Which Pour-Over Coffee Pot Brand Is Best? Can You Heat a Pour-Over Pot Directly? Pour-Over Pot Water Boiling, Usage, and Pouring Techniques

Introduction to Pour-Over Kettles

While making pour-over coffee doesn't necessarily require a professional pour-over kettle, if you want to consistently replicate delicious coffee, a suitable gooseneck kettle is essential.

However, when we open shopping platforms, we discover that pour-over kettles come in far more varieties than we might imagine. The dazzling array of styles can be overwhelming, making it difficult to make a choice.

So, to prevent friends from purchasing unsuitable pour-over kettles, FrontStreet Coffee is here today to share how to choose a pour-over kettle! Let's start with whether you need temperature control.

Temperature Control vs. Non-Temperature Control

The first step in choosing a pour-over kettle isn't selecting based on its physical construction, but first deciding whether it should be equipped with a heating module. That is, choosing between temperature-controlled and non-temperature-controlled versions!

Temperature-controlled versions have many advantages. First, they come with their own heating module! We just need to set the target temperature, and the kettle can heat the water to the desired temperature range. Second, they can automatically adjust the water temperature at any time, providing excellent heat preservation. However, there are quite a few drawbacks, such as a higher price! Because of the added heating module, the price is about 300 yuan higher than non-temperature-controlled versions. Additionally, the presence of the heating module increases the overall weight of the kettle. Third, the material of the kettle is limited.

As for non-temperature-controlled versions, the advantages are: affordable price and a wide variety of options. The drawback is that operation is more cumbersome, requiring you to boil water with other equipment and then pour it in, plus you need to use a thermometer.

Therefore, we can choose according to our needs. If you can accept cumbersome operation and already have a kettle at home, you can choose the non-temperature-controlled version. If you want something more convenient and simple, then choose the temperature-controlled version. Once we've decided on temperature control, we can continue with other selections!

The Spout

FrontStreet Coffee often says that the spout of a pour-over kettle is an important factor affecting water stream formation. Moreover, the ease of controlling the water stream is also influenced by the spout design. Spout types on the market are mainly divided into two categories: narrow and wide. This refers to the size of the spout opening, which affects the thickness range of the water stream. For beginners, a narrow-spout kettle will be an excellent choice. Because the characteristic of narrow-spout kettles is that they are easy to get started with and simple to control!

Narrow-spout kettles create very concentrated and stable water flow due to the limited space, and can easily produce powerful streams. However, the disadvantage is that there's limited operational space with a lower ceiling. Wide-spout kettles are relatively more difficult to control because the large opening makes it hard to control the thickness and size of the water flow, requiring us to spend more time mastering it. But the advantages are excellent - that is, extremely high playability! When we become proficient in water control, we can freely control the water flow size and master various advanced brewing methods.

In addition to the spout opening size, different spout shapes bring different levels of control difficulty. Common types include: elephant trunk spout, hawk spout, flat spout, shaved flat spout, and eagle spout. FrontStreet Coffee has explained these in detail before, so we won't elaborate too much here. You can check out this article to learn more: "The Difference Between Spouts."

The Kettle Body

The choice of kettle body mainly concerns its water capacity! This is also a mistake many friends often make. Because many friends think that since they only make one cup of coffee for themselves each time, they don't need to buy a large-capacity pour-over kettle, and one with a capacity similar to the amount of water used for brewing coffee will suffice.

But in reality, this might make water control more difficult and make it harder to brew delicious coffee! Why? Because we need the poured water to have a certain impact force to stir and extract the coffee grounds, and this depends not only on the pouring height but also on the water pressure inside the kettle. When there's more hot water left in the kettle, the poured water stream will have more impact force, and vice versa. If we choose a pour-over kettle with a capacity similar to our pouring amount, we might not be able to form a proper water stream by the end due to insufficient water, lacking impact force. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests that the capacity of the purchased pour-over kettle should be larger than the amount of water you use for brewing coffee, and the amount of water loaded into the kettle should also be more than the hot water you use. This ensures that you can maintain a proper water stream throughout the brewing process, achieving standard extraction efficiency.

The Handle

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned before, all manufacturers label their product handles as being more ergonomic, labor-saving, and easy to control. But compared to other design aspects, the handle is actually less important. After all, our hands have strong adaptability - as long as we use it for a long time, even an uncomfortable handle will become comfortable, and they're essentially the same once you're proficient.

Materials

Finally, let's talk about materials! Currently, the main materials for pour-over kettles on the market are stainless steel, copper, and enamel porcelain! From a cost-performance perspective, stainless steel is the best choice, as it offers good quality at a reasonable price. From a performance perspective, FrontStreet Coffee would recommend choosing copper kettles, because copper kettles have excellent heat preservation and quality. From an aesthetic perspective, enamel porcelain is definitely the top choice with its super high appearance value! However, it's fragile and gets hot to the touch, making it less practical.

Conclusion

That's about it - these are the main selection directions for pour-over kettles. Everyone can choose step by step according to their preferences~

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473