Beginner's Pour-Over Coffee Tutorial with Visual Guide: Hand Brew Parameters and Process Demonstration for Washed Yirgacheffe Coffee Beans

The issue of water pouring in pour-over coffee has been discussed repeatedly, but many newcomers who follow FrontStreet Coffee still ask, "Why can't I make it taste good?" "Pour-over coffee is so difficult!" Currently, pour-over coffee remains a relatively niche practice, so to accommodate new friends, covering these fundamental topics is essential.

The Importance of Parameters Over Technique

For friends who are just learning to brew coffee, FrontStreet Coffee believes that understanding and using correct brewing parameters is more important than pouring technique. (This is why FrontStreet Coffee frequently mentions parameters.) FrontStreet Coffee thinks that while there are countless parameters for brewing delicious coffee, what's most suitable for beginners is a highly compatible parameter set. This is why you might notice that FrontStreet Coffee's recommended brewing parameters for most coffee beans are nearly identical (with a few exceptions). This isn't because FrontStreet Coffee is being lazy or misleading—it's because highly compatible, simple methods are most suitable for widespread adoption. (FrontStreet Coffee has also created a series sharing brewing techniques.)

Center Pouring vs. Circular Pouring

Getting back on track, let's address the main topic. First, we notice that most coffee shops use circular pouring when brewing coffee. Correspondingly, some use center pouring. FrontStreet Coffee will demonstrate center pouring versus circular stirring to observe how the coffee grounds change.

As you can see, circular pouring around the center easily creates turbulence. When the water stream forms even a slight angle, the movement of water within the coffee becomes uncontrollable. As shown in the video, after the water stream hits the bottom of the coffee, it flows back toward the pouring direction, creating channels through which all the water flows. Observing the coffee bed wall during center pouring, you'll notice it's thin on one side and thick on the other. Circular stirring and pouring doesn't create this situation—the coffee bed wall maintains uniform thickness.

Therefore, from this comparison, we can see that stirring and pouring, on one hand, easily avoids turbulence, and on the other hand, ensures even extraction.

The Role of Stirring

In fact, "stirring" has always been part of our daily lives. When dissolving granules in drinks, we use a spoon to stir to help the particles fully dissolve in water. Similarly, water pouring and stirring in pour-over coffee serve a similar purpose—using the water flow as a stirring tool to continuously "stir and tumble" the coffee grounds layer, allowing more flavor compounds to be extracted from the coffee.

Finding the Right Balance

This raises a question: is stronger stirring always better? The answer is, of course, no. We only want the delicious compounds from coffee, not bitter and undesirable flavors. When stirring is too vigorous, even after stopping the pour, the water surface continues to rotate in the stirring direction, much like a tumble dryer (the faster it spins, the more easily water is thrown out), and the coffee can easily develop unpleasant flavors.

Additionally, one important aspect to note in pour-over coffee is to try not to pour directly onto the filter paper during brewing. Breaking through the coffee bed wall easily creates channels, leading to incomplete extraction. FrontStreet Coffee recommends that friends new to pour-over coffee start with slow circular pouring, steady water flow, and straight water streams.

Pouring Height and Direction

Two other questions about pouring are: what is the ideal pouring height, and should you pour clockwise or counterclockwise? There's no standard answer to these questions. Some people prefer pouring close to the liquid surface, while others like to raise the water stream higher. The difference between these two approaches is temperature change—high pouring causes the water stream to lose temperature more easily (at approximately 8cm height, there's about 0.7-1°C of temperature loss). However, FrontStreet Coffee also doesn't recommend pouring too close to the liquid surface, as many kettles release water at an angle, and raising it to 2-3cm creates a vertical stream. Pouring too close to the surface can easily create turbulence or break through the coffee bed wall.

As for clockwise or counterclockwise pouring, FrontStreet Coffee's answer is: either is fine, as long as you consistently circle in the same direction throughout the entire brewing process. Of course, online discussions exist about whether clockwise or counterclockwise pouring makes a difference based on the spiral direction of V60 filter cup ribs. FrontStreet Coffee thinks this makes for interesting conversation after a good meal.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473