Cafec Flower Dripper

The Cafec Flower Dripper is a cone pour-over dripper made by a company that knows paper filters better than most. Cafec is the brand of Sanyo Sangyo, a Japanese filter maker that says it invented the cone-shaped paper filter, and its Flower Dripper is built around one idea: petal-shaped ribs carved into the walls keep a layer of air between the paper and the dripper, so the coffee can bloom fully, “like in a nel dripper”. It has a 60° cone, comes in 1-cup and 2–4 cup sizes, and in Tritan plastic or Arita porcelain. Here’s how it works.

The short version

• A 60° cone dripper with petal-shaped ribs.
• An air layer behind the paper lets the coffee bloom freely.
• Water in equals water out: Cafec designed it for an even flow.
• Cup1 and Cup4 sizes, plus the narrower Deep 27 for one cup.
• Made by Sanyo Sangyo, the cone-filter maker, under its Cafec brand.

How does the Flower Dripper work?

The ribs. Cafec explains that the gouges in the dripper’s inner surface keep “enough air layer between paper and dripper”, so “coffee powder can expand fully like in a nell dripper”, the flannel filter prized in Japanese coffee houses. Sigma Coffee adds that the ribs keep the filter lifted away from the cone entirely.

The flow. The Flower Dripper circulates water from the centre outward to form a deep filtering layer. Cafec wanted a fast, smooth flow so unpleasant flavours don’t end up in the cup, and designed it so that “the water volume poured from top and brought out from the bottom can be kept same”. Sigma Coffee says this makes it forgiving, because the flow stays consistent whatever your pouring technique.

How do you brew with it?

1. Fit a cone-shaped paper filter. Cafec recommends its own Abaca filters.
2. Add the coffee. Cafec uses 12 g as one cup when comparing its drippers.
3. Bloom with a little hot water, and let the coffee swell.
4. Pour into the centre of the bed, steadily.
5. Remove the dripper when it has drained.

Cafec doesn’t publish a single recipe for the Flower Dripper. I’d start with 12 g of coffee to about 200 g of water for one cup and adjust the grind until it drains in two to three minutes.

Which Flower Dripper should I choose?

Model	What’s different
Flower Dripper Cup1 / Cup4	60° cone, 1 cup or 2 to 4 cups
Flower Dripper Deep 27	A narrow 27° cone for one cup, so even 12 g forms a deep filter bed; about five years in development
Flower Dripper Deep 45	A 45° cone, for 3 to 7 cups
Flower Dripper Oval	A trapezoid (wedge) version with flower ribs

For Deep 27, Cafec says it subtly changed the height of the ribs towards the bottom hole, so the flow doesn’t slow even with the narrower angle, and shaped the base so you can brew straight into a cup.

Materials. The plastic version is now Tritan, a BPA-free copolyester from Eastman, which Cafec says is tough, heat- and chemical-resistant and accepted in the EU. MaxiCoffee sells an Arita porcelain version, fired at about 1,300°C.

Who makes it?

Sanyo Sangyo has made coffee tools “centering on paper filters” since 1973, and says it was the first company to develop the cone-shaped paper filter. After decades as an OEM maker for other brands, it launched its own brand, Cafec, in 2016. In 2021, Cafec says, Daiki Hatakeyama took second place at the World Brewers Cup using the Flower Dripper and Abaca filters.

General guidance only. Take care with just-boiled water, and don’t use a plastic dripper on direct heat.

Cafec Flower Dripper vs other methods

• Hario V60: the best-known 60° cone, with spiral ribs.
• Nel drip: the flannel filter the Flower Dripper’s bloom imitates.
• Origami dripper: another Japanese cone with deep pleated ribs.
• Kalita 102: the three-hole wedge.

Explore every pour-over method in the pour-over chapter.