How to brew pour-over coffee. Getting a great cup of coffee requires the right brewing equipment, fresh roasted coffee and a perfected pour-over coffee technique. This post covers the basic elements for success. Once mastered, pour-over coffee brewing is simple and easy to repeat. Having the right beans and equipment is key as well, but it starts with technique. A $40 100% Kona Peaberry can be ruined by too fine of a grind, so a good burr grinder set to the proper grind setting is important, as is using a goose-neck kettle, for better control of the pour, it makes a big difference.

 

Items needed:

• Goose-neck drip kettle
• Cone style coffee dripper
• Paper filters
• Digital kitchen scale
• Burr coffee grinder
• A cup or decanter
• Kitchen thermometer

Heat the water

Bring the water to a boil then remove from the heating element. If you are using a temperature controlled electric kettle, just bring it up to a preset temp and hold. The optimal temperature is in the 198-201 degree range (depending on altitude, water will boil at a lower temperature).

Rinse the paper filter

Place the filter in the cone. Be sure to fold the seams over flat to make the filter sit better in the cone. Rinse your paper filter with the some of the heated water.

Grind and measure the coffee grounds

Weigh out the fresh beans to a 1:16 ratio, in grams, coffee to water. Experiment with ratios to suit taste. Grind to a medium-fine texture, the ground coffee grains should be about the size of sand. Note: A courser grind will cause the coffee to under-extract, resulting in a watery cup of coffee, too fine of a grind and the grounds will over-extract and taste bitter. Place your cup or decanter on the kitchen scale and zero (Tare) it. Add the coffee to the filter, level and slightly indent the center.
Zero the scale.

Bloom the coffee

Pre-infuse the coffee first. Pour 40-60g of hot water into the center of the grounds and work your way out, in expanding circles, until you reach the edge of the grounds. Some people recommend that you stop short of the edge leaving a 1/8 inch or so of the coffee dry. It probably doesn’t make a difference.

Let sit for 45-70 seconds. Note: the fresher the beans the more the grounds will expand as they release gases, older roasted coffee may not bloom at all. Let the bloom deflate before adding more water.

Start the main pour

After blooming, start the main pour, beginning from the center, pour the remaining water into the cone. Some like the do this in stages, pour, rest, pour, rest, etc. This should take around 2-3 minutes. Try to keep the water level above the coffee grounds, keeping oxygen from coming into contact with the coffee before you finish the pour. Take your time

Enjoy your cup!

Practice makes perfect! With good fresh coffee, proper equipment and technique you’ll be a pour-over master in no time.

Things to remember:

1. Grind
2. Measure
3. Bloom
4. Pour slowly

The Art of Pour Over Coffee by Joe Bean Coffee Roasters via Whole Latte Love

Here are a couple videos the demonstrate the pour-over coffee technique.

Tom from Sweet Maria’s gives you the lowdown:

From Kyle Evans at The Roasterie:

Some articles:
The Coffee Geek

Prima Coffee Equipment

The Kitchn: How to Brew Great Coffee The Pour Over Method