The process of making coffee with the pour-over method is not difficult, and both the method itself and the finished product are quite enjoyable. Here is a guide on making the perfect cup of coffee using the pour-over method at home.
You will invariably see a row of conical devices used for making pour-over coffee if you have ever been to a hip “third-wave” coffee shop, which is the type of establishment that has a minimal and clean interior, does not stock flavored sugar syrups, and possibly has a person working behind the counter with extreme facial hair or multiple tattoos. If you have ever been to one of these shops, you will know what I’m talking about. And if you really placed an order for a pour-over and waited the extra five to ten minutes for the barista to prepare it, you’ll be amazed at how much better the coffee is in comparison to the coffee that you brew at home using an automatic drip coffee maker or pods.
It’s possible that the thought of producing pour-over coffee at home will appear to be an overly difficult notion. I’m here to inform you that making pour-over coffee isn’t difficult and can be quite fulfilling. It’s a morning routine that will give you a cup of joe with coffee shop quality in the comfort of your own home, and you won’t even need a beard to do it!
The most significant downside of preparing coffee with a pour-over method is the amount of labor that is required. Even though it takes less than ten minutes to create a single cup of coffee from start to finish, that time is still considered active time because it involves significantly more than just pressing a button on a pod machine or an electric coffee maker. You will, however, be rewarded with some of the finest coffee that you are capable of preparing at home.
What Sets Pour-Over Coffee Apart From Other Types of Coffee?
You have complete control over the pouring of the hot water over the grounds when you make coffee with a pour-over method. This guarantees that all of the coffee grounds are wet to the same degree, which leads to an equitable extraction of the taste components found in coffee. In addition to this, you are given the opportunity to agitate the grinds in order to enhance the flavor extraction process. The last benefit of pour-over coffee is that it allows you to pause briefly between pouring the hot water over the coffee grounds and allowing the grounds to bloom. This allows the carbon dioxide that was previously contained in the coffee beans to be released. Because of this, you will also be able to assist in saturating the coffee and efficiently extracting its taste.
Coffee prepared using a pour-over method is considered to be a type of “filter” coffee. In this method, hot water is poured over ground coffee before being filtered through a paper filter. Although less common, reusable metal and cloth filters are also an option for brewing coffee using this method.
Pour-over coffee, in which the water is manually poured over the coffee grounds, results in a cup of coffee that is clean, well-balanced, and preferred by baristas, coffee nerds, and hipsters. French press coffee, in which the grounds are fully immersed in the water, produces a full-bodied cup of coffee. Pour-over coffee is preferred because it produces a cup of coffee that is well-balanced and clean. And despite the fact that the process sounds quite a bit like a standard automatic drip coffee, the manual pour-over coffee process gives you more control, which in turn results in a cup of coffee that is more dynamic and complex than the cup of coffee you would get from a standard automatic drip coffee.
Which Items of Equipment Do You Require?
Pour over coffee takes relatively little equipment, while there are certain basic tools as well as some nice-to-have items that will make the process of making coffee easier and better. Pour-over coffee is traditionally prepared by pouring hot water over ground coffee.
Things that cannot be done without:
Pour-over apparatus: You may choose from a wide variety of different pour-over apparatuses. The Hario v60, the Kalita Wave, the Chemex, the Zero Bee House, and the Origami Dripper are just some of the most well-known models.
Coffee storage container:
This can be a mug that the pour-over device is put on, or it can be a carafe that has been constructed expressly for coffee use. Some pour-over machines, like the Chemex, are both the equipment and the carafe that is used to keep the coffee once it has been brewed.
Filter:
This is most commonly a paper filter, however, there are other reusable metals and cloth filters available. A conventional size 2 or 4 conical filters may be used with some pour-over devices, while other models only accept pour-over filters that have been specifically built for them.
Coffee Beans, Ground:
Choose the coffee beans that appeal to you the most. If you have the means to do so, you should grind the beans at home just before brewing the coffee.
Hot water:
Although most people don’t give it much thought, coffee that has been brewed contains more than 98% water. If you begin with water that has a poor flavor, the coffee that you make will not turn out very well. Utilize the wonderful tap water that is available to you, if it is available. If this is not the case, you may try making the water taste more neutral by passing it through an activated charcoal filter (such as a Brita), or you can experiment with making your coffee using bottled water and see if it makes a discernible difference in the flavor.
Items that are a plus to have:
Gooseneck kettle:
The more you immerse yourself in the process of making coffee with a pour-over method, the more important it will become to have this nice-to-have accessory. Because of the narrow neck on this specialty kettle, you are able to have greater control and accuracy over the location where you pour the hot water. In a pinch, though, I’ve been able to make pour-over coffee by using a standard water kettle. Although it is not the best solution, it is enough for the task at hand.
A scale is the most effective tool to use if you want to perfect the art of brewing pour-over coffee at home. A cup of coffee that is extremely consistent may be achieved by measuring the number of coffee beans that is used in the brewing process in addition to the volume of water that is used. If you do not have access to a scale, you may make do with volume measures, which are not as accurate but will still bring you in the general vicinity of the correct answer.
Coffee Grinder:
Because as soon as the coffee is ground, it begins to oxidize and lose all of those taste ingredients, purchasing pre-ground coffee is frequently synonymous with purchasing stale coffee. When you buy coffee beans in their full form and grind them yourself, you may keep them fresh for a longer period of time, which results in coffee that has a more vibrant flavor. In comparison to a blade grinder, which may simultaneously generate coffee powder and large pieces of coffee grounds, a burr grinder, if it is within your price range, is the best option for grinding coffee beans since it produces a grind that is uniform in size. However, even a blade grinder is preferable to purchasing coffee that has already been ground. If purchasing a coffee grinder is out of your price range, you may still enjoy freshly ground coffee by placing it in an airtight container and consuming it within seven days. After that amount of time, the flavor of the coffee grounds will begin to change to become notably stale and flat.
Timer:
Keeping track of how long it takes to brew a pot of coffee might help you create a beverage that is more tailored to your preferences as an individual. A cup of coffee that has been brewed for too little time or with grinds that are too coarse will not have the desired effect. If you steep the grounds for too long with too much pressure, you will over extract the coffee, which will result in a cup of coffee that is harsh. Because a timer function is included on each and every smartphone, there is no reason to get a separate one unless you specifically wish to do so.
Although I don’t always use one, stirrers are something that a lot of other people absolutely insist on having. You may use a chopstick, or if you want to be more sophisticated, you can purchase a little wooden spoon that will suffice.
The Perfect Grind for Coffee Served in a Pour-Over Pot
A burr grinder is one of the pieces of equipment that is indispensable to serious coffee aficionados in their pursuit of the ideal cup of coffee. Not only does it allow for a grind size that is consistent, but it also enables you to alter the grind size to suit any method of brewing coffee that you choose, from Turkish coffee (which requires a powder fine grind) to French press (chunky coarse grind).
However, even if you do not own a burr grinder and instead use a blade grinder, have the beans ground at a store or coffee shop, or purchase coffee that has already been ground, you should still aim for a medium-ground coffee when using the majority of pour over coffee devices such as the Kalita Wave or the v60. In general, the grind should be comparable in consistency to kosher salt or granulated sugar; that is, it should be somewhat coarser than table salt but not quite as chunky as sea salt. It’s possible that a Chemex pour-over calls for a more coarse grind, one that’s more analogous to coarse sea salt.
Remember that this is a standard operating procedure. The optimal grind for your coffee is determined by a number of factors, including personal preference, the type of bean used, the amount of coffee being made, the age of the beans, and even the environment in which the coffee is being prepared (making coffee in an environment with high humidity may call for a coarser grind). The greatest piece of advice is to practice, beginning with a medium ground coffee, then adjusting the grind as needed, producing a finer ground if the coffee is weak, flat, or only has one dimension. Experimenting is the best way to learn. If the coffee is excessively bitter, too sour, or too powerful, try grinding it more coarsely.
Choosing a Coffee Pour-Over System
Pour-over apparatuses can be built from a variety of materials, including metal, ceramic, glass, and even plastic. The following are some of the most typical ones you’ll see in coffee shops:
Because of its flat bottom, the Kalita Wave is perhaps the one that is easiest for a novice to use. This is because pouring water over the Kalita Wave does not need extreme accuracy. If you happen to be clumsy in the kitchen (particularly before you’ve had your first cup of coffee), it’s not a disaster of shattered glass or ceramic if you unintentionally knock it into the ground or countertop since the metal version, which is the most popular, is also pretty unbreakable.
The Hario v60, which gets its name from the 60° angle at which the cone is angled, produces a cup of coffee that is exquisitely nuanced but also has a tendency to be a little more finicky. This is because you have to pay a little more attention to how you pour the water into the coffee grounds in order to ensure that all of the grounds are saturated with water. Despite this, you only need a few cups of practice to get the level of expertise required to make coffee that is comparable to that served at a coffee shop.
The Chemex is a vessel in the shape of an hourglass that can perform the tasks of a coffee carafe as well as a pour-over device. After placing the paper filter on top, the coffee will trickle down to the bottom of the container. The attractive modernist coffee maker was designed in 1941 and is considered famous enough to be shown in the Craft and Design section of the Museum of Modern Art. Additionally, with very little additional work, it can provide a delicious cup of coffee.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups (or 14 ounces liquid/400 grams) water
- 3/4 ounce (21 grams) of coffee that is ground medium (about 4 scant tablespoons)
Method
Bring the water to a boil:
If you have a water kettle that can be set to a variable temperature, bring the water to a temperature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don’t have one, fill a kettle with water, bring it to a boil, and then let it sit out of the heat for 45 seconds to a minute so that it may cool down.
Rinse the filter:
Put the pour-over device on top of the mug or carafe. Examples of such devices include the v60 and the Kalita Wave. Put a paper filter inside of it, and then pour enough water over the filter so that it is completely soaked, which should be around an ounce or 28 grams. The paper filter will settle into the pour-over apparatus more easily once it has been rinsed, which will eliminate any flavor of paper or cardboard that the filter could have imparted into the coffee.
Throw away the water that was used to rinse the filter.
To “bloom” the grounds, place the coffee grounds in the paper filter and give it a light shake. This will help the grounds to settle and become level. Pour around 50 grams of water, which is equivalent to roughly 3 tablespoons, over the grinds in a spiral pattern, beginning in the center and working your way out to the outside edges. Make certain that all of the grounds are saturated with water, and, if desired, mix the grounds with a chopstick.
You should see the grounds bubbling up, which indicates that gas is being released. The term for this process is “blooming” the grounds. Because it has a greater amount of carbon dioxide that has been trapped in it, freshly roasted beans will bloom more than older beans. After allowing the water to pass through the coffee for around thirty seconds, add another fifty grams of water in a spiral pattern beginning in the middle and working your way outwards. This will assist in the release of further gas.
Keep adding additional water little by bit:
Continue to add 50 to 75 grams of water at a time, starting at the center, spiraling out to the edge, and moving back into the center with your pour. As the coffee is drained from the mug or carafe, continue adding water in this manner until you have used 12 ounces of water, which is equivalent to 1 1/2 cups or 340 grams. This should take around four and a half minutes to complete.
Serve:
Put the equipment that you pour over coffee away and savor the beverage.
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