Immersion methods: French press, Clever dripper, and AeroPress

Immersion methods steep coffee and water together for a set time before separating them, which makes brew strength mostly a function of ratio and steep time rather than pour technique. French press uses a coarse grind steeped roughly four minutes, then separated with a mesh plunger — the mesh lets fine particles and oils through, giving a heavier-bodied, textured cup compared to paper-filtered methods. The Clever dripper combines immersion with paper filtration: it looks like a cone dripper but has a valve at the base that stays closed during the steep and opens only when set down on a cup, so the coffee fully steeps like a French press but drains through a paper filter for a cleaner cup with less sediment.

AeroPress is a hybrid: coffee steeps briefly (often under two minutes) in a chamber, then is pushed through a paper or metal filter using hand pressure, which finishes extraction quickly and produces a clean, concentrated brew that's often diluted with hot water to taste — its short brew time and total portability make it a favorite for travel and quick single servings, and its huge range of possible recipes (inverted or upright, varying steep time, varying pressure) makes it one of the most experimented-with brewers in specialty coffee.