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Must Pour-Over Coffee Create a "Deep Crater" to Taste Good?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, For some beginners in pour-over coffee brewing, the "expansion" during coffee blooming and the "deep crater" that forms in the coffee bed after brewing always generate enormous attraction. It's as if a good cup of pour-over coffee must exhibit these two brewing phenomena! Without these elements, the resulting coffee seems less

For many beginners of pour-over coffee, the "expansion" during coffee blooming and the "deep pit" that forms in the coffee bed after brewing are always incredibly attractive. It's as if a good pour-over coffee must exhibit these two brewing phenomena! Without these elements, does the brewed coffee not taste as good?

However, after trying, many friends discover that these phenomena aren't so easily achieved! So today, FrontStreet Coffee will share how the "deep pit" is formed! And whether the "deep pit" truly represents the quality of a cup of coffee!

The Formation of the Deep Pit

First, let's observe what a "deep pit"-shaped coffee bed looks like!

The coffee bed is deeply and evenly indented! This is the kind of coffee pit that not only beginners but also many baristas dream of! FrontStreet Coffee remembers when a friend first entered the coffee field, whenever their senior brewed a deep pit-shaped coffee bed, they would always "share" it with this friend (show off! Just showing off!!). Perhaps this is why many beginners are attracted to deep pits! But actually, brewing such a coffee pit doesn't require much technical skill! As long as certain conditions are met, you can have a "deep and even" pit!

Conditions for Brewing a Deep Pit

1. Using Dark Roasted Beans

This is the easiest condition to create a deep pit in the coffee bed! If you use dark roasted coffee beans for brewing, it will have a much higher probability of producing a deep pit compared to light roast beans!

This principle mainly revolves around coffee density! The deeper the roast degree, the larger the expanded volume of coffee beans, the lower the density, and the more porous the texture! In other words, before roasting, two coffee beans with the same density and volume will develop different volumes and densities after being subjected to different roasting levels! Lighter roasts, having undergone less development, have smaller volumes and harder textures! Darker roasts, having undergone more development, have larger volumes and more porous textures!

Therefore, dark roasted beans will have a greater expansion range during brewing! Moreover, because their weight is evenly distributed across the volume, the ground particles will be lighter. Compared to light roast beans that tend to accumulate at the bottom of the filter, dark roast beans prefer to float on the liquid surface (because they're lighter), with less powder accumulation at the bottom! These floating particles will gradually spread to the surroundings as the water level drops, rather than accumulating downward! Therefore, the resulting pit will be relatively deep with thick coffee walls, and thus the deep pit is formed.

2. Larger Coffee Amount

Of course, the amount of coffee powder can also influence the size of the coffee pit! When you use less coffee powder, it's difficult to meet the conditions for forming a pit—after all, if the "building materials" are insufficient, where will the resources come from to build high walls?

So, we can solve this problem by increasing the coffee amount! With more coffee powder, it's naturally easier to create a deep pit!

3. Center-focused Pouring

The above are material-level conditions, while this point is a technical-level condition. Material conditions alone are not enough; random pouring might wash against the filter cup walls, causing some of the coffee powder attached to the walls to be "scraped off." These washed-down coffee particles will fill and accumulate in the center! Ultimately, this results in a coffee bed that appears flat rather than a deep pit!

Therefore, when we want to create a coffee pit, we need to pay attention to pouring with the center point of the filter as the core. This area accumulates the most coffee powder, and we only need to wash away this portion of coffee powder to achieve a comfortable coffee pit!

4. Freshness of the Beans

This point follows the same principle as the first one! Fresher beans contain more carbon dioxide and can expand to a greater extent! Therefore, fresher beans can produce deeper pits!

Isn't it very simple! Even beans that haven't been properly aged can produce deep pits, which shows what? It shows that producing a "deep pit" doesn't necessarily represent that your cup of coffee will taste good. Regardless of the shape of the coffee pit, it can only indicate whether your pouring method is correct, not the quality of the taste! If your pouring is improper, such as washing against the filter walls, resulting in a "flat pit" or "fault" formation in the coffee pit, then we need to adjust our pouring method!