Brewing
How to...
A pour over is a manual brewing method of making coffee, often created using a Hario V60 or Chemex it gives the user complete control over all variable such as water temperature, speed and saturation, allowing you to get a clean coffee with highly nuanced flavours. It is often used at it helps bring out more delicate notes in coffee which can be lost when brewing espresso, it is also a cheaper alternative to a coffee machine with equipment often costing as little as £20.
1.Prep & Rinse
Place the V60 dripper on top of your mug or server, next fold one filter paper and place into the V60. Using hot water, wet the filter to remove the paper taste (discard any water which has fallen into your mug / server)
2. Weigh & Grind
Weigh out 15g of coffee (we will be using the 1:15 ratio). Either buy this as pre-ground coffee or if you buy whole bean use an at home grinder to grind to a medium/fine consistency.
3. Add Coffee & Tare Scale
Pour the ground coffee into the V60, gently shake or tape the side of the V60 with your hands to level out the bed. Place your V60 onto your mug/server and then place this onto your scale (making sure the scale is set to 0). At this time you need to heat your water between 92 – 96 degrees, either using a precision brewing kettle for accuracy or just using a standard kettle.
4. The Bloom (0:00 – 0:30)
Start your timer and begin pouring 50g of water over the coffee, making sure all the grounds are wet and using a circling motion as your pour. Let the coffee ‘bloom’ for 30 seconds, which allows the release of gases and helps develop the coffee flavour.
5. Main Pour (0:30 – 2:00)
Here you should be aiming to pour 200g of water total by the 2 minute mark (taking you to 250g total)a again make sure your are pouring in a circle motion, covering all the grounds to allow for an even extraction.
6. Drawdown (2:00 – 3:00)
Let the water finishing draining through – for an even extraction the total time should be around 3 minutes. If the water runs too fast you need to grind finer and if it runs to slow you need to grind coarser.
7. Enjoy!
What is the Bloom for?
The Bloom is the process of releasing CO2 gas from the coffee which builds up from roasting, it happens when the hot water touches the coffee grounds and causes them to foam up (the more foam the fresher the coffee). This is done so that proper flavour extraction can happen, by evenly soaking the grounds and preventing bitter coffee from channeling.
Whats the best pour over equipment?
This is subjective as can depend on how many people you are brewing for! For beginners the standard Hario V60 is a great first option as is very durable. If you are looking to make coffee for more than one try the Hario V60 Drip Decanter and the standard Filter papers. If you want a step up we also stock the Fellow Stag range which have some excellent premium options!
What are the best coffee beans?
As always you are going to get the best results from fresh coffee so steer clear of supermarket coffee and purchase from your favourite roaster! The next most important thing is the flavour you are looking for:
Fruity:
Chocolate / Nutty:
(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Latte)
Wild:
Signed, Sealed, Delivered – It Pours
What grind size is best for a pour over?
The best grind size will be a medium to fine (like coarse salt or granulated sugar texture) you can buy a specific grind size on our website for your brewing method so you always get it right!
Why does my coffee taste bitter or sour?
The main culprit here is the extraction being our of balance. A bitter tasting coffee means that the coffee was over-extracted, the water stayed in contact for the coffee for too long creating a bitter taste – to fix this you need a coarser grind to allow the coffee to pass through quicker.
If your coffee is tasting sour, then you under-extracted and the water passed through the coffee grounds to quickly. Here you need to grind finer, allowing the water to have more time in contact with the coffee.
