How to Brew a Pour-Over Coffee
Learning how to brew a perfect Pour-Over Coffee is fast and simple.
When I discovered Blue Bottle Coffee in Los Angeles, my whole world around coffee changed. I didn’t know I could have a cup of black coffee that tasted so sweet and flavorful without adding sugar.
I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time spending $5 for a cup of black coffee. Some people don’t mind dropping that kind of money at Starbucks, because they know there’s no way they’d be able to replicate a Vanilla Frappuccino at home. Fraps are not my thing.
Why I Decided to Brew Pour-Over Coffee
For me, I watched the barista at Blue Bottle (a local high-end coffee shop in Los Angeles) grind my coffee and use a pour-over method for brewing.
This seemed simple enough, so I immediately bought the Blue Bottle roasted beans for $30 per pound and decided it’d be way cheaper to grind these at home and learn how to do the pour-over myself. Since then, I’ve started roasting my own beans to save money, but that’s another story which I’ll get into another time.
I made a quick video on how I brew my pour-over using the Bodum Pour-Over Brewer, Coffee Gator Scale and electric tea kettle. Check it out.
What You’ll Need For Pour-Over Brewing
You only need four things:
- Good quality coffee ground to a coarseness similar to Kosher salt.
- Some type of pour-over apparatus. Here are a few of my favorites.
- Hot water kettle.
- Digital food scale.
Affiliate Announcement: I just wanted to be transparent and let you know I do have an affiliate relationship with Coffee Gator, in case you were wondering. I really do love their products, not just because they’ve offered 10% off to our community. If you use the coupon code “OCD10OFF” at checkout, you’ll get access to that 10% off.
How to Brew a Perfect Pour-Over Coffee
I’m going to keep this recipe so simple, it should be dummy proof.
Step 1: Pour-Over Water Temperature
Start your kettle and get your water hot. If you buy a cheaper electric tea kettle (which is what I use), you won’t know the exact temperature of your water before brewing. The optimal temperature is between 195 and 205 degrees, according to multiple sources, however, you can just bring your kettle to a boil and let it stand for a few minutes before brewing and you’ll be fine. Boiling temperature is 212 degrees, so a couple minutes of sitting should bring you right into that window.
Step 2: Weigh Your Coffee
As your water comes to temp, get started weighing your beans. For a 350 gram pour, you’re looking at 23 grams of ground beans, similarly to the standard ratio for most coffee shops. You can make modifications, if you find your brewed cup too weak or strong. There is a lot of personal preference when making coffee, so don’t be afraid to play around with these recommendations.
Step 3: Warm and Prep for Pour-Over
Once you’ve ground your 23 grams of coffee to a fairly coarse grind, similar to a coarse kosher salt size, now it’s time to prep your pour-over brewer.
If you’re using the Coffee Gator Pour-Over Brewer or Bodum Pour-Over Maker, you’ll want to pour some hot water through the mesh filter into the glass brewer, in order to warm all the pieces and rinse away any residue from past brews. If you’re using the V60, pour hot water through the filter to remove any paper flavor, as well as to heat up the cup below.
Once you’ve done that, pour off that rinsing water. Add your coffee ground to the paper or mesh filter.
Step 4: Pour Exact Amount of Water
Place your brewer on the scale and zero out.
Slowly pour 35 grams of water in a circular motion over coffee grounds. Stop and wait 30 seconds. This is called the bloom. If you’re using good, fresh roasted coffee it will bubble and release gasses during this 30 second pause.
In 100 gram increments, repeat the pour-over process, using a circular pattern, allow each 100 grams of water to filter though before continuing. You’ll repeat 3 times, until you reach 350 grams.
That’s it! Enjoy your pour-over coffee.
How to Modify Your Pour-Over Brew
Making More Than One Cup of Pour-Over Coffee
If you’re like me, one cup of coffee isn’t going to cut it. When I brew, I make a double batch, using 46g of ground coffee and 700g of water.
How to Adjust the Pour-Over Coffee Strength
As I mentioned above, there are no hard fast rules when brewing your coffee. If you’d like to adjust your brewing ratios, feel free to experiment. After all, you are the one drinking your coffee, not me. Using the same 350g water pour, try adjusting the coffee grams lower or higher. The more grounds you use, the stronger the cup. The less you use, the weaker the cup. Your call.
Why Coarseness Matters when Brewing a Pour-Over
You might want to consider buying a Burr Grinder, if you’re going to start taking your coffee brewing serious. A Burr Grinder is able to grind your beans to a specific coarseness with consistency, while a blade grinder will have a mix of fine and coarse grind. Why do you want a coarseness similar to kosher salt? Because if your grind is too fine, you create a mud in the pour-over filter that will extract way too much from the bean, leaving you with a bitter flavor. Too coarse and you won’t extract enough flavor, leaving you with a really weak cup of coffee. Just something to keep in mind.
Hope you enjoyed this post. If you liked this, you’ll probably like our post about How to Brew Aeropress Coffee. It’s a much quicker method than the pour-over, but it does have it’s limitations. Check it out.
Please feel share it with your coffee loving friends and family or reach out to us and let us know what you think.