How to Make Pour-Over Coffee & Is Single-Origin Pour-Over Coffee Difficult? Why Doesn't My Pour-Over Coffee Taste Good?

Sitting at the bar watching a barista gracefully brew a pot of coffee, you're immediately inspired to get a complete coffee set, then watch various brewing videos to start figuring out how to brew a good cup of pour-over coffee yourself... only to discover that every brew tastes different, and whether it's good or not seems purely up to fate!? 0.0

The Emergence and Popularization of Pour-Over Coffee

Pour-over coffee belongs to the drip brewing method. By using a coffee filter cup with filter paper or other filtering media to block coffee grounds, it finally presents a cup of clean, clear coffee liquid. Before drip brewing emerged, people used to directly mix water with ground coffee particles and boil them together to obtain a rich, aromatic black coffee, but the disadvantage was drinking many coffee grounds. In the last century in Germany, a housewife, who didn't like drinking coffee with grounds, used a perforated copper cup combined with blotting paper to create the prototype of drip brewing tools. She poured the boiled coffee into the "copper cup" for filtering, creating clean, grounds-free coffee.

By 1978, Ms. Erna Knutsen first proposed the concept of specialty coffee: "coffee beans cultivated with regional flavor characteristics under unique microclimates and geographical conditions in producing areas" – which is what FrontStreet Coffee often refers to as regional flavor. To properly present the flavor of a coffee bean, people continuously improved filter cups and brewing methods, starting from pouring boiled coffee into a filter cup for filtration, to directly grinding coffee beans to appropriate fineness, then injecting water of appropriate ratio and temperature for short-term extraction, finally presenting a coffee liquid with suitable concentration and rich layers. This brewing method was also named "Pour over," meaning the brewing method of pouring water from an upright position.

Understanding the Impact of Basic Brewing Parameters on Extraction

Returning to what was mentioned at the beginning of the article: sitting at the bar watching a barista gracefully brew a pot of coffee, but when you brew it yourself it never tastes good – does the thought cross your mind, "Do I need a barista's hands to brew good pour-over coffee..." Is this really the case? Of course not! When everyone is learning from various masters using all kinds of pouring techniques, have you carefully looked at their brewing parameters?

"The QR codes on FrontStreet Coffee bean labels all have corresponding brewing parameter suggestions. Everyone can scan to view them!"

Perhaps we've heard the saying "Coffee is a mysterious art..." FrontStreet Coffee doesn't think so! The reason it seems "mysterious" is simply due to two factors: not visualizing the elements that control coffee flavor, and not digitizing the brewing process. That's why FrontStreet Coffee has always emphasized the importance of brewing parameters. The setting of these brewing parameters revolves around four basic factors: coffee-to-water ratio, grind size, water temperature, and extraction time. Of course, water quality and pouring technique also affect the result, but for beginners, it's essential to master these four most basic factors first.

These four factors are interconnected – when one changes, the final coffee flavor will also be different. FrontStreet Coffee has briefly compiled the impact of these four factors on coffee extraction.

Coffee-to-Water Ratio

"Coffee-to-water ratio" refers to the proportion of coffee beans to the amount of water injected. The larger the coffee-to-water ratio, the lighter the coffee flavor; the smaller the ratio, the more concentrated the coffee flavor. Therefore, to ensure precise proportions during brewing, an electronic scale must be used as an auxiliary tool.

After long-term brewing comparisons, FrontStreet Coffee has found that under suitable and consistent parameters for each brew, using a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15 for brewing produces coffee concentration and flavor presentation that are just right. If the final taste is too concentrated or too light, you need to consider whether the grind size, water temperature, and extraction time are suitable for the coffee being brewed.

Grind Size

"Grind size" refers to the degree to which coffee beans are ground. The finer the coffee powder, the more concentrated the flavor; the coarser the coffee powder, the lighter the flavor. Currently, there is no unified standard for grinder settings on the market, and coffee beans will have different grind sizes depending on their degree of roast.

Light to medium roast coffee beans have smaller structural density and are extraction-resistant, so they are brewed using a grind size with 75%-80% pass rate through a 0.85mm China No. 20 standard sieve (fine sugar size). Medium to dark roast coffee beans have larger structural density and are not extraction-resistant, so they are brewed using a grind size with 68%-73% pass rate through a 0.85mm China No. 20 standard sieve (coarse sugar size).

Water Temperature

"Brewing water temperature" refers to the temperature of water injected during the brewing process. The higher the water temperature, the more concentrated the flavor; the lower the water temperature, the lighter the flavor. Paired with the grind size suggested by FrontStreet Coffee above, extraction-resistant light to medium roast coffee beans can be extracted at 90-93 degrees Celsius, while non-extraction-resistant medium to dark roast coffee beans can be extracted at 87-89 degrees Celsius.

Extraction Time

"Extraction time" refers to the time from when water is first injected until the filter cup is removed to end extraction. This time also represents the water-coffee contact time – the longer the time, the more concentrated the flavor; the shorter the time, the lighter the flavor. Since each factor is interconnected, there is no fixed standard for extraction time, but according to FrontStreet Coffee's brewing experience: (under normal circumstances) the optimal total extraction time for 15g of coffee powder is between 1 minute 50 seconds to 2 minutes 20 seconds.

How Pouring Technique Affects Coffee Extraction

Actually, brewing technique is about extending or slowing down the coffee extraction time by changing the flow rate of water injection or the number of pouring segments. Generally, different brewing techniques are paired with specific brewing parameters. For beginners, it's more important to extract suitable flavor substances from 15g of coffee powder within 1 minute 50 seconds to 2 minutes 20 seconds. FrontStreet Coffee has always recommended everyone to use the three-stage extraction method because, with suitable parameters, three-stage extraction can more fully extract the pleasant flavor substances in the front and middle stages while appropriately extracting the bitter flavor substances in the later stage to enhance the coffee's body and richness.

- As long as you visualize the parameters of each brew, coffee brewing will no longer be a mysterious art! -

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473