How to Taste a Pour-Over Coffee? How to Generally Drink Pour-Over Coffee_Coffee Beans Recommended for Pour-Over

Is Drinking Pour-Over Coffee More Sophisticated?

I often hear customers who drink milk-based coffees joke about being looked down upon by their friends. These friends have progressed from drinking caramel macchiatos to lattes, then from milk coffees to Americanos, and now they're drinking pour-over coffee. Every time they buy coffee together with friends, they get mocked for being "too basic" and not understanding coffee. I encounter such situations frequently, and I wonder if you've had similar experiences.

So, I'd like to say that if we set health considerations aside, drinking pour-over coffee isn't necessarily more sophisticated than drinking milk-based coffee. When we mention milk coffee, the first thing that comes to mind is latte. Although an increasing number of consumers are starting to make their own lattes at home, the majority still purchase lattes from coffee shops.

Pour-over coffee is different. It's a coffee drinking method that can be easily prepared and enjoyed at home. From this perspective, whether you drink pour-over or milk-based coffee, neither is more sophisticated—they're just different personal preferences and drinking habits.

Which Drinking Method is Healthier?

However, if you ask me how to drink coffee healthily, I would definitely recommend pour-over coffee. Nowadays, when we go to a coffee shop to order a pour-over coffee, we're usually seeking specialty coffee.

The concept of "specialty coffee" was first introduced in 1978 by Ms. Erna Knutsen from the United States at an international coffee conference in France. The original definition was quite simple, referring to "coffee beans with unique aromas produced under special climatic and geographical conditions." This definition has evolved over thirty years to include more comprehensive explanations.

First, the Traceability of Pour-Over Coffee Beans:

Which country the green coffee beans come from, which growing region, which estate, what variety, growing altitude, how they were harvested, how they were processed, and so on. Traceability is crucial for coffee specialization because whether the green coffee beans provided by farmers are good directly affects subsequent sales and pricing. When consumers drink something they like, they'll repurchase; when they drink something they don't like, they'll abandon it.

Second, Coffee Quality Can Be Quantified:

When the harvest season arrives each year, it's also the season for evaluating coffee quality from various regions. Similar to food tasting, coffee quality assessment relies mainly on sensory evaluation beyond appearance—what we commonly call cupping.

During cupping, the coffee's taste, mouthfeel, and flavor are described, and a unified scoring system is used to rate the coffee, distinguishing between good and bad coffee. High-scoring coffee sells at higher prices, while low-scoring coffee can only be sold at low prices to large commercial companies.

Therefore, farmers are paying increasing attention to field management, coffee processing, coffee picking and hand-sorting, as well as variety selection.

Driven by this specialty coffee philosophy, we all hope to experience flavors unique to origins or varieties. So when good green coffee beans reach the roaster's hands, the roaster designs appropriate roasting curves based on the beans' characteristics to showcase their inherent qualities. When brewing, baristas also work hard to present the best flavors of the coffee beans.

Currently, about 99% of specialty coffee available in the market is Arabica variety. This is because Arabica coffee has higher sugar content, which brings stronger sweetness and more pleasant acidity after roasting, with smoother mouthfeel and better flavor.

Compared to Robusta, Arabica coffee has lower caffeine content and lower chlorogenic acid content. Plus, the filtering effect of paper on cholesterol, drinking a cup of pour-over coffee without sugar, milk, or other flavorings is undoubtedly the healthiest way.

So, Is the Pour-Over Coffee I'm Drinking Actually Good?

I've heard many people say that when it comes to drinking coffee, there's only personal preference, not good or bad.

I don't quite agree with this viewpoint.

Personal preference refers to someone liking bitter flavors, someone preferring strong acidity, someone liking milk in their coffee, or someone enjoying chocolate sauce.

Personal preference is not only related to their lifestyle habits but also to their personal health.

However, whether coffee is good or bad does have standards.

For example, no matter how you drink your coffee, if the green coffee beans are moldy, insect-damaged, or contaminated, it can't be considered good.

For example, if the coffee beans aren't roasted properly and have underdeveloped flavors and textures, this can't be considered good.

For example, if mistakes occur during brewing, making it taste like dishwater, this can't be considered good.

Maybe you can't detect the moldy taste, but that still doesn't make it a good cup of coffee.

How to Judge the Quality of a Pour-Over Coffee?

When you drink a cup of pour-over coffee, try to experience it from the perspectives of taste, touch, and smell.

Taste refers to the four flavors that coffee brings: sour, sweet, bitter, and salty;

Touch refers to the weight and smoothness you feel in your mouth when the coffee is there;

Smell refers to the aroma you smell before drinking, the flavors you experience while drinking, and the aroma that remains in your mouth after swallowing.

Smell is a very complex sensory experience, and many untrained consumers or those new to coffee may not be able to distinguish it.

However, taste and touch can basically be felt by everyone.

Therefore, I suggest consumers focus on evaluating coffee from these two sensory perspectives.

First, Let's Discuss Taste Sensations:

The sweetness in coffee is the primary element.

Our love for sweetness is innate because sweetness brings us pleasant feelings. The sweetness I'm referring to in coffee isn't from added flavorings but the inherent sweetness that coffee itself provides. For example, when you slowly chew rice or plain steamed buns, can you taste sweetness? The sweetness in coffee refers to the sweetness that can be tasted without any added flavorings. This sweetness comes from the chemical reactions that occur during high-temperature roasting of compounds in green coffee beans, creating aromas that give us this sensation. Strong sweetness creates pleasure in the drinker. This is certainly a good thing.

Then There's Acidity:

Each drinker has different acceptance levels for coffee acidity. Some like bright acidity, some prefer subtle acidity, and some cannot accept acidity at all.

However, without acidity, coffee loses its aesthetic appeal.

Good acidity is accompanied by sweetness and also by aroma.

I believe whether the acidity in coffee is good doesn't depend on the intensity of the sourness but on the balance between sweet, sour, and bitter, as well as the quality of the acidity.

Then, Let's Talk About Bitterness in Coffee:

If the coffee you drink has a lingering bitterness in your throat or the back of your tongue, perhaps this coffee has some problems—it might be an issue with the green beans, the roasting process, or the brewing.

If this coffee's bitterness appears on the tongue's surface, we need to look at its intensity. Slight bitterness can enhance balance, but excessive bitterness can be off-putting.

Next, a Very Important Evaluation Point is Mouthfeel:

Mouthfeel refers to the sensation that coffee liquid brings to the drinker in the mouth, including the weight of the coffee liquid on the tongue's surface—it's not necessarily better when heavier. It also includes the tactile sensation of the coffee liquid in the mouth. Good coffee should have high smoothness, not be astringent.

Then there's the aftertaste.

The aftertaste of coffee refers to the lingering aroma in the mouth after swallowing. The evaluation of aftertaste mainly looks at how long the coffee aroma lasts. Good aromas that last longer receive higher aftertaste ratings.

Finally, there's flavor.

As I mentioned earlier, not every drinker can distinguish the flavors in coffee.

Therefore, I think requiring ordinary consumers to evaluate pour-over coffee from a flavor perspective is too demanding.

Final Summary:

A good cup of pour-over coffee is the result of several years of careful cultivation by farmers, selection of green beans, dedication from the roaster, and precision from the brewer.

It brings you pleasure, health, and a high-quality life. If you're willing to understand it, you'll experience the charm of pour-over coffee. I wish everyone can drink a pour-over coffee every day that makes you feel wonderful.

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 costs around 80-90 RMB on average. Calculating based on 15g per cup, one package can make 15 cups of coffee, with each cup costing only about 6 RMB. Compared to the dozens of RMB per cup charged by coffee shops, this represents exceptional value.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473