bonavita drippers, ran six test brews: three with a 30-second, 100 g bloom and three with all the water added at once. Both versions gave the same extraction, averaging 1.3% TDS and 20% extraction, and every brew landed within 0.05% TDS and 0.5% extraction of the others. The tasters thought the no-bloom “lazy method” was slightly clearer in flavour. INeedCoffee agrees you can skip the bloom and just fill and stir.

How do you brew with it, step by step?

1. Rinse a #4 paper filter in the dripper with the switch open, and throw the water away.
2. Close the switch and add 26 g of fairly coarse coffee.
3. Pour in 380 g of hot water, wetting all the grounds. Put the lid on if you like.
4. Steep until 2:30.
5. Open the switch with the dripper on your mug or carafe, and let it drain.
6. Lift it off and bin the filter.

Brew mode on this page times the steep for you. INeedCoffee heats its water to 93°C (200°F), or lets boiled water sit for 30 seconds, if you want a starting point for temperature.

What goes wrong, and how do I fix it?

Problem	Likely cause	Fix
Bitter or dry	Drains too slowly, so the coffee over-extracts	Grind coarser so it drains in 2 to 3 minutes
Sour or thin	Grind too coarse or steep too short	Grind a little finer or steep a little longer
Overflows	Too much water for a 450 ml brewer	Use less water, such as Black Oak’s 380 g
Drips before you open it	Switch not fully closed, or a worn valve	Check the switch and brew it sitting on your mug

Is the Bonavita Immersion Dripper still available?

Check before you buy. Whole Latte Love’s product page now shows it as an old listing with suggested alternatives. Modern Retail reported in 2022 that the Bonavita brand had gone through a dispute between its Chinese manufacturer, Smartco, and its former US distributor, Espresso Supply, and that Smartco planned to relaunch the brand. If you can’t find one, the Hario Switch is the closest hand-switched alternative, in glass or ceramic.

How do you clean it?

Lift out the filter and grounds, then rinse the dripper with the switch open so nothing stays in the outlet. INeedCoffee says the porcelain Bonavita is dishwasher safe, and The Worktop found it easy to wash with no staining after a month of use.

Who makes the Bonavita Immersion Dripper?

Bonavita, the brand best known for its gooseneck kettles and SCA-certified drip coffee makers. According to Modern Retail, the brand was built by Brian Gross for the Chinese manufacturer Smartco, and from 2012 it was sold in the US through Espresso Supply, a distributor based in Washington State. A Home-Barista first look shows the porcelain immersion dripper, model BV-4000ID, was already with reviewers by January 2013.

General guidance only. Take care with hot water and porcelain, and follow the maker’s instructions for your dripper.

Bonavita Immersion Dripper vs other methods

• Valve immersion dripper: how every steep-and-drain brewer works, and how the valves differ.
• Clever Dripper: the plastic, mug-activated version of the same idea.
• Hario Switch: a V60 cone on a hand-switched valve.
• NextLevel Pulsar: a flow valve for controlled pour-overs.
• Melitta: the classic #4 filter cone, with no valve.
• French press: steeping with a metal mesh and a heavier cup.

Explore every hybrid brewer in the hybrid chapter.