Home Pour-Over Coffee Tutorial: Complete Single-Origin Pour-Over Coffee Guide with Perfect Grounds

To help coffee enthusiasts who are new to pour-over coffee better explore the charm of brewing, FrontStreet Coffee is here today to share various details about pour-over coffee.

What to Prepare Before Brewing

First, brewing a cup of pour-over coffee requires the following equipment: coffee beans, a container for grounds, a bean scoop, a filter holder, filter paper, a server, an electronic scale, a pour-over kettle, and a thermometer (not needed if using a temperature-controlled kettle). After brewing, you'll need a waste water container (for placing the filter holder when finished) and a drinking cup.

During the coffee brewing process, the filter holder and filter paper play a crucial role. They not only filter out coffee grounds but also absorb excess oils, resulting in a cleaner-tasting coffee. At FrontStreet Coffee stores, we typically use V60 and Kono filter holders for coffee preparation. The V60 filter holder is mainly used for lighter roasted coffee beans, as its large aperture spiral rib design (which allows for quick extraction) better showcases the delicate flavors of light-roasted beans. The Kono filter holder, on the other hand, is more suitable for darker roasted coffee beans, as its filtering effect (slow flow rate enhancing richness) better highlights the intense flavor of dark-roasted beans.

The electronic scale also plays a key role in our coffee preparation, mainly responsible for measuring the weight of coffee beans and water, ensuring that every parameter can be replicated multiple times, while ensuring that the quality of each cup of coffee remains consistent.

When using a pour-over kettle without temperature control, a thermometer becomes even more important. Before each pour, we use it to check the water temperature, ensuring it's within the appropriate range. For light-roasted coffee beans brewed with a V60 filter holder, we choose water temperatures between 90 to 92 degrees Celsius, while for darker roasted beans, we select a slightly lower range of 88 to 89 degrees Celsius.

The coffee grinder is also an indispensable component, as it determines the coarseness of the coffee grounds, which directly affects the taste of pour-over coffee. If the coffee grounds are too coarse, the flavor might seem thin; conversely, if too fine, the taste might be overly bitter. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends a medium-fine grind for pour-over coffee, with an 80% pass rate through a standard #20 sieve being optimal. This grind size ensures that both the aroma and flavor of the coffee are fully released, providing customers with the best tasting experience.

Factors That Affect Coffee Flavor

Coffee-to-Water Ratio:

The coffee-to-water ratio in pour-over coffee refers to the proportion of coffee used to water. FrontStreet Coffee stores use 15g of coffee grounds for daily preparation, with a total water volume of 225ml, meaning a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15. FrontStreet Coffee chooses the 1:15 ratio because at this proportion, the coffee is more balanced, with a more even distribution of flavors.

However, the coffee-to-water ratio is not a fixed, unchangeable parameter. The recommended coffee-to-water ratio for pour-over coffee can range from 1:14 to 1:18. The smaller the ratio, the more concentrated the coffee flavor will be; conversely, the higher the ratio, the more diluted the taste will be. Therefore, you can flexibly adjust the coffee-to-water ratio according to your taste preferences to find the pour-over coffee flavor that suits you best.

Coffee Bean Grind Size:

Different brewing methods require different grind sizes. So how can you determine if you're using the correct grind?

First, you need to prepare a #20 sieve, which can be purchased on major shopping platforms. The sieve has a mesh diameter of 0.85mm and is mainly used to separate coffee particles larger and smaller than 0.85mm. What we need to measure is the amount of grounds that can pass through this sieve.

FrontStreet Coffee recommends a pour-over grind coarseness with an 80% pass rate through the sieve, meaning that in a sample of coffee grounds, 80% of the grounds can pass through this sieve. Shake multiple times continuously to ensure all coffee particles smaller than 0.85mm fall through. Then weigh the coffee grounds in the lower section and divide the weight by 10g to get the pass rate. If it's less than 8g, the grind is slightly too coarse; conversely, if more, it's too fine.

Coffee extraction is essentially a dissolution process where water is the solvent. In pour-over coffee, the contact area between water flow and coffee grounds is directly affected by the grind size. Fine grinding (smaller coffee particles) means a larger contact area, thus dissolving more coffee flavor compounds. Therefore, the finer the grind, typically the more intense the coffee flavor will be. However, coffee grinding is not always better the finer it is, a point often misunderstood.

In reality, only about 30% of coffee beans can be effectively extracted. Within this 30% of extractable substances, extraction rates between 18%-22% are often recommended. Below this range, coffee may seem under-extracted with a flat taste; while exceeding this range may lead to over-extraction with a bitter taste. Of course, it's not to say that coffee outside these ranges is undrinkable, but this range has a higher fault tolerance. Therefore, finding the right grind is crucial.

Brewing Water Temperature:

The "water" mentioned above is an important solvent in the brewing process, with water temperature being the main influencing factor. The recommended water temperature for pour-over coffee is generally between 86 to 93 degrees Celsius. Lighter roasted coffee beans (such as Panama Esmeralda Special Geisha) use temperatures between 90 to 92 degrees Celsius, while darker roasted coffee beans (such as PWN Gold Mandheling) use lower water temperatures between 86 to 88 degrees Celsius. The higher the brewing water temperature, the more concentrated the extracted coffee flavor will be; conversely, the lower the water temperature, the harder it is for the coffee flavor to emerge.

Extraction Time:

When FrontStreet Coffee baristas brew 15g of coffee beans using a three-stage method, they typically control the entire extraction time to around 2 minutes (though this is not a fixed standard).

The longer the entire pour-over coffee brewing process, the longer the coffee grounds are in contact with water, naturally extracting more coffee compounds, resulting in a more intense coffee flavor. Conversely, if the coffee grounds are in contact with water for too short a time, the coffee compounds may not be fully extracted, so the coffee will naturally tend to taste weak.

Pour-Over Coffee Brewing Instructions

When brewing coffee, it's essential to first understand the characteristics and limitations of the coffee beans and equipment you're using. Every time you try new coffee beans or change filtering equipment, each adjustment brings us new brewing learning experiences. Therefore, learning pour-over coffee is not just about mastering some simple techniques, but more importantly, learning to observe the reaction process between coffee grounds and water, and understanding how to flexibly adjust brewing methods according to extraction logic.

For example, if we decide to brew the Yirgacheffe Kochere coffee beans from FrontStreet Coffee's store bean shelf. At this point, we need to understand the information about the coffee beans.

FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Kochere Coffee Beans

Region: Yirgacheffe Kochere

Altitude: 1650m-1800m

Variety: Heirloom

Processing: Washed

Grade: G1

After understanding the coffee bean information, we developed the brewing approach based on the methods mentioned above: Filter holder: V60, Water temperature: 90-92°C, Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15, Grind size: Medium-fine (80% pass rate through China's standard #20 sieve).

When FrontStreet Coffee baristas prepare coffee, they first take out 15g of coffee beans. Before brewing begins, they wet the filter paper with hot water to ensure the filter holder and paper fit more snugly. Then, the taken-out coffee beans are ground to our required grind size - the medium-fine level we just mentioned.

As the ground coffee is poured into the filter holder, wait for the water temperature to reach the required range for brewing. The entire brewing process will follow the just-established three-stage method. The first stage pours 30g of water for blooming, ensuring all coffee grounds are evenly moistened (helping to release carbon dioxide from the coffee while preparing for the subsequent extraction stage).

In the second stage, pour 95g of water with a slightly larger, steady flow, completing the pour in about 55 seconds. The water flow moves in circles from inside to outside. If you can't yet control the water flow size, it's recommended to pour slowly in circles to keep the water column as stable as possible. Compared to blooming, the purpose of the second stage pour is to raise the entire coffee bed, increasing the contact area between hot water and coffee grounds, thereby completing the release of substances needed for extraction.

When the brewing liquid level drops to half of the coffee bed, the third stage pours 100g of water in small circular motions (electronic scale shows 225g). Since most acidic and sweet compounds have already been fully released in the earlier stages, this stage mainly aims to extract the remaining coffee compounds and adjust the concentration to achieve a more balanced flavor. It's worth noting that by raising the pour height to make the water fall faster while using small circular pouring, we reduce disturbance to the coffee bed, thereby minimizing the release of bitter compounds.

Coffee Bed After Brewing

If you find that your coffee bed has a concave or flat appearance after brewing, this is due to differences in pouring technique and scope.

FrontStreet Coffee wants to say: The shape of the coffee bed is not the standard for determining whether coffee tastes good or bad; it more reflects whether your pouring technique is correct. As long as you can extract a delicious cup of coffee, even if the coffee bed is convex, it's fine! However, the prerequisite is that it must be uniform. This uniformity indicates that the water pour is even, and the extraction is even.

If your pouring technique is improper, such as the water flow hitting the cup wall, causing the coffee bed to appear "flat," "fractured," or "higher on one side than the other," then we need to adjust the pouring method.

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: qjcoffeex

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473