Introduction

A Clover machine is the most luxurious coffee machine you can buy these days. It is, simply put, an inverted french press with lots of electronics to justify it's price. The company doesn't list a price on their website, but I have been told that a new machine runs you in the vicinity of CAN$ 13K. Yes, you read that right. It is intended for coffee shops and not for your counter top, but still....

How a Clover works

In a traditional French press, once the brewing has completed, the coffee is pushed to the bottom of the cylinder where it remains, still submerged into the brewed coffee. This leads to a continous extraction even after the actual "brewing" is done. Some people counter this by pouring the coffee out of the press and into a different vessel once the brewing is done, but this usually still causes some of the coffee grounds (the smaller ones, not caught in the filter) to travel along.

The Clover machine is essentially an inverted french press, the grounds rest on a mesh filter that moves down into the cylinder, then the hot water is poured over it. Once the brewing is completed the mesh is moved upwards and the coffee "sucked" out and into the cup / vessel. The water temperature and brew cycle is controlled by a computer and usually ranges less than a minute. The end result is a very nuanced coffee.

Make your own Clover

The following photos are based on a Bodum French Press, but pretty much any french press will work the same way.

1. The plunger out of the caraffe:

2. Take the "lid" off the plunger, the final result will look like this:

Usually you can screw off either the filter at the bottom and slide the lid off or (in the case of my Bodum) remove the handle at the top, either way, don't use too much force, you don't want to break it.

3. That's it. You're convserion is complete.

How to make coffee in your knock-off Clover

This is remarkably easy too. Put the former plunger 2/3 down the caraffe, then put the coffee ground (coarse) on top of it. Bring your water to a boil, then wait a few seconds and pour it in. whisk it like you would do in your french press, then push the plunger slowly down and raise it slightly again. Wait until the brew time is over.

Now it gets a bit tricky, take your french press to a sink and slowly pull the plunger up. The tricky part is to prevent some of the coffee grounds to fall back into the caraffe, the best way I have found is to slightly angle the plunger just as it comes out. A larger mesh would be useful but I haven't gotten around trying it yet.

How long to brew?

The conventional wisdom calls for three to four minutes for a traditional french press, yet the Clover usually takes less than 45 seconds. The advantage of the shorter brewing time is that the coffee is lighter and more nuanced. If you are after a caffein hit you will still get the full dosage. My recommendation is to try different brewing times, I now (depending on the coffee) rarely exceed 90 seconds.

Enjoy