4 Important Pour-Over Coffee Brewing Tips: What to Prepare Before Brewing

To ensure success with pour-over coffee, it's essential to eliminate uncertainties and keep everything on track. During the preparation stage before brewing, there are numerous details that, if overlooked, can amplify the uncertainties during the brewing process. FrontStreet Coffee has compiled insights from various sources and practices from enthusiastic coffee lovers, sharing the following preparation tips you might have overlooked.

1. Proper Filter Paper Placement

FrontStreet Coffee's previous experiments (click here for details) concluded that the degree of filter paper adherence significantly impacts the coffee's flavor and texture. First, proper filter paper placement is crucial because it ensures smooth degassing during the blooming phase. Second, the ribs on the dripper serve to guide water flow, but this only works when the filter paper adheres to these ribs. If the filter paper doesn't fit properly, the ribs in those non-adherent areas lose their function, naturally affecting extraction uniformity and flow rate.

Therefore, to utilize the full functionality of your dripper, you should confirm proper filter paper placement during preparation. Once you discover poor adherence during brewing, it becomes difficult to make corrections.

FrontStreet Coffee has previously shared detailed instructions on specific filter paper folding techniques in another article. If you're interested, you can click here to read it.

2. Brew Immediately After Confirming Water Temperature

When we typically mention water temperature, we're actually referring to the initial water temperature in the kettle during the first pour. If you're using a non-temperature-controlled kettle, the water temperature will gradually decrease if you don't brew immediately after confirming the temperature. Therefore, it's best to confirm the water temperature within the last two steps of preparation. For a regular pouring kettle, you should account for heat absorption by the kettle itself – pour water at a higher temperature than your brewing target into the pour-over kettle and allow it to cool gradually.

If you're using a temperature-controlled kettle, you can set the temperature in advance and simply remove the heating device when it's time to brew. Another question that temperature-controlled kettle users often have is whether to return the kettle to the heating device between pours to maintain temperature. FrontStreet Coffee suggests this is unnecessary unless you're experiencing significant heat loss (reference for heat loss: dropping from 91°C to 88°C after 1 minute 30 seconds is normal). This is because most brewing parameters assume continuous temperature loss during the process. In fact, sometimes brewing at a constant 91°C may not achieve the intended flavor profile of your brewing recipe.

3. Save Grinding for the Final Step

If you're using an electric grinder, it's best to grind your coffee beans after all other preparations are complete, then immediately transfer the grounds to the dripper for brewing. This is because ground coffee significantly increases flavor volatility. You'll notice a distinct coffee aroma immediately after grinding – that's the coffee flavor escaping. To minimize excessive flavor loss, brew as quickly as possible after grinding.

For those using manual grinders, you need to calculate the time required for grinding and prepare in advance. For example, FrontStreet Coffee tested that grinding coffee takes about 1 minute, so FrontStreet Coffee would first pour boiling water into the pour-over kettle, measure the temperature, calculate how long it takes to cool to the desired temperature (practice makes perfect), and then grind the coffee beans in advance, aiming to complete grinding just as the water reaches the target temperature. If the water temperature drops too quickly, simply reheat it and recalculate.

4. Re-verify Coffee Ground Weight

Another crucial point is to re-verify the weight after grinding coffee beans and transferring the grounds to the dripper. Grinders can experience retention, where some grounds remain from previous sessions, or they might expel previously retained grounds, increasing your current amount. Generally, a variation of ±0.5g can affect the coffee's flavor, so you should make corresponding adjustments. For example, if you actually measure 14.3g of grounds, at a 1:15 ratio, you wouldn't add 225g of water, but rather 214.5g.

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