How Much Difference Is There Between Pour-Over Coffee and Coffee Machines? Is Pour-Over Coffee Really Better Tasting Than Espresso Machines?

Nowadays when you go to a coffee shop, they typically offer both pour-over coffee and espresso coffee. Friends who don't drink coffee often might be confused about this. Since they're both coffee, what's the difference? FrontStreet Coffee is here to explain the unique characteristics of these two types of coffee.

Espresso Coffee

This is coffee made with an espresso machine. The coffee extracted directly from the machine is called espresso. Using this as a base, various types of coffee are created by adding different ingredients. For example, adding milk makes latte coffee, while adding water creates Americano coffee. All of these are collectively called espresso coffee. The biggest characteristic of espresso is using 9 bar pressure to extract a cup of extremely concentrated coffee.

How to Make Espresso?

Step 1: Remove the portafilter and wipe it clean. Wipe the portafilter before weighing coffee grounds each time to ensure the inside is dry and water-free.

Step 2: Weigh the coffee grounds. Use an electronic scale to accurately measure the coffee grounds, with a deviation of plus or minus 0.1 grams. For today's calibration, the dose was adjusted to 19 grams.

Step 3: Distribute the grounds evenly by hand or using a distribution tool, ensuring the coffee grounds are evenly distributed in the portafilter. Uneven distribution will result in inconsistent puck density - areas with more coffee will be denser and harder to extract, while areas with less coffee will be looser and easier to over-extract.

Step 4: Tamp the coffee grounds accurately using a tamper, avoiding an uneven puck surface.

Step 5: Extraction. Gently lock the portafilter into the coffee machine and immediately start the extraction to brew the espresso. The purpose is to avoid the machine's high temperature accelerating the evaporation of coffee flavor compounds. At the same time, use an electronic scale to accurately measure the espresso liquid weight and record the extraction time. FrontStreet Coffee's calibrated extraction today yielded 38 grams of coffee liquid, which is a 1:2 coffee-to-liquid ratio, with a time of 27 seconds.

Step 6: Cleaning. After stopping the extraction, remove the portafilter and release some water to clean the brew head.

Pour-Over Coffee

Pour-over coffee is also an extraction method. It's a pressure-free, free-fall extraction process where the key to extraction is the speed at which water flows through the coffee grounds. By using filter paper to separate coffee grounds from coffee liquid, you get a clean and delicious black coffee.

The biggest characteristic of pour-over coffee is its primitive expression of coffee bean flavors. Different coffee beans can all be brewed using the pour-over method to express their unique tastes. Additionally, compared to espresso machines, pour-over coffee's convenience is clearly evident. Therefore, many coffee shops offer multiple types of coffee beans for pour-over, while espresso beans are largely fixed by the establishment.

FrontStreet Coffee would like to introduce a common brewing technique called "Three-Pour Method." Simply put, it divides the entire pouring process into 3 parts. This includes the first bloom pour. Taking FrontStreet Coffee's Colombian Huilan Washed Caturra as an example, FrontStreet Coffee uses 15 grams of coffee grounds as standard, with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature of 88°C, and medium-coarse grind size, with 75% pass-through rate on a #20 standard sieve.

Brewing Process

First, prepare everything (warm the filter and server, grind coffee, prepare water at the right temperature) and add the coffee grounds. Begin the first pour while starting the timer. Pour 30 grams of hot water from the center outward in circles. The coffee grounds will absorb water and slowly expand, forming a puffy "coffee burger."

Stop pouring when you reach 30 grams of water and wait for a 30-second bloom time. Start the second pour at 31 seconds on the scale, pouring from the center outward in circles. Keep the water flow stable and vertical. When the water column hits the coffee grounds layer, foam will appear. This brewing stage releases coffee foam to spread across the entire grounds surface, with the liquid level rising to the base of the ribs. This stage's pour amount is 100 grams.

When the liquid level drops to the 1/2 mark, begin the final pour. This stage also involves pouring 95 grams from the center outward in a "nose-smelling" motion. The originally dark brown foam transforms into light yellow coffee foam, with the liquid level returning to the same height as the second pour. Once all the coffee liquid has dripped into the server, remove the filter to complete extraction.

How to Determine When to Pour Again?

The three-pour method has two re-pouring points: the second and third pours. The timing for the second pour is easy to master - typically 30 seconds after the bloom. The third pour is more difficult to master because there's no fixed timing; generally, you wait until the water level drops to 1/2 or 2/3 before pouring again.

When the water level drops to 1/2 or 2/3, there won't be too much water accumulated in the filter, nor will the coffee bed be exposed due to the water level dropping too much, which would cause uneven extraction of upper and lower coffee grounds layers.

After the water level drops, water can directly penetrate the accumulated water to stir the lower grounds layer. If the water level is too high, the impact force of the water column won't be sufficient, causing the upper coffee bed to be over-extracted while the lower coffee grounds are under-extracted.

Recommended Coffee Beans for Pour-Over Beginners

FrontStreet Coffee · Ethiopia Washed Yirgacheffe G2

Country: Ethiopia
Region: Yirgacheffe
Altitude: 1800-2000 meters
Variety: Local native varieties
Processing: Washed
Flavor: Jasmine, berries, lemon, citrus

Yirgacheffe is a small town in Ethiopia at an altitude of 1700-2100 meters, making it one of the highest altitude coffee-growing regions in the world and synonymous with Ethiopian specialty coffee. Lakes Turkana, Abaya, and Chamo bring abundant water vapor to this area. Represented by the Misty Valley, the rift valley is perennially shrouded in fog, with spring-like conditions year-round, gentle breezes, cool and humid weather, allowing thousands of coffee tree varieties to thrive and reproduce, nurturing FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe's unique terroir where floral and fruit notes intertwine in ever-changing ways. The so-called Yirgacheffe flavor refers to rich citrus and lemon fruit acidity, intense jasmine floral aroma, light and elegant mouthfeel with tea-like quality, tasting like refreshing and clean lemon tea.

FrontStreet Coffee specifically considers that washed processing best reflects the cleanliness of coffee taste and the purity of flavor presentation. Therefore, when analyzing the specific flavors of a coffee-producing region, we use washed beans from that region as reference. If beginners haven't tried FrontStreet Coffee's Yirgacheffe, FrontStreet Coffee would first recommend this FrontStreet Coffee washed Yirgacheffe to help form an understanding of regional flavors. Later, when trying natural, honey-processed, and other processing methods of Yirgacheffe, they'll have a basis for comparison.

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Recommendations

Water Temperature: 90-91°C
Grind Size: BG#6m (Fine sugar size / 20# sieve 80% pass-through)
Coffee-to-Water Ratio: 1:15
Coffee Dose: 15 grams

FrontStreet Coffee Brewing Method:

First pour: 30 grams of water for a 30-second bloom, then pour 95 grams (scale shows around 125 grams), completed in about 1 minute. When the water level drops to 2/3 of the grounds layer, pour the remaining 100 grams (scale shows around 225 grams), completed in about 1 minute 40 seconds. Complete drip filtration between 1'55''-2'00'', remove the filter to complete extraction.

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Washed Yirgacheffe Brewing Flavor:

Jasmine aroma, berry juice sensation, lemon and citrus acidity, overall bright, clean, and fresh.

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473