Recommended Pour-Over Coffee Beans for Beginners, Introduction to Pour-Over Coffee Process, and Basic Knowledge on How to Taste Pour-Over Coffee

What is Pour-Over Coffee?

Pour-over coffee refers to the manual brewing method of coffee, also known as drip coffee. This method was invented in 1908 by German housewife Melitta Bentz. To promote this completely new coffee extraction method to the outside world, Mrs. Melitta also established the Melitta Company in the same year, selling various coffee equipment products. Pour-over coffee uses hot water injection to dissolve coffee powder in water, and the extracted liquid drips into a container at a free speed through filter paper or a filter screen to obtain coffee liquid.

Coffee Bean Recommendations for Beginners

For beginners attempting pour-over coffee for the first time, it is generally recommended to choose coffee beans with distinct regional flavors that are also affordable, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopian sun-dried red cherry or FrontStreet Coffee's washed Gedeb. They possess bright fruity flavors that perfectly represent the classic characteristics of African coffee. For Brazilian options, you can try FrontStreet Coffee's Queen's Estate coffee beans, which have very prominent nutty and chocolate flavors. For Asian varieties, you can try Indonesian coffees, which are characterized by herbal aromas, such as FrontStreet Coffee's Mandheling as its representative.

Pour-Over Coffee Brewing Process

First, what are the influencing factors?

Coffee bean freshness, grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, brewing water temperature, brewing technique, and extraction time. If any of these six elements change, they will affect the final extraction flavor of the coffee. How exactly do these six steps affect pour-over coffee extraction? FrontStreet Coffee will now organize this for everyone.

Coffee Bean Freshness

The most direct manifestation of freshness is the emission of carbon dioxide from coffee beans. The process of bean resting is actually the process of carbon dioxide emission. Besides carbon dioxide, coffee beans also release aromatic substances that determine coffee flavor and aroma. These small-molecule aromatic compounds volatilize faster compared to the large-molecule substances that create coffee bitterness. Therefore, less fresh coffee beans contain less carbon dioxide and aromatic substances, meaning there are fewer extractable compounds.

Coffee Bean Grind Size

The grind degree refers to the particle size of the coffee grounds. Particle size actually affects the time it takes for water flow to reach the center of coffee particles. The larger the particles, the more time needed for water to penetrate the coffee particles and reach the center to extract substances from the center (interior) of the coffee grounds; the smaller the particles, the less time needed for water to reach the center and extract substances from the center (interior) of the coffee grounds.

Pour-Over Coffee-to-Water Ratio

The higher the coffee-to-water ratio, the lighter the coffee flavor; the lower the coffee-to-water ratio, the stronger the coffee flavor. Increasing water volume to raise the coffee-to-water ratio affects more flavor substances but results in a lighter taste; reducing water volume to lower the coffee-to-water ratio affects fewer flavor substances but results in a richer taste. Increasing coffee amount to lower the coffee-to-water ratio reduces the extraction of large-molecule substances from the later stages of coffee extraction while making the flavor stronger; reducing coffee amount to raise the coffee-to-water ratio, before reaching the limit situation, extracts more complete flavor substances while reducing the intensity of the flavor.

For detailed operational procedures, you can watch the videos published by FrontStreet Coffee - you'll understand immediately after watching.

How to Taste Pour-Over Coffee

After brewing a cup of pour-over coffee, you can now comfortably enjoy the results. Some people might ask, how should I drink to perceive the flavors of coffee? There's actually a systematic approach to this - use your nose and tongue's comprehensive sensory perception to detect its sour, sweet, bitter, and salty notes. However, FrontStreet Coffee does not encourage everyone to understand coffee in a textbook manner. Coffee is first and foremost a culinary delight, and the basic characteristic of making people feel happy when drinking it is fundamental. Overly complex procedures can eliminate this basic characteristic, which would be quite unnecessary. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee hopes that everyone doesn't overcomplicate pour-over coffee. When coffee remains in your mouth and nasal cavity, simply directly perceive its most prominent and outstanding flavors.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473