How to get started with Pourovers

How to get started with Pourovers

Step-by-Step Guide for a Baseline Pourover Using a 1:16 Ratio.

This method is meant to be a baseline to get started with pourover. Having a baseline helps you establish what you like or dislike and make tweaks to perfect it.

Full video version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aeRAE2xz7A

We will do 1 bloom at 3 times the ground coffee weight, and 2 equal pours.

  1. Heat water to 200°F
  2. Measure and grind 20g of coffee. Grind size should be somewhere between table salt and coarse sea salt.

(Dime in picture for scale)

  1. Fold filter paper back along the seams, open the filter and seat the filter in the brewer
    • If you are using a flat bottom brewer, you can skip the folding part. There is nothing to fold.
    • Some people rinse the paper filters here to prevent papery taste, but with modern paper filters, this isn't necessary.

  1. Pour the ground coffee into the filter and gently shake the brewer until the bed is flat
  2. Tare the scale
  3. Start the timer and pour 60g of water (3x the ground coffee weight) in a spiral, making sure to wet all the grounds.

  1. Wait 45 seconds to let trapped gas escape from the grounds (this is called a bloom)
  2. Pour 130g of water in a spiral for a total weight of 190g (I personally like to pour to 200g for the first pour because it's an easier number to remember)

  1. Wait until the water drains down to just above the coffee grounds
  2. Pour a second 130g of water in a spiral for a total weight of 320g

  1. Wait until the water finishes draining, then stop the timer. The total brew time should be roughly 2:30~3:30 minutes
  2. Pourover is complete!

How to Adjust Your Pourover

Extraction

In general, coffee flavor compounds come out in order during extraction: fruits, florals, sugars, chocolates. The higher the extraction, the more sugars and chocolates you get. If you push too far, your coffee might end up too bitter. If you don't push enough, your coffee might be too sour. The following will guide you through how to change each variable to turn up or down the extraction. Use this information to help adjust your coffee to your liking.

note: If a coffee does not have the flavor compound, you cannot make it magically appear in your cup. If a coffee is described to have all chocolate and sugar notes, you won't magically make fruit notes shine through by lowering the extraction. Adjusting the extraction only helps you balance the existing flavors to your liking.

Ratio

A 1:16 ratio is just the average ratio, which happens to be my preference. A lower ratio (1:15 for example) will have a thicker body and the flavors will be more concentrated. A higher ratio (1:17 for example) will have a thinner body and the flavors will be more separated. Also, because higher ratios use more water, they tend to push extraction higher. Experiment with different ratios to find your preference.

Water Temperature

The higher the temperature, the higher the extraction. Water temperature changes are generally more noticeable in +5°F increments. Bitter compounds have an easier time being extracted at higher temperatures, so if that is not your cup of coffee, best keep the temperature below 200°F.

Grind Setting

The finer the grind setting, the higher the extraction. At finer settings, there is less space for water to flow through the coffee grounds and the drawdown will take longer, giving water more time to extract from coffee grounds. However, if you grind too fine, you might stall the drawdown (water might be blocked from drawing down). If you push even farther, you might end up with uneven extraction in the cup because the water cannot move through the coffee freely and evenly. You'll get a cup that is both too sour and too bitter. I recommend starting from a coarse setting and adjusting finer from there.

Tips

  • More heavily processed beans (e.g. dry processed or anaerobic processed beans) extract more easily, so start with lower water temperature or coarser grind settings.
  • Weight and time are here to act as a guide to help you make your favorite cup consistently. They are not strict guidelines that must be followed, especially since every bean extracts differently and your optimal weight and time for it will vary.
  • It is easier for you to taste the coffee when the coffee is closer to your mouth's temperature as opposed to hot. If the coffee is too hot when you drink it, it will be hard for you to pick out anything other than bitter notes.
  • Taste is the most important aspect of your cup. Everyone has different tastes. Different beans also extract differently. Make the cup to your own liking.