How To Make Good Pour Over Coffee- Tips & Tricks

With the right know-how, you can make your own coffee without spending an arm and leg on it. Pour over coffee is popular because it’s easy to do and much less expensive than buying from a cafe, it also produces an amazing tasting brew if you do it right!

Materials needed

– A portable kettle for boiling water!

– A coffee grinder. If you choose to grind beans rather than buying pre ground coffee, I recommend a manual burr mill. It’s less noisy and produces better results.

– Filter papers for the filter holder (not needed if you are using a reusable stainless steel filter)

– Filter holder (only needed if you’re using paper filters). These are made of ceramic, glass, or plastic. I recommend ceramic because it’s durable and easy to clean. The filter drips through the filter paper into the cup below.

– Coffee beans! Don’t go too cheap when buying coffee for this method since buying good coffee will make a world of difference. I recommend a single origin blend

– A cup to catch and drink your brew in

– Soap and water & a bin or compost. Don’t forget to clean your equipment after you’re done brewing!

The process of making a pour over coffee

Start by grinding the coffee to a medium coarse grind. It is important to not use anything too coarse because it will clog up the filter and separate out in the water. But it is also important not to use a grind to fine as you will miss out on getting the full flavour from the coffee. Once you’ve ground your beans, measure them into a heavy-bottomed pour over cone, mug, or any other vessel that might work for you.

Place a paper filter inside the cone or if you’re not using paper filters place your stainless steel filter into your mug or dripper. Add the coffee grounds right in on top of the filter and start pouring water over them. Make sure to pour about 30mls of water over the ground first and then stop to allow it to “bloom”. Blooming will allow any gases to be removed from the coffee. 

Then keep pouring, the trick here is to pour slowly until you get a good developing foam going. I recommend a ratio of about 1:17 as a good starting point, that is for every 1 gram of coffee add 17 grams of water. You don’t have to get exactly perfect measurements! And if you want your coffee stronger simply decrease your water ratio.

Lastly, add anything else that might make your coffee better like milk or sugar! If you’re feeling bold you can also experiment with flavours like vanilla extract or cinnamon. 

Tips and tricks to make the perfect cup of pour over coffee

Pouring over coffee is a great brewing technique for beginners. You can do it yourself without breaking your wallet…It is not essential you worry about buying expensive equipment or spending an arm and a leg on coffee (but if you have the time and money to spend, go ahead!)

Below are four essential things you should consider when making great pour over coffee!

1. Test new coffees on multiple brewing devices

When we get in a new coffee, we look at the origin, elevation, processing method, and roaster’s cup-tasting notes to determine where we begin our brew testing. We always seem to start at either our stainless steel filter or chemix.

Once we find a recipe that we enjoy, we analyze the cup with multiple tasters. Usually, this discussion is productive in leading to the ‘recommended brew method’ for any one coffee, that we then use to sell the coffee.

2. Brew the same coffee multiple times to adjust the variables

My advice to people is to make 2-3 brews of the same coffee at the same time with different, appropriate, adjustments to grind size and brew ratio, and then to taste them as they cool.

Exercises like this are essential to generating an understanding of how the variables of coffee brewing are interrelated, and their effect on the taste of a cup of coffee, as well as for developing a palate for tastes and flavours which develop from under or over extraction.

The technique for pour over should be slow, even pour across the entire bed of coffee, and it should remain as close to the same as possible to allow for some sense of control from brew to brew.

3. Make sure your pour over cone is the appropriate size

Make sure you’re using the appropriate amount of coffee and water per the size of your pour over. Pour overs come in all shapes and sizes and you don’t want to have an off bed depth when brewing.

Too little and the coffee will taste flat and hollow and too much and you lead to a possible over extraction and muddled flavour.

There are reasons as to why there are so many sizes, so pick the one that suits the amount of brewed coffee you’re trying to have.

4. Look out for a muddy ground bed

“If you ever see the coffee being really muddy at the end it most likely means the grind was too fine or you had too much turbulence in the brewing process and it’ll be over extracted.” 

In Summary

You May ask why all the fuss about making a great cup of pour over coffee? Well, it’s not just to have something warm in your hands while you’re sitting outside on a cold day – although that’s a great perk! The real benefit comes from you having control over everything that goes into your cup to ensure you have a quality cup of brew!

There are a few important things to keep in mind when you’re making your own pour over coffee.

• First, make sure that the container is clean and dry before pouring hot water on top of it.
• Second; use a high quality filter made from either paper or stainless steel.
• Third, don’t be afraid to experiment with different types of beans and roasts!

If you want more tips about how to make good pour over coffee at home, check out this article: https://2xespresso.com/blogs/travel-coffee-brewing