Can a Drip Bag Taste as Good as a V60? That was the goal we set for ourselves.

Drip bags are the easiest coffee you'll ever carry. No grinder, no scale, no kettle gymnastics — just a sachet, hot water, and a cup. But when I first started developing ours, I kept coming back to one honest question: can a single-serve drip bag actually taste as good as a proper V60?

After years of working with coffee, I didn't want to settle for "good enough for travel." I wanted that first sip to feel like the pour-over you brew on a slow morning — the one you actually look forward to — except now it fits in your pocket and comes with you everywhere. At home before work. On a trip you've been waiting months for. Wherever you are, you should be able to make a genuinely delicious cup.

So here's the honest answer: yes — it really does taste like a pour-over. And it makes sense once you see why. A drip bag is a V60, just miniaturized: the same freshly ground coffee, the same filter, the same slow pour of water passing through the bed. Get the recipe right and there's no compromise in the cup — you get the same clarity, sweetness, and fruit you'd expect from your favorite hand-poured brew.

It Starts With the Coffee

A drip bag can only be as good as what's inside it, so we didn't cut corners on the beans. Our drips are made with Colombia Geisha Villamaría — and the variety alone is already a top-tier tasting experience.

This washed Geisha comes from El Refugio farm in Villamaría, Caldas, where it grows on volcanic slopes between 1,750 and 2,050 meters, cared for by the Agudelo Uribe family since 2020. The coffee grows under native shade trees that enrich the soil and shelter the plants from strong mountain winds. Ripe cherries are hand-picked, floated to remove defects, and fully washed using an eco-friendly, low-water Ecomill process, then fermented for 24 hours and gently dried on parabolic beds.

The cup is silky and fruity — peach, plum, pear, and sugarcane, with an aftertaste of dried apricot and cane sugar. Cupping score: 86.5. It's the kind of coffee that makes a strong case for drinking your drip bag black.

How I Brew Our Drips

I kept the recipe simple on purpose — you shouldn't need any special gear to get this right.

Water temperature: 92–93°C. Slightly below boiling. Water that's too hot scorches the coffee and flattens its natural sweetness; this range keeps everything bright and sweet.

Total water: about 220–240 ml, added in small pours — roughly 3 to 5 pours in total.

The rhythm is easy: pour, wait, pour, wait, pour, wait — and your coffee is ready. Letting the water drain between pours gives you a cleaner, more even extraction and pulls more flavor out of the grounds.

We tested this recipe carefully so it delivers the full character of Colombian Geisha wherever you happen to be brewing it — and "carefully" is putting it lightly. We spent a long time dialing in the grind size, the roast, and the recipe specifically for these drip bags, so that all you have to do is add water.

Don't Forget the Water

Here's the one thing people overlook: your coffee is mostly water, so the water matters. Even a perfect recipe can't shine through hard, over-mineralized, or heavily chlorinated tap water — it mutes the sweetness and flattens the fruit.

If you want the best cup, use good, soft water. As a guide, aim for a mineral content (TDS) of roughly 50–150 ppm — clean, filtered, or low-mineral bottled water works great, and the softer end of that range really lets the Geisha's sweetness and delicate fruit come through. It's a small detail that makes a surprisingly big difference.

Want It Iced?

Brew as usual, let the cup cool slightly, then add ice — you'll get an excellent cold black coffee that really shows off the fruit. Prefer something creamier? Add any milk you like. It works beautifully either way.

Built for the Journey

Each pouch holds 10 individually portioned drip bags, and we designed the packaging with travel in mind. The pouch slips straight into a suitcase — no bulky box to unpack, no repacking. When you've finished, the pouch is reusable and recyclable, so it can have a second life instead of going straight to the bin.

We may add more varieties soon. If drip bags are something you'd love to see more of, write to us — we'd genuinely like to hear from you.

We love making the best possible coffee for you, and we hope our drips bring that same great flavor to wherever your day takes you.

Lily Gadelshina co-owner ATRI COFFEE