Pour-Over Coffee: Water Ratio, Grind Size, Time, and Temperature Recommendations - A Guide to Proper Single-Origin Coffee Brewing

Introduction

Many friends have visited FrontStreet Coffee drawn by its reputation. Beyond marveling at the extensive variety of coffee beans, they also admire the baristas' brewing techniques. Among these visitors, many wish to discuss pour-over brewing techniques with the baristas. FrontStreet Coffee takes this opportunity to share insights on how to improve coffee brewing skills.

The Physical vs. Mental Aspect of Coffee Brewing

Before diving in, FrontStreet Coffee would like to ask everyone a question: "Do you consider coffee brewing a physical skill or a mental exercise?"

For those who consider it primarily a physical skill, continued dedicated practice is essential. While FrontStreet Coffee emphasizes that water control, circular pouring motion, and water injection are important in pour-over coffee—and admittedly these techniques can be challenging to master initially—they represent only the most fundamental aspects of pour-over coffee brewing.

If your hands tremble during pouring, water flow isn't vertical, or circular motions aren't smooth, it's undoubtedly due to insufficient practice time. Mastering water control involves two key points: first, learning correct posture and movements (details available here); second, consistent practice to develop muscle memory. Without practical application, knowledge remains merely theoretical. With just 30 minutes of daily practice, you can master pour-over water control techniques in approximately 15 days.

Of course, mastering pouring techniques only demonstrates your ability to operate the brewing process. Understanding brewing parameters is what truly separates those who can make coffee from those who understand pour-over coffee.

Understanding Coffee Brewing Parameters

Grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, water temperature, and time are indispensable parameters in learning pour-over coffee. We must understand the relationships between these parameters and how adjusting them affects coffee flavor direction, then apply this knowledge flexibly.

For example, both grind size and water temperature control coffee flavor changes. Making the grind finer or increasing water temperature can increase extraction rate, making coffee lean toward bitterness. Coarsening the grind or lowering water temperature can decrease extraction rate, making coffee lean toward acidity. However, grind size has an additional layer of influence—it also affects the time parameter.

Fine coffee grinds require longer extraction times, while coarse grinds extract more quickly. Therefore, when adjusting parameters, we need to clearly understand what changes each adjustment will cause. (For more information on how brewing parameters affect coffee flavor, click here)

In pour-over coffee, parameters have reasonable value ranges. For example, grind size typically falls between 70-80% passing through a #20 sieve, water temperature between 86-93°C, and coffee-to-water ratio between 1:13 to 1:18. Time (for 15g of coffee) generally falls between 1 minute 40 seconds to 2 minutes 20 seconds. This isn't to say parameters can't fall outside these ranges, but rather these are the ranges FrontStreet Coffee has summarized from extensive brewing practice, which you can reference when adjusting parameters.

Understanding Coffee Bean Characteristics

FrontStreet Coffee offers over 50 varieties of coffee beans. If each variety required different brewing parameters, remembering how to brew 50+ different coffees would place an enormous mental burden. Therefore, to brew multiple coffee varieties effectively, you must understand coffee bean characteristics and organize them into categories.

For example, categorizing by coffee growing region, coffees from the same region share similar flavor characteristics. Ethiopia, whether Yirgacheffe or Sidamo, typically exhibits citrus and berry notes. Guatemala, whether Antigua or Huehuetenango, has distinctive smoky flavors with prominent citrus acidity. Therefore, coffees with these regional flavor characteristics can use the same brewing parameters.

The second consideration is the roast level of coffee beans. Parameters used for light to medium roasts differ significantly from medium to dark roasts. Light to medium roast coffees primarily express acidity, so during brewing, you can choose a finer grind (75-80% passing through #20 sieve) and higher water temperature (90-93°C). Medium to dark roast coffees primarily express bitterness, so during brewing, choose a coarser grind (70-75% passing through #20 sieve) and lower water temperature (86-89°C).

When you encounter a new bean and aren't sure how to brew it, you can click here for reference.

Recording Every Brewing Parameter

When searching for the right approach, setbacks are common. Therefore, we must record parameters for every brewing session, then determine whether these parameters are reasonable, and identify areas for improvement through coffee tasting.

FrontStreet Coffee offers an example: When brewing a red honey-processed Yirgacheffe coffee, FrontStreet Coffee initially used these parameters: "15g coffee grounds, 80% sieve-passing grind size, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 91°C water temperature, three-stage pouring: first stage 30ml bloom for 30 seconds, second stage 100ml, third stage 95ml. Recorded brewing time was 2 minutes 30 seconds."

Through tasting, the flavors were ginger flower, berries, cream, with nut and cocoa notes (quite bitter) in the latter half. FrontStreet Coffee found this taste unpleasant. Through analysis, this bitterness was likely caused by the fine grind, resulting in over-extraction. Therefore, in the second brewing, FrontStreet Coffee adjusted the grind to 75% sieve-passing while keeping other parameters unchanged. The final brewing time was 1 minute 55 seconds. The tasting notes were ginger flower, citrus, berries, and oolong tea.

When adjusting parameters, remember to "change only one parameter at a time." This way, we can understand how each parameter adjustment affects coffee flavor, facilitating recording and analysis.

Conclusion

Coffee brewing is a discipline that heavily relies on accumulated knowledge and comprehension. Using the right amount of coffee, correct grind size, proper water temperature, correct ratio, and completing brewing within the right time—this is what produces delicious coffee. What we need to learn is how to use the correct parameters!

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473