Tracking down the best coffee choice for your morning cup of pour-over coffee can seem like a scary task. But it doesn’t have to be!
We’ll break down what makes coffee good or bad for pour-over and give you a few hints and tips to ensure your brew is stellar every morning.
What Is Pour-Over Coffee?
The pour-over method is just what it sounds like — you pour hot water over coffee grinds. The grounds and water sit within a filter basket, typically made from paper. The water slowly makes its way through the coffee grinds, absorbing the flavor and nutrients of the beans.
The pour-over method has had a boost in popularity throughout the specialty coffee scene, leading to a lot of conversations about what makes any particular pour-over brew better than another.
One significant difference between commercial and specialty pour-over is hand-pouring hot water onto the bed of ground coffee. This part of the process allows specific pouring techniques to maximize or reduce extraction during brewing.
Specialty pour-over involves adding water in specific patterns and at certain speeds. Commercially, though, shops use a drip coffee machine, a not-so-delicate process.
Why Is Pour-Over Coffee So Popular?
Coffee scientists believe the pour-over extraction method pulls out more nuanced and delicate flavors than any other brewing method.
The pour-over technique uses a steady stream of fresh water with no coffee solubles before brewing. This allows the water to absorb the coffee flavor and aroma compounds more readily.
Compare this to an immersion method like the French press. In this method, the brewing water eventually becomes saturated, so the overall amount of coffee solubles that you can extract is limited.
Pour-Over Coffee Equipment: What You'll Need
To get started making pour-over brews, you need a few things:
Pour-Over Brewer
The brewer is the physical item that your filter and grounds will sit within. Common examples of pour-over brewers include the Chemex and the Hario v60, though many may seem interchangeable. While they all make slightly different cups of coffee, you can use any of them to get started.
A great example of the differences between different brewers is the internal surface of the funnels of the Hario v60 and the Chemex. After looking, you’ll notice that the inside of the Chemex's brewing funnel is perfectly smooth glass, save for a pouring spout. Conversely, the internal surface of the v60 has spiraling ridges.
Both of these alternative designs have perks. The v60’s ridges prevent a vacuum from forming between the filter and the brewer, and the Chemex's smoothness prevents coffee from building up in any one location.
There are many options for making a great cup, and we suggest starting with a more budget-friendly option, like the V60 or the Melitta pour-over. Despite their price, these sturdy tools can last a long time. Plus, even if they break, you can either replace them cheaply or get a premium option since you will likely use the product.
Pour-Over Filters
Aside from ensuring you purchase the correct filters for your device (double-check the label — we’ve all made that mistake!), you also want to decide what material works best for you.
The most common coffee filters are made from paper and are typically biodegradable. Lots of people really like this option, as it results in an easy cleanup with minimal mess. However, some people insist that paper filters can impart a paper flavor to your final beverage.
Another option is cloth filters, typically made from cotton. These filters leave less flavor in your brew and are reusable, so they have a smaller environmental impact. Brewers will have to rinse and periodically wash them.
Kettle
While you can use a standard stovetop kettle, there are a few reasons why you might prefer to invest in a specialty coffee-making option. These options are temperature-controlled and provide greater pouring control.
To get the most out of a pour-over coffee, you should treat it like a recipe. Therefore, having your coffee brewing water at the exact temperature you’re aiming for is ideal for ensuring you get the same coffee every time.
Gooseneck Kettles
Gooseneck kettles are a subtype of kettles overall. They’re very similar to a traditional electric kettle and will boil water capably. They differ because their pouring spout is a long, thin tube that bends at the very tip — not unlike a goose’s neck. This leads to slower and more consistent pouring. With a little practice, your pouring control will improve.
Greater pouring control allows you to saturate the bed of coffee grounds more efficiently and evenly. Agitating all the coffee within your brewer will typically lead to better overall extraction. There’s nothing worse than brewing a cup only to find all the water has channeled through a specific route, avoiding the coffee you lovingly selected and ground.
Scale
Aside from the brewer, scales are one of the most vital parts of a pour-over recipe. Scales allow you to pre-measure your coffee and your water, making it easy to achieve the perfect ratio of water to coffee. Plus, you can segment out exact amounts of water for both the bloom and primary pour-over process.
Finding the Best Beans for Your Pour-Over Cup
Now that you’ve decided to try pour-over coffee, the next question is how to find the best beans. There are a couple of different things that you might want to bear in mind, so let’s break these key factors down.
1. Coffee Roast
The roast of the coffee matters a little more for pour-over coffee than in other cases. As coffee is roasted to an increasingly dark degree, the cellulose that makes up the bean itself starts to break down. As this occurs, the coffee flavor and aroma chemicals in the beans start to become more and more easily soluble. This is why dark roast coffee is used for instant espresso: you’ll need a lot less time to extract the flavors.
The brew time for a pour-over coffee can last two or three minutes. You have the luxury of choosing something with more depth and complexity of flavor. During the fairly lengthy brew time, those chemicals will be drawn from the bean.
Because light roast coffees tend to retain more of their original flavor than dark roast beans, we’d suggest opting for a light to medium roast. This roast level, paired with a slow, deliberate extraction method, will give you a beautifully complex cup of coffee. Pay attention to see if you can notice the bright, sharp notes in a light roast coffee. Often, these are compared to citrus or flowers.
2. Coffee Origin
The quality of coffee beans is getting better and better, with many different growing regions developing terroir. Terroir is a term from the wine world that simply means a flavor that represents the region where the grapes (or coffee beans, in our case) were grown.
To get a spectacular cup of pour-over coffee, it’s worth considering the different tasting notes that often come from different regions. For instance, Ethiopian coffee generally has fruity and floral, while Central American coffee can have chocolate or nut notes.
The best coffees for pour-over are the ones with a high complexity of flavor. For example, modern Vietnamese coffee offers a ton of flavor compounds in each bean, producing a delicious cup of pour-over coffee.
3. Grind Level
The grind size of coffee in any brewing situation is a hotly contended topic, with different people preferring different extraction rates in different situations. Essentially, when considering grind, there is one main thing to bear in mind: finer grind = more extraction.
With this in mind, we can start viewing the world of grind sizes with a bit more knowledge. Instant espresso, for instance, is ground very finely because it’s packed into a tiny puck. This slows down the rate at which water can get through the coffee, leading to a greater extraction in a relatively short time.
For pour-over coffee, we would suggest a medium-coarse grind size. This size, paired with an even pour over the bed of coffee and a little agitation of the mixture during brewing, should lead to a good, even extraction.
If your coffee doesn’t taste great, the grind is typically the best place to start when correcting it. If the cup that you’ve made is too bitter or powdery, then you’ve over-extracted the coffee during brewing. To extract less, a great place to start is to grind your coffee more coarsely.
Conversely, if your coffee is sour, vegetal, or weak, you’ll likely be under-extracted during brewing. To extract more flavor, grind your coffee beans a little more finely.
After dialing in your grind size, you can easily make a stunningly tasty cup of coffee — with great flavor and impressive texture and body.
Tips For Choosing the Best Coffee Brand For Pour-Over
Finding your favorite coffee brand isn’t as simple as you might think — there are lots of coffee brands out there, all with something unique to offer you. However, by understanding how different coffee brands ensure their beans are top-quality, you can make a more informed final decision. Here are some things you should consider:
- Organically Grown: Organically grown coffee isn’t grown with artificial pesticides or fertilizer. This allows the plant's natural flavors to come through more intensely, leading to a more complex flavor.
- Certified Mold-Free: Mold can, very occasionally, grow in coffee crops and leave behind mycotoxins. By ensuring that your coffee has a mold-free certification, you can be sure you’re drinking clean, pure coffee without those harmful chemicals.
- Sugar-Free: Added sugar can be a sign that the coffee roastery is trying to hide poor flavors in its product. If you would still like something a little sweeter, try coffees that include natural, organic sweeteners like monk fruit, which also enhance the flavor in other ways.
- Freshly Roasted: Freshly roasted coffee will have much more diverse and complex flavors available since the chemical process to create them has ceased relatively recently. Be sure that the roaster you’re interacting with only sells beans that have been recently roasted.
- Freshly Ground: The best coffee is made with freshly ground beans: it contains volatile flavor compounds that haven’t had a chance to evaporate. If the beans are ground a long time before use, they’ll likely lose a lot of flavor.
- Country of Origin: Your favorite country of origin for coffee is a personal choice, but we’re particularly impressed by the variety of coffee in Vietnam. The unique geography means that arabica and robusta beans can be grown in several locations, leading to complex and flavorsome coffee.
FAQs: Pour-Over Coffee
Let’s go through some common questions about pour-over coffee!
1. What Are Some Common Pour-Over Brewers?
There are several common pour-over brewers that all differ slightly in popularity. Some of the most common ones include the Hario v60 and the Melitta Pour-over brewer, which are designed to sit directly on your mug, and the Chemex, which is a standalone brewing vessel.
2. What Roast Should I Use for Pour-Over?
For a lengthy brewing time like that found with pour-over, a light to medium roast is ideal: you can extract some beautiful and subtle notes over the longer brew time.
3. How Should I Grind for Pour-Over?
Medium-coarse grind size is a great starting place for pour-over, as that will allow more extraction than coarse grounds at the same time. After starting there, dial in the flavor of your coffee by experimenting with coarser or finer grinds, and you’ll be making stellar cups in no time.
4. What Equipment Do I Need Before I Start Brewing Pour-over?
There’s a lot of equipment needed before first brewing in the pour-over style. Most importantly, you’ll need the brewer itself and the filters. You may also want a kettle with specific temperature control and a small spout for added pouring precision, as well as a set of scales to ensure you’re making the same brew every time.
5. What Type of Filter Should I Use?
There are three super popular types of filters: paper, cloth, and metal. Paper filters are most common as they can be used once and thrown away with minimal cleanup, but some users report a papery flavor in their final cup. You can avoid this with a reusable cloth or metal filter, which can be emptied, washed, and reused.
6. What’s So Special About Pour Over Coffee?
Pour Over coffee is generally adored because it’s a method that allows you to ensure all of your coffee grounds are evenly saturated. This is enticing for specialty coffee lovers because it allows them to experience a greater range of flavors available in each cup.
7. What’s The Best Brew Ratio for Pour Over?
Generally speaking, coffee experts recommend a brew ratio of water to coffee between 15:1 and 17:1. It's a good idea to start at around 16:1 and then change to taste.
