Brewing pour over coffee can be a joy in and by itself. However, pour over coffee is much more than that. Pour over coffee can yield delicious and memorable flavors. Along with French press, pour over is among the manual techniques, which require time, attention, patience and some understanding of coffee brewing. In our opinion, brewing pour over coffee is not difficult. We hope that this article will address one of the most common questions: how to brew pour over coffee. Let’s explore!
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Benefits and challenges of brewing pour over coffee
Brewing pour over coffee requires some effort and attention at every step of the brewing process. Therefore, despite becoming more popular in recent years, pour over is not as prevalent as automatic brewing methods (drip coffee, single cup or Nespresso).
Pour over comes with some undeniable advantages. Of them, we feel that the flexibility and ownership is the most important one. With those flexibility and ownership, pour over can yield rich, deep and complete flavors, with phenomenal coffee aroma in the air.
Without a doubt, you may need to have a basic understanding of how to brew pour over coffee. This method will require some insights into water-coffee ratios, optimal water temperature, and infusion of coffee grounds.
However, we feel that learning these things is EASY and SIMPLE. Reading our guide will help you become an intermediate user of pour over coffee. So, let’s dive in. How to brew pour over coffee?
Definitive Guide: How to brew pour over coffee?
→ Step 1: Determine the perfect ratio of coffee grounds and water
The first step in brewing pour over coffee is deciding on the quantities of coffee grounds and water. We recommend the ratio of 1:16 (1 unit of coffee grounds to 16 units of water). Depending on your desired strength and boldness, you may need to use less water, or add more coffee grounds.
You may find some simple and inexpensive kitchen scales particularly useful here. For instance, AmazonBasics sells a kitchen scale inexpensively.
→ Step 2: Heat up water in a kettle or a pot
The second step is to heat up water. I typically use a temp-control kettles, such as Cuisinart temp electric kettle, but many people love using gooseneck kettles. They are much easier to use for brewing pour over coffee. Some examples include an inexpensive Bodum kettle or a slightly larger Hamilton Beach gooseneck kettle.
For the perfect brewing temperature, you may need to let water cool down for 1-2 minutes after it has boiled.
→ Step 3: Prepare the dripper / pour over carafe
In this step, you can choose between a dripper with a carafe (such as this Bodum’s pour over) or a dripper that you can place over your mug (such as this one).
Some drippers come with their own metal filters. However, I prefer adding my own paper filter to achieve filtered coffee vs unfiltered coffee.
If the dripper does not have any filter, I will have to add a metal or paper filter (depending on whether I prefer to drink filtered or unfiltered coffee).
→ Step 4: Place the desired quantity of coffee grounds in the filter
Once you are ready with the quantities, you will need to place your desired quantity of coffee grounds in the dripper/filter.
→ Step 5: Pre-infuse coffee grounds using small amounts of water
This step in brewing pour over coffee is called “pre-infusion.” You are welcome to skip it, but integrating pre-infusion in the process gives coffee a richer, more flavorful taste.
After you allow 1-2 minutes for water to cool down, you will need to begin pouring small quantities of water over coffee grounds. The initial amount should be enough to get grounds soaked with water. Let them bloom for 30 seconds.
The grounds will inflate a little bit, and they will start releasing their flavors and oils.
→ Step 6: Soak all coffee grounds with water
After pre-infusion, you can start pouring water again. Make sure that all grounds are equally soaked with water.
You can choose to pour the water fast or slow. This will determine the strength. Pouring water faster will make coffee weaker, because the water will infuse the grounds for a shorter period of time.
→ Step 7: Enjoy your cup of coffee
Now you are ready to enjoy your pour over coffee!
PROs and CONs of brewing pour over coffee
Advantages
If you know how to brew coffee in a pour over, you will be able to hugely benefit from this method. All of these contribute to an excellent flavor and enjoyable cup of coffee.
- Pour over offers unparalleled control in the coffee brewing process.
- I can take full advantage of coffee beans’ potential and flavor via pre-infusion.
- Perfect the strength and flavor via temperature control, and ratio of coffee grounds and water.
Disadvantages
To be fair, pour over coffee is not all glorious. There are a couple of drawbacks, which have to do with the manual aspect of brewing.
- Pour over requires full attention and patience. I cannot do something else while my coffee is brewing, I need to pay attention to each step in brewing pour over coffe.
- I can only brew a small amount of coffee, usually 1-2 cups of coffee.
Selecting the best coffee for pour over coffee
You can brew pour over coffee with any type of roast: light, medium or dark. The ultimate roast selection depends primarily on your taste.
However, what matters most in brewing pour over coffee is the grind size. Pour over methods require a medium or medium-fine grind.
Fine grounds cannot be used because small coffee particles would get stuck in a filter, thus clogging it. Water would not pass quickly enough. Consequently, coffee can come out over-extracted.
A coarse grind is not working with this method either, because water needs to stay in contact with the grounds for longer in order to extract flavors and oils properly.
Is pour over coffee bad for you?
Some people express concern whether pour over coffee is good.
The answer is that it largely depends on individual needs and conditions.
For instance, pour over coffee makers have the ability to brew unfiltered coffee with the use of metal filters. Unlike paper filters, metal filters allow many coffee particles and oils to pass through. This is not great for cholesterol or liver issues, as reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Therefore, some people may need to avoid it.
However, pour over coffee makes can also brew filtered coffee. All that you need is a good paper filter. The paper filter should prevent any harmful particles and components from entering a cup of coffee.
What to look out for in selecting a pour over coffee maker
I do not need expensive coffee machines to brew coffee using the pour over method.
All I need is a water kettle to heat up the water, and a dripper.
Some drippers come with their own metal filters, some do not have any filter at all. You can use a metal filter by itself, but remember that coffee will be unfiltered.
However, if you’d rather drink filtered coffee, you will need to add a paper filter on the dripper.
These are some examples of drippers and metal filters available on Amazon:
Learning how to brew pour over coffee
Brewing pour over coffee may not be the first thing that comes to mind. It is a manual method, and may not be as convenient as automatic coffee makers.
However, the pour over method is extremely attractive to coffee aficionados who enjoy the crafts and arts of handmade coffee. Pour over has a rather artisan feel, and it will appeal to those who want to control the brewing process.
All in all, learning how to brew pour over coffee is extremely easy and simple.
What do you think? Have you tried brewing coffee using pour over? What did you find most challenging in learning how to brew pour over coffee? What other tips do you have your fellow coffee lovers?
Let us know in the comments!
Images by Mike Baker
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