I’ve been trying out the Melitta Coffee Brewer for a few weeks. Not much to it, it’s just a plastic stand that holds a coffee filter. Add coffee, then add water to do a “pour over” and wait for it to drip into the cup. It comes in two sizes, one that uses a small #2 filter and one that uses the larger #4 filter. The small works out good for a regular size/travel cup and it works ok with the larger filters. Of course you need a source of hot water for this to work, so I’ve been using a borrowed electric kettle that is really fast to heat the cup or two of water I need. Pouring takes probably 3-4 minutes. Pour some water, let it soak some, pour more water. Not bad if you’re talking to someone, maybe not the best thing for the first cup of the day. The only downside I’ve seen is that it is all too easy to knock it over and make a mess. Still, for three bucks it’s hard to beat. It also makes me appreciate that automatic drip coffee makers aren’t evil – they just automate the pouring.
SQLAndy 
Probably less mess than a French press too. I used one of those for a while and on top of having to have a hot water source, you then had a glass carafe full of hot coffee grounds. Not recommended for an office environment unless you have a kitchen where you can properly clean the thing out!
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I think less mess than a french press is fair. I can just grab the paper filter and drop in the trash. Sometimes I rinse the holder out and sometimes not. I saw a different one (will have to look now) that had a trap door on the bottom, that would be handy and would make it easier to avoid the few drops of coffee that always seem to spill when I take it off the cup. I think depending on how you pour you get very close to french press flavor – more immersion time being the trick of course. Agree with the kitchen plan. You could do it at your desk fine as long as yo don’t spill. If you spill…someone will probably be unhappy with you!
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Welcome to the 1960’s! The Melitta cone was all my mother ever used to brew coffee when I was growing up. It tasted much better than coffee brewed with a percolator. Now that’s a word you don’t hear any more!
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I’ve seen and even had coffee from percolators, ranging from ok to miserable. Fun to watch. I’ll have to get some more coffee gadgets to try!
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