How Much Coffee and Water for One Cup Pour-Over? Coffee Grounds Ratio and Brewing Techniques

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The elegant pour-over coffee attracts a wave of coffee enthusiasts. Watching the barista's calm and graceful movements, a delicious cup of coffee is presented before you in just two or three minutes. But when you try to imitate at home, you can't brew the same flavor. FrontStreet Coffee tells you the essential knowledge you need to brew a good cup of coffee.

Actually, brewing a cup of coffee can be broken down into several key parameters. FrontStreet Coffee has identified several important parameters that affect the flavor of coffee: coffee bean condition, grind size, water quality, temperature, ratio, brewing technique, time, and other factors.

1. Coffee Beans

High-quality coffee beans are the foundation of a good cup of coffee. Generally, pour-over coffee uses single-origin beans, which are coffee beans from a single origin, better reflecting the unique flavors of the growing region. Good coffee beans are directly reflected in flavor, defect rate, and roasting freshness. Defective beans directly affect the overall flavor of the coffee. It's also best to choose freshly roasted coffee beans, as the optimal tasting period for coffee beans is generally 4-30 days.

Freshly roasted coffee usually requires a 4-7 day degassing period. After this period, the coffee flavors will be at their best, after which the flavors will gradually diminish.

2. Grind Size

Good coffee needs the right grind size to maximize its flavor. The most common reference for grind size is comparing it to sugar, which indeed has some comparability. Generally, the grind size for pour-over coffee is 600-800 microns, similar to the coarseness of sugar. The finer the grind, the larger the surface area of coffee in contact with water, resulting in higher extraction efficiency; the coarser the grind, the smaller the surface area, resulting in lower extraction efficiency.

FrontStreet Coffee suggests starting with sugar-sized grind as a reference, then making fine adjustments after brewing and tasting. For example, if the coffee is too weak, you can slightly adjust to a finer grind.

3. Water Quality

Over 98% of a cup of pour-over coffee is composed of water, so water quality directly affects the quality of the coffee. Generally, the basic requirements for water quality are: TDS: 150 mg/L, chlorine-free, pH value of 7-8. FrontStreet Coffee suggests using filtered purified water or mineral water (you can check the label on mineral water). Generally, water with smaller TDS values will dissolve more substances.

4. Water Temperature

Water temperature directly affects the extraction efficiency of coffee. The higher the water temperature, the higher the extraction efficiency, and vice versa. According to FrontStreet Coffee's barista observations, water temperatures from 80°C to 96°C are all used by people. Therefore, understanding the extraction principle is more meaningful than rote memorization. For beans with different roasting degrees, the water temperature will also change accordingly.

For light to medium roast beans, the coffee beans have a denser texture and are not easily extracted, so higher temperatures (90°C-93°C) can be used for extraction; for medium to dark roast beans, their structure is looser and prone to over-extraction, so lower water temperatures (86°C-89°C) can be used.

5. Coffee-to-Water Ratio

The ratio of coffee grounds to water directly affects the concentration of the coffee. Currently, the most commonly used coffee-to-water ratio is 1:15. This is not absolute, just a reference. Personal tastes vary widely, so you can adjust it appropriately to suit your own taste. If you prefer a rich flavor, you can choose 1:13; if you prefer a lighter taste, you can adjust it to 1:16.

6. Technique (Brewing Method)

There are many types or schools of techniques (brewing methods). Taking FrontStreet Coffee's conventional brewing method as an example, FrontStreet Coffee uses a three-stage pouring method: the first stage uses 2 times the water amount for blooming, the second stage injects 6 times the coffee grounds amount in water, and the final stage injects 7 times the coffee grounds amount in water.

Regardless of the brewing method, its essence still离不开 pouring water over the coffee grounds layer. As for how to pour water, FrontStreet Coffee believes that practicing a stable water stream will make your coffee brewing twice as effective.

7. Time

The brewing duration involves many influencing factors, such as grind size, amount of grounds, coffee-to-water ratio, filter cup characteristics, technique, etc., so it's impossible to give an exact time. However, typically brewing a cup of pour-over coffee (15-20g of grounds) takes approximately 1 minute 30 seconds to 3 minutes (excluding special methods like Japanese-style brewing).

The above parameters are intricately connected and complementary. Coffee bean quality and water quality are the most important factors affecting whether a cup of coffee is good or bad, while grind size, water temperature, coffee-to-water ratio, time, and technique are complementary. Finding a balance point among them (your own) is a process of gradual accumulation. Gradually, you will also summarize a set of brewing methods that belong to you.

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Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473