There are many different styles of pour-over style brewers. Examples you may be familiar with are Chemex, V60, April, Origami, etc. These brewers are defined by the shape of the filter. You have either conical (like a Chemex) or flat bottomed shaped filters (like with the April).

The flat bottom filter brewers may be a little easier to learn on than the conical shaped filter brewers, but it’s not like “hard science” with either style. Just know that each style and brewer has their own benefits but all make a great cup of coffee! The tips below will get you started on your pour-over journey.

Using your kitchen scale, measure out enough beans to achieve a 1 to 16 (bean to water) ratio. For example, if you want to brew one 8oz cup of coffee (that’s approximately 227 grams….rounded!), you’ll need 14.2 grams of beans.

Using filtered water, heat the water to 195F—205F. If you don’t have a temperature-controlled electric kettle, a stovetop kettle works, too. Just bring the water to a boil, remove it from the burner, and let it set for a minute to cool down to the right brewing temperature.

While the water is heating, grind your beans to a medium size grind. That’s the consistency of kosher salt.

Place the appropriate paper filter in the brewing device (that is, either the Chemex, V60, Origami, etc).

Thoroughly rinse the filter with some of the hot water and discard the water. This will remove some of the papery taste a paper filter may impart to your coffee.

Dump the coffee into the rinsed filter and shake the brewer to level out the grounds.

Place the brewer with the ground coffee on top of the container you’ll be brewing into on your scale. Tare the scale (so it reads zero).

In a circular pattern, pour the heated water on the grounds.  Watch the scale and keep pouring until you’ve dispensed an amount of water that is 3 times the weight of the beans.  So, using the example of brewing an 8 oz cup of coffee, you’ll pour approximately 43 grams of water over the dry grounds in your filter.

You’ll notice bubbling and a crust forming on the surface of the grounds. This is called the “bloom” and it’s caused by the release of gasses from the interaction of the hot water and grounds. Take note of how the coffee smells as these gasses are released. The aroma will be fantastic and just a hint of the yumminess to come.

After about 30–45 seconds, once the coffee grounds have stopped bubbling, slowly pour the rest of your water onto the coffee, in a slow, steady, continuous pour, starting in the middle and spiraling outward. In total, the water should have about 2–4 minutes of contact with the coffee. Set a timer if that helps!

Once the water has stopped flowing into the container, remove the filter with the grounds and discard.

Pro Tips

  1. So you don’t have to do any higher math before your first cup in the morning, write down on a sticky note the amount of beans (using the 1:16 ratio) you need to grind for various batch sizes. Post it on your brewer!
  2. Try using white instead of natural (brown) paper filters. Most good filters use a non-chemical method to bleach them white and they impart less of a papery taste to your coffee. The natural filters, even when rinsed, still leave a slight papery taste in my estimation.
  3. You might now realize that pour-overs can take a bit more finesse than other brewing methods. The key to success is getting an even extraction of yumminess when water meets grounds. You want to gently pour the water over all the grounds as evenly as possible rather than pour the whole bit of water over just one spot in the coffee bed. Using a gooseneck kettle makes this a lot easier to do.
  4. If your coffee tastes bitter or sour, it’s likely that your grind was too fine, and the coffee was overextracted. Increase the coarseness of the grind size. If your coffee tastes flat or watery, it’s likely that your grind was too coarse, so grind it finer.
  5. You can also adjust the ratio to dial in the perfect cup. Use more coffee (like a 1:15 ratio) for a fuller taste or less coffee (like a 1:17 ratio) for less robustness. Experiment, but only change one variable (like grind size or ratio) at a time so you know what is driving the changes in the taste of your cup.
  6. Throw your filter with grounds into your compost bin and use it in your garden!
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