Making pour over coffee has recently become a trend, but the irony is that it has been around for ages. It’s the best way to perfect your brew so that you get a delicious cup of coffee every time. Once you master the method, invite your friends over to impress them with your skills.
How to Make a Pour over Coffee
Learning how to make pour over coffee is relatively simple. However, mastering the technique to get the delicious results that are only possible in a pour over coffee maker will take time and practice. But it is absolutely worth it.
If you aren’t convinced, stop at a local café and order a cup of pour over coffee to taste the possibilities for yourself (and then realize that you can perfect even further by developing a technique that matches your specific tastes).
So here is the basic brewing method involved:
- Heat water. Experiment within a range of 175 to 205 F.
- When water is nearly the correct temperature, grind beans to a medium or fine grind.
- Add grounds to filter. Shake to even the bed.
- Pour just enough water to wet the grounds. Let bloom (swell) for 30 seconds or until it stops.
- Pour the remaining water in an even, slow flow while rotating in concentric circles to evenly soak all of the grounds. It should take about 3 minutes to pour if you are making a liter.
- Let drip for another minute or so after the pour is finished.
- Serve
The Barista’s Secrets
Baristas are trained in the best way to make pour over coffee. To elevate this basic at-home method, try out a few of these tips.
- Choose the right beans. Not only do you want high quality whole beans, you want the best beans for this specific method. Consult a coffee expert friend or a local barista to learn how to determine which beans are best for brewing this way.
- Experiment, experiment, experiment: a passionate brewer will not serve a coffee until they have brewed it multiple times, adjusting different variables (temperature, grind, contact time, pour technique, etc.) to find out what works the best.
- Adjust coffee-to-water ratio. A standard is 30 grams to 500 ml but that is by no means an unbreakable law. Play around with different ratios to find out which gives you the flavor profile you want.
- Grind last. Grind right before you are ready to pour so that the grounds are as fresh as possible. Ideally, you want to start pouring water over the grounds less than 60 seconds after they have been ground.
There are many other tricks that baristas swear by. Using the basic method described, you can also come up with your own special twists and technique to make your coffee your own. The beauty of the pour over method is that you can experiment with each stage of the brew.
