Pour Over Coffee Bean to Water Ratio - Freshly Ground Coffee Beans and Water Ratio

FrontStreet Coffee · Pour-Over Coffee Bean to Water Ratio - Freshly Ground Coffee Bean to Water Ratio

Some people suggest simply buying pre-ground coffee, but my own advice to anyone in a large or medium-sized city is to buy relatively fresh beans and grind them yourself if you can. A delicious cup starts with one basic requirement: fresh, high-quality coffee beans.

Key Elements for Perfect Pour-Over Coffee

Coffee Grinder: Invest in a good quality manual grinder so the grounds are uniform. Uneven grounds never taste "pure." Because coarser particles have less surface area, hot water pulls far less flavor out of them in the same amount of time than it does from fine particles. By the time the coarse grounds are extracted just right, the fine ones have already been over-extracted and are contributing off-flavors. The whole point of pour-over single-origin coffee is to taste the coffee's original character and to highlight specific traits for close appreciation, so even extraction matters more than a muddle of competing flavors.

Water: Most people already prefer soft water for drinking, and soft water gives a better pour-over texture. Water temperature should sit between 85-95°C. Too hot and the coffee picks up burnt flavors; too cool and it turns unpleasantly sour. Properly brewed coffee will still show a subtle acidity, but it should be pleasant, like a light fruit acidity.

Cup Warming: Warm your cups. Every vessel used in the pour-over process should hold its temperature, which keeps the coffee warmer and smoother in texture.

Pour-Over Kettle: A gooseneck kettle can be bought as a dedicated tool, or you can substitute any common vessel that produces a fine, steady stream. Heat retention matters here too.

Coffee to Water Ratio: In my experience, 15 grams of coffee grounds to 250 milliliters of water works well.

Standard Brewing Ratios

• 1 cup (5 ounces of finished coffee) = 160ml water (9g drip coffee)
• 2 cups (10 ounces of finished coffee) = 321ml water (18g drip coffee)
• 3 cups (12 ounces of finished coffee) = 482ml water (27g drip coffee)

(For this pour-over we used 18g coffee grounds, 321g drinking water, and 32g water for pre-infusion.)

Brewing Steps

1. Fold the Filter Paper:

Take a "Melitta Size 4 filter paper," which has one side and the bottom mechanically pressed and thicker. Filter papers come in different sizes, so choose according to your filter holder, and in bleached and unbleached versions, so choose according to preference. Open the switch on the brewer, set the filter holder over the coffee pot, and pour hot water into the brewer to wet the filter paper. Then drain the hot water and close the switch.

Note: Wetting the paper does more than make it cling to the walls; it also washes away the papery taste of the filter, which is why the switch should be open when you do it.

(The water temperature range for pour-over can be 85-93°C, but different temperatures definitely produce very different cups. Different beans and different roast levels call for different temperatures, so you will need to experiment to find the one that suits you.)

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A good ratio only gets you so far. These three FrontStreet beans are reliable under a straightforward hand-pour and forgiving of small variations in timing.

FrontStreet Brazil Queen Estate - Low acidity and well balanced, with concentrated nut and cocoa aromas and a clear caramel sweetness. Silky rather than astringent on the entry, it is at home as pour-over, espresso, or moka pot coffee, and it makes an easy daily base bean.

FrontStreet PWN Golden Mandheling - Deep roasted with very low acidity and a long, full body. Herbal and dark chocolate notes lead, with a faint earthiness underneath and plenty of layering. It suits anyone who prefers a heavy, low-acid cup and holds up well to a slow pour.

FrontStreet Washed Yirgacheffe Gotiti Cooperative - From the Worka area at the southeastern edge of Yirgacheffe, washed in the traditional way, with bright citrus and lemon acidity and a jasmine fragrance. A good pick for a pour-over where you want to taste clearly separated flavors.