We want to talk about each of the coffee brewing methods and share tips for you to make your morning ritual just that much better. Last time we learned about the coffee press. Today is for those of you who make your coffee as a pour over!
Amalie Auguste Melitta Bentz is a woman we admire here at BCR. In 1908 she was dissatisfied with the over extracted, bitter coffee made in her percolator, so she invented a better way to make coffee at home. She drilled holes in a brass pot and tore a piece of blotting paper from her son’s school notebook to use as a filter. The filter trapped the oils and coffee grounds, giving her a cleaner cup. You might recognize her name from the Melitta coffee filters still used in pour overs today. She was so pleased with her coffee that she started the Melitta business helping other people make great coffee at home. Seriously one of our heroes!
So how to make a great tasting pour over?
- Water Temperature: we recommend about 207°
- Grind size: fine ground coffee is best for pour over
- Coffee to water ratio: at BCR our preferred ratio is 17:1 water to coffee. For an 8oz cup of coffee, that would be about 14g of coffee; for 12oz about 20g.
We think the brown paper filters work best because they have less taste than the white filters. To reduce the amount of paper taste, splash a little bit of water around the filter and then dump it out.
With a pour over, it’s best to let the coffee grounds bloom. When they are first touched by the water, they will start to expand and sort of bubble. If too much water is poured on, the grounds will get compacted and not be able to bloom well. This can lead to sour, under extracted coffee. Try pouring on just enough water to wet all of the grounds and then let it bloom for 30 seconds. Then go ahead and fill up the pour over cone.
If you’re using a drip cone, slowly add enough water to fill your cup. Try to spread the water around as you pour to ensure even extraction. If you’re using a Clever Dripper or other device that holds the coffee instead of letting it immediately pour through, we like a brew time of about 2.5 minutes. Remember what we’ve learned about extraction time: if it tastes sour, let it brew longer. If it’s bitter, brew for a shorter amount of time.
Here’s a few things to keep in mind when using a pour over:
- If using a Clever Dripper or similar device, you can control the coffee’s taste primarily with brew time. When using a regular drip cone, you may need to make adjustments to the grind size or water temperature to get the flavor you want. If it’s too sour, make the grind smaller or the water hotter. If it’s bitter, a coarser grind or cooler water will help.
- Paper filters are best for filtering out the coffee oils to give you a cleaner cup. (This is also great for folks who need to watch their cholesterol!) If you like a bigger taste or chewier mouth feel, try a metal filter cone. The metal will not filter out as much oil. Plus, it’s more sustainable because you can reuse it!
- Love the pour over taste, but want to make more than one serving at a time? Try a Chemex! You can use the same ratios and brewing principles for a Chemex that you would for a pour over, just double the recipe.
For coffees that we find delicious in a pour over, check these out!
Here’s to Amalie Auguste Melitta Bentz and making great coffee at home!