How to Replicate a "Clover" Machine at Home for Cheap

For those of you who don't know, a "Clover" is a new machine that creates a very smooth coffee experience. The advantage of a real Clover are that you can control the exact water temperature of the water as well as how long the coffee is going to brew, down to the second. All this comes with a price though, roughly to the tune of $12K/pop. Quite a bit too much for most people to have at home.

So how does a Clover work? Simply put it is in an inverted french press. Meaning, the grounds are pulled away (*upwards) from the coffee instead of pushed through the coffee like a conventional french press. The problem with the normal french press is that the coffee still "brews" even when the plunger is pressed and very quickly it will over extract.

Essentially the Clover automates the process of using a french press. With a slight modification though your french press can act in a similar.

This is how the plunger part of your french press looks like.

With the lid in place you cannot add water, which is fine, in the normal french press you push down and the grounds to the coffee, to simulate the Clover though we need to be able to pull up, so remove the lid until it looks like in this picture.

This is really all you needed to do. Now grind up some coffee, put the plunger roughly 3/4 down the caraf and pour the hot water over it. Wait your normal extraction time, then slowly pull it up, seperating the grounds from the coffee itself.

Enjoy.