You might know Stanley from its iconic water bottle, but I just tried its pour-over coffee maker — I'm weirdly impressed

As someone who spends a lot of time testing the best pour-over coffee makers, I’m always excited to get my hands on a unique take on the oversaturated world of pour-over.

The Stanley Perfect Brew Pour Over is definitely a unique take on pour-over. This brewer is designed for camping and outdoor use, so instead of requiring disposable paper filters, it can brew using its built-in mesh filter. This is a great idea in theory, as it negates the need for lugging filters around during camping trips, but in practice? Not as user-friendly as I’d hoped.

If you’re a regular camper, though, you’ll definitely want to know about the Stanley Perfect Brew. You’re in the right place — I’ll discuss everything in full in this Stanley Perfect Brew Pour Over review.

Stanley Perfect Brew Pour Over review: Cheat sheet

• Who is it for? Coffee drinkers who aren’t bothered about perfection & spend a lot of time outdoors
• What does it do well? It doesn’t require paper filters, which is ideal for camping
• What are its weaknesses? It’s quite silty and demands a coarse grind
• Anything else to know? I’d recommend grabbing the Stanley travel mug, too

Stanley Perfect Brew Pour Over review: Specs

Stanley Perfect Brew Pour Over review: Price & availability

The Stanley Perfect Brew Pour Over is $26 from Amazon U.S. and £32 from Amazon U.K.. You can get it with the travel mug for $45 from Amazon U.S. and £30 from Amazon U.K.. It’s cheaper with the mug in the U.K., so I’d 100% get that version instead.

If you’re in the U.S., I’d also recommend getting the bundle rather than the independent brewer, as this is what I personally tested. Overall, the bundle works out cheaper than buying the mug and brewer separately.

It’s available in two colors: black or green (which I tested). I wish it came in more shades, as Stanley is usually on the ball with trendy colors. The bundle comes in green, white, and cream, but all the other styles are out of stock now.

Yeti — which is 100% the Perfect Brew’s main competition — makes its Rambler Pour-Over in three colors, and Hario’s iconic V60 comes in about two million different colors.

That’s a slight exaggeration, but Hario has really nailed variety with its V60 brewer. Stanley should really take notes.

Where Stanley beats Yeti, though, is on price. The Stanley Perfect Brew Pour Over is just $26 compared to the Yeti Pour Over’s $30 MSRP. When you get the dripper + mug bundle, the Stanley option is $45, but Yeti’s will run you back a huge $60.

Stanley Perfect Brew Pour Over review: Design

As with other Stanley products, the Perfect Brew is a shoe-in for TikTok or Instagram. It’s so aesthetically pleasing, and I can 100% imagine it looking right at home in the background of GRWM or morning routine videos.

It feels well-made and sturdy, with a nice, weighty metal finish. I found it easy to remove and insert the built-in filter, which makes it a dream to clean and store. On top of all of this, it feels near-unbreakable thanks to the all-metal construction. There are no unfinished, rough, or sharp parts. It’s just as well-made as anything you’d get from rivals like Yeti, which is saying something.

However, it’s predominantly a camping/outdoor gadget, so I’ll evaluate it with that in mind, too. The main USP of the Perfect Brew is the built-in filter. Yes, you can’t use this pour-over with disposable filters. Whoop! Perfect for camping.

…Right?

Hmm. This is a tricky one, and even after thorough testing, I’m not sure how I feel about it. Let me explain how the Stanley Perfect Brew works, and how it’s different from other pour-over coffee makers.

The Stanley Perfect Brew has a mesh metal filter built into the dripper itself. This means you don’t need to use disposable filters — like Hario #2 filters — which is obviously better for camping trips or days out. Leave your filters at home by mistake? No problem — you can use your coffee maker without it.

Actually, you can use the Stanley Perfect Brew with Hario #2 paper filters, but it’s not a requirement. You can brew with the mesh or paper filters.

This is different from other pour-over coffee makers because they do require paper filters. The Yeti Rambler Pour-Over needs #2 filters to brew up.

So if you’re going to use your Stanley Perfect Brew for camping trips or other outdoor activities, then the built-in filter is ideal, and I’d recommend it over the Yeti Rambler.

However, if you don’t like silt in your coffee, then I would recommend using the Stanley Perfect Brew without the metal filter, and instead use paper #2 filters like any other pour-over coffee maker.

I’ll discuss this more in ‘Performance’ below, but the fact of the matter is this: If you want the highest level of convenience, the Stanley Perfect Brew is ideal for outdoor adventures. If you want the highest level of quality, then I think I’d recommend using a Yeti Rambler or Hario V60 with paper filters.

Stanley Perfect Brew Pour Over review: Performance

To test the Stanley Perfect Brew, I used it with the built-in mesh filter and with paper #2 Hario filters. I’ll discuss the built-in mesh filter first.

Stanley filter

It took me a few tries to understand how Stanley’s mesh filter worked. I ground my beans medium-fine, as I do with my Hario V60, and dosed 15g of coffee for 300g water. This is a large ratio of 1:20 — as opposed to the “standard” pour-over ratio of 1:18 — but I wanted to experiment to get the best result.

This initial brew took ten minutes to complete, which is way, way too long. I quickly realized the coffee was clogging the filter, but I wanted to see how long it would take to drip through. TEN minutes.

This brew was incredibly silty, and I felt like I had to drink it through my teeth to filter out more solids. Surprisingly, it didn’t taste too bitter or overextracted, but that could be because I used light-roast natural-washed Ethiopian beans. I’ll admit that the beans were quite husky, which is prone to siltiness in and of itself, but I’ve used these beans for other brewing methods with no husk. I only had three mouthfuls before I threw it away. Sorry, Stanley.

For the next brew, I ground my beans medium-fine instead. I dosed 15g with 330g of water this time, just to see what would happen. This took eight minutes: better, but still way too long.

Next, I ground my beans coarse — we’re talking French press coarse — and followed Stanley’s recipe. Stanley recommends 3 tablespoons of ground coffee, which set off alarm bells in my head, but I ignored my internal coffee snob and followed through.

After spooning the coffee into the brewer, I added 216g of water in three pours and let it brew. This took four minutes, which is definitely more of a standard brewing time. Ten minutes means something is very, very wrong.

The resulting coffee was much more pleasant to drink than the first few, with much less silt. I would recommend using coarse coffee with the Stanley Perfect Brew — if you’re using the built-in filter.

Paper filter

I used Hario #2 filters to get the best out of the Perfect Brew. As usual, I followed a 1:18 ratio with medium ground coffee. I dosed 15g of coffee granules into the filter paper, then put it inside the Perfect Brew. I’d recommend doing it in this order, as the Perfect Brew has a wide hole. I was wary of the sudden increase in weight incurring an undesirable gravity-related coffee-falling-through-the-hole issue.

After dosing the coffee, I poured around 270g of water over the brewer in three controlled pours. Doing this was really easy — the same as preparing any other type of coffee — and I noticed no funnelling whatsoever.

The resulting coffee was balanced, with a pleasant, drinkable bitterness and decadent, juicy notes. I made this coffee for my colleague, and she said, “I don’t usually drink black coffee, but I will happily sit here and drink this.”

I’d take that as a win. Although I thought the coffee might fall through the hole when I added water, this was not the case, and you can use paper filters with the Perfect Brew very easily. I’d recommend brewing this way if you can’t tolerate silt in your coffee.

Stanley Perfect Brew Pour Over review: Storage & maintenance

One of the best parts of the Stanley Perfect Brew is how easy it is to maintain. It’s intended to be an outdoor accessory, so of course it needs to be easy to clean. I was able to clean it with just some running water and paper towels, but it’s also dishwasher safe.

Surprisingly, the mesh filter is also easy to clean with just running water. I never had to remove coffee granules from the filter physically, which makes it a breeze to use on the go. I have no problems recommending this for outdoor usage.

It’s also very easy to store. At just 5 x 5 inches, it’s the perfect size to throw into a backpack and forget about. It slots perfectly onto the Stanley mug too, so you can easily put it in your hiking bag between uses.

Stanley Perfect Brew Pour Over review: How does it compare?

The Stanley is the only pour-over brewer I’ve seen with a removable filter built in. This makes it ideal for people who predominantly use manual coffee brewers in an outdoor setting, like campsites or hikes.

If you’re a bit of a coffee perfectionist, I think you might be better off with one of the more traditional pour-over drippers, like the Hario V60. The V60’s grooves guide the coffee to the center of the dripper, ensuring all grounds are evenly distributed and brewed. The Stanley Perfect Brew is smooth and doesn’t direct the coffee around, so it might not impress coffee perfectionists.

I’d say that the Yeti Rambler Pour Over is the Stanley Perfect Brew’s closest competitor: both are outdoor-focused drippers with a sturdy, rugged metal design and a companion travel mug. The Yeti is pricier, but has lovely grooves — like the V60 — to impress coffee enthusiasts. However, if you’re on a budget or less fussy about perfection, I’d recommend the Stanley over the Yeti due to the cheaper price.

Stanley Perfect Brew Pour Over review: Verdict

Calling your product “Perfect” in the name kind of sets you up for failure. I wouldn’t describe the Stanley Perfect Brew Pour Over as perfect — very good will suffice. With a little TLC, you can certainly get the most out of the Stanley Perfect Brew. However, it’s definitely not perfect.

If you’re planning on using the pour-over purely on camping trips, then I’d recommend it wholeheartedly. It’s cheaper than the Yeti Rambler Pour Over, and you wouldn’t have to bring one-time filters with you. However, if this is going to be your sole pour-over coffee maker, I think you’d be better off with the Hario V60 or the Kalita Wave. Heck, maybe even the Chemex.

For campers, though? It’s gotta be the Stanley Perfect Brew.