Comparison on different Kalita Hasami 102 Drippers

As a big fan of fan shaped/trapezoid drippers, I collected three different version of Kalita Hasami 102 drippers: Regular (Made by Amakusa potter's stone, white glaze), Sagan (blend of sandstone and Amakusa potter’s stone, unglaze), and Black (Sagan version with black glaze). After using them for a period, I want to share my opinions of their performance.

Ribs: Regular and Sagan version has almost the same sharpness while Sagan has deeper grooves between each rib, and they both have tall bottom support. Black has blunt ribs and bottom support.

Flow rate: Under same condition, Regular is the fastest, followed by Sagan, and Black is the slowest. They also have different “characteristics”: Regular has stable and moderate flow rate throughout the brew; Sagan is fast on the first half and slow down after, while Black is constantly slow for the whole process.

Tastes: Here comes the subjective part. The main tone of flavour is roughly the same, since I used the same coffee and the design of all three drippers are also the same. However, Regular has the most balance on acidity, sweetness and body, clean and light taste. Sagan has strong, intense and muddy taste, the brightest acidity of the three. Black gives more sweetness and astringency, has the heaviest body.

It is interesting that even in exact same design, different glaze can lead to noticeable differences. I love them all and I use them for all kinds of coffee, but if you are looking for only get one, then I hope this will help you.