How to Make Pour Over Coffee
Learn how to make amazing pour over coffee with this simple recipe. Get the tips and tricks for the perfect ratio, water temperature, grind size, and even extraction. You'll love every sip of this aromatic, flavorful pour over!
Servings: 4 cups (32 fl oz)
Calories: 30kcal
Ingredients
- 2.4 oz single-origin coffee beans recently roasted
- 4 cups cold filtered water
- Coffee filter
Instructions
Prep
- Decide how much coffee you want to make. Since I'm usually making enough for 4 people, I typically brew 4 cups (944 ml) at once.
- In this recipe, I use a 1:14 ratio (1 gram of coffee per 14 grams of water), but feel free to adjust that up even more to 1:12 or lower it to 1:16 or 1:17 depending upon your tastes and the type/roast of beans. (See the ratio chart in the post for a handy reference.)
- Warm up the brewer and rinse the filter by pouring boiling water through it. Be sure to discard the liquid from the carafe before brewing.
Brewing
- Use a digital scale to measure the correct amount of water into a gooseneck kettle, then measure the amount of coffee beans needed. For a 944ml yield at 1:14, I used 67g beans.
- The exact temperature can be tweaked depending upon the roast of coffee you're using, but I usually do 205°F. Hotter (200-205°F) is better for lighter/medium roast, while cooler (200°F) is better for dark roast.
- Discard the preheating water from the carafe and dump the ground coffee into the filter. Make sure there are no lumps and that the grounds are level in the cone.
- Once the water has heated to the right temperature, saturate the grounds with a little water. The coffee should bubble and puff up as it releases carbon dioxide; wait 30 seconds.
- Pour the remaining water in the center of the grounds, pouring in a small circle about the size of a quarter. Agitating the grounds with this pouring technique forces them to cling to the filter, creating a more even extraction.
- Let the brew finish dripping into the lower chamber, then discard the filter and grounds.
- Immediately serve the coffee and mix in sugar, milk, or cream as desired. Enjoy right away for the best flavor.
Notes
- Harsh or bitter coffee? That means it's overextracted. Next time, use cooler water or a coarser grind to slow down the extraction.
- Sour, weak, or saline coffee? That means it's underextracted. Next time, use hotter water or a finer grind to speed up the extraction.
- Ratios: If you don't like the taste of one ratio, adjust the grind size before changing ratios.
- Experimenting with techniques? Only change one variable at a time, or you won't know what caused the change in flavor. Make notes of what worked and what didn't.
- Enjoy the process! Pour over is one of the most tricky brewing methods, and it takes a lot of experience and experimentation to perfect it.
Nutrition
Serving: 8oz | Calories: 30kcal | Sodium: 12mg | Calcium: 7mg
