Kono Meimon 1

Equipment notes

KONO is the equipment brand of Coffee Syphon Co., the Tokyo company that built Japan's first domestic coffee siphon in 1925. The Meimon filter, released in 1973 after roughly five years of development, is widely credited in Japan as the original conical paper dripper, designed to recreate the heavy, rounded cup of cloth (nel) drip with paper. Its defining trait is ribs placed only on the lower section. On the smooth upper wall, the wet filter clings to the dripper and forms a semi-sealed chamber, so water and coffee steep together before draining through the single large hole at the bottom. Unlike the V60, whose ribs run to the rim and let it drain fast from the start, the Meimon leans toward immersion and yields a full-bodied cup. The maker's recommended technique is the point-drip (tenteki) method: no separate bloom, just slow drops in the center, widening to a coin-sized circle once coffee begins to appear in the server. Because your hand, not the dripper, sets the flow, it takes practice but repays it with a wide range of expression. This is a dripper for brewers who want direct control of the pour and a dense, nel-style body in the cup.

Filters that fit

• Hario V60 01 TabbedDefault
• Hario V60 01 Tabbed (Natural)Default
• Cafec Abaca 01Compatible
• Cafec Abaca 01 (Light Roast)Compatible
• Cafec Abaca 01 (Medium-Dark Roast)Compatible
• Cafec Abaca+ 01Compatible
• HIFLUX Folding V 01Compatible
• Origami Cone SCompatible
• Sibarist B3 Cone SCompatible
• Sibarist FAST Cone SCompatible
• unfilter Basic 01Compatible