What is Pour-Over Coffee? What Does Pour-Over Coffee Mean? What Coffee Beans to Use for Pour-Over Coffee

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The Growing Popularity of Pour-Over Coffee

Holding a pour-over coffee kettle, a delicate stream of water flows slowly from the spout, wetting the coffee beans in circles. White foam emerges from between the coffee grounds, sinking and floating again after several seconds. The aroma of coffee spreads to every corner of the air. Recently, pour-over coffee has become increasingly popular. The charm of pour-over coffee and its relaxing brewing process have deeply captivated coffee enthusiasts.

15% Growth in Pour-Over Coffee Market

In the past year or two, pour-over coffee enthusiasts have emerged like bamboo shoots after spring rain. More and more coffee lovers keep complete sets of tools at home, ready to brew fresh coffee anytime, anywhere. Some enthusiasts even buy pour-over coffee tools from around the world when traveling.

These years have been explosive for pour-over coffee. Previously, specialty coffee shops were few and far between, growing slowly until reaching a high-speed development period last year. In the market, "hang ear coffee" has also appeared in large quantities—a simplified travel version of pour-over coffee.

According to data, from 1998 to 2012, China's coffee consumption increased from 199,000 bags to 1.1 million bags, with an annual growth rate of approximately 12.8%. Especially between 2012 and 2015, the growth rate of the instant coffee market lagged behind that of pour-over coffee. Pour-over coffee maintained growth above 15%, and this number has continued to rise in recent years. Meanwhile, the growth rate of instant coffee has slowed, now falling below 10% and approaching 5%.

Why Pour-Over Coffee Has Become Popular

Single-Origin Coffee Beans Offer Purer Flavor

Why have coffee enthusiasts fallen in love with pour-over coffee? The taste of pour-over coffee is the biggest reason. Suns, a girl born in the late 1980s, was still drinking instant coffee four or five years ago. She had the opportunity to try pour-over coffee at a friend's coffee shop by chance, fell in love at first sight, and became completely hooked. Whenever she had time, she would go to coffee shops, later tried brewing it herself, and subsequently fell in love with the joy of the pour-over process. Now, she has a complete set of pour-over coffee tools at home, ready to enjoy a cup anytime.

Pour-over coffee is always brewed by hand using single-variety, single-origin coffee beans. Connoisseurs even roast and grind their own beans. Suns loves pour-over coffee, saying it's much gentler and more layered compared to machine-brewed or instant coffee. One cup of coffee can reveal various different flavors. Most interestingly, pour-over coffee is full of variety—even with the same beans, different people brew different flavors, and even the same person brewing at different times will produce different tastes. Pour-over coffee changes with the brewer's mood at that moment. "It's not monotonous; change gives it vitality." Pour-over coffee allows people to taste rich flavors such as floral, fruity, and nutty notes because single coffee varieties can better eliminate interference, unlike "quick" coffee made from mixed coffee beans.

Pour-Over Coffee Provides Brief Mental Relaxation

For many busy urbanites living hectic lives, pour-over coffee is a form of relaxation. Brewing a cup of pour-over coffee takes more time than drinking instant coffee. The cup must be preheated, the filter paper must be wetted, water poured slowly, waiting for the coffee grounds to absorb water and release carbon dioxide, then pouring water again, waiting for slow dripping, repeating this process several times. Enthusiast Echo says she needs moments when she can be alone, quiet, and completely relaxed to take a breath before working—much more efficient. Another enthusiast, Miss Huang, also says she greatly enjoys the pour-over coffee process: "Holding the pour-over kettle, water flows slowly from the long, thin spout, pouring clockwise slowly, watching the small vortex form on the coffee surface. At this moment, the entire person is in a state of relaxation and comfort."

Some coffee enthusiasts also believe that the entire pour-over coffee production process is controllable by themselves, without worrying about anything being added. What also attracts her to pour-over coffee is "health and peace of mind."

A Complete Pour-Over Set for 300-500 Yuan

A basic set of pour-over coffee tools includes at least 8 items: filter paper, thermometer, filter cup, pour-over kettle, timer, scale, server, and grinder. This equipment can be very affordable, costing 380-500 yuan, or very high-end—an unremarkable electronic scale can sell for over 1,000 yuan, a grinder can cost as much as 40,000-50,000 yuan, and a good manual coffee grinder that maintains the coffee's original flavor also costs several thousand yuan. Filter paper also matters—high-quality filter paper has better texture. What level of tools to buy depends on the enthusiast's financial means. Some hardcore enthusiasts even buy a roaster to roast beans at home, with a machine costing approximately 7,500 yuan.

Each enthusiast will purchase corresponding tools based on their preferences and financial situation. Suns loves uniquely designed, cute-looking utensils. Most of her chosen tools are imported from Japan, with each individual item priced above 150 yuan. Even the filter paper is imported from Japan, with the entire set costing nearly a thousand yuan.

"Hang Ear Coffee" Concentrates the Essence of Pour-Over

Coffee enthusiasts generally can't live without coffee every day, even craving it when away from home. However, carrying a "set of eight items" is impossible, which gave birth to hang ear coffee. Hang ear bags have at least 2 ears, and now some have 3 ears, allowing the coffee bag to be easily hung on the cup. The cup directly replaces the function of a server, and the hang ear bag itself acts as filter paper. Therefore, people only need a pot of warm water. Undoubtedly, hang ear coffee is a simplified version of pour-over coffee.

Hang ear coffee was invented by the Japanese and has become widely popular in China in the past two years. Some coffee shops have launched their own hang ear coffee. Some hardcore players even grind coffee beans themselves and ask familiar coffee shops to portion the coffee grounds into hang ear bags—one bag equals one serving.

Helpful Tips: Manual Grinding Better Preserves Original Flavor

Beans ground manually versus by machine, including beans ground by different machines, all have flavor differences. Manual grinding relatively better preserves the original flavor of coffee beans. Machine grinding depends on the grinder blades—there are ghost tooth and flat burr blades, and different blades produce beans of different shapes. Flat burr ground coffee beans are uniformly shaped and flaky; the brewed effect is high sweetness with rich aroma, but relatively low complexity. Ghost tooth grinding produces diamond-shaped powder, and the uneven diamond shapes result in relatively uneven extraction but instead increase the coffee's complexity.

Pour-Over Coffee Bean Brand Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee's roasted single-origin pour-over coffee beans offer full guarantees in both brand and quality. More importantly, they offer extremely high value-for-money. A half-pound (227g) package averages around 80-90 yuan. Calculated at 15g per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 yuan. Compared to coffee shop prices that often reach dozens of yuan per cup, this represents exceptional value.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473