Pour-Over Coffee Water-to-Ratio Guide: Step-by-Step Illustrated Starbucks Pour-Over Brewing Parameters

The Art of Pour-Over Coffee

The charm of pour-over coffee lies in the ability to adjust various subtle parameters and regulate extraction variables at different stages to achieve your preferred coffee flavor and texture. FrontStreet Coffee believes that the coffee-to-water ratio is a crucial parameter that affects pour-over coffee. Mastering this ratio not only makes extraction more stable but also allows flavors to present better results.

What is the coffee-to-water ratio in pour-over brewing?

During the pour-over coffee process, when water comes into contact with coffee grounds, water acts as a solvent, helping to dissolve the soluble flavor compounds within the coffee. The coffee-to-water ratio essentially determines how much water we use to extract those flavor compounds. This ratio refers to the proportion between coffee grounds and total water volume, which directly affects the concentration of the coffee. Regardless of which brewing method is used, FrontStreet Coffee determines the coffee-to-water ratio before extraction. For example, FrontStreet Coffee's standard single cup uses 15 grams of coffee grounds with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, meaning a total of 225ml of hot water is poured.

When all other parameters remain unchanged, the more water poured, the lower the coffee concentration and the more dispersed the flavor; the less water poured, the higher the concentration and the more concentrated and heavy the coffee flavor becomes. Additionally, the more water poured, the higher the extraction rate, yielding more soluble compounds. (Extraction rate is the proportion of soluble substances extracted from coffee relative to the weight of coffee grounds) As the brewing progresses, extraction efficiency continuously decreases, and undesirable bitter compounds may be released, thus affecting the final coffee taste. Therefore, we need to find the appropriate coffee-to-water ratio to achieve optimal concentration and extraction rate.

How to find the optimal coffee-to-water ratio?

The coffee-to-water ratio is typically determined based on experience and doesn't have strict fixed requirements. For example, when FrontStreet Coffee brews Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, aiming for a balanced flavor concentration, they use a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio. However, when brewing Hacienda La Esmeralda Natural Red Label coffee, FrontStreet Coffee hopes to present clearer flavors with brighter acidity, so they use a 1:16 ratio for extraction. Based on FrontStreet Coffee's past brewing experience, they recommend beginners start with ratios between 1:15 to 1:18, meaning 15 grams of coffee corresponds to 225-270ml of water.

The coffee-to-water ratio is not the only factor determining coffee flavor, so we also need to understand various parameters: extraction time, water temperature, grind size, pouring method, the functional properties of drippers and filter paper, and so on, all of which affect the final taste. If you've started learning the relationships between various pour-over parameters, then fixed variables like coffee-to-water ratio and water temperature become adjustable factors that can be modified up and down to make coffee taste better.

Why pour water in stages?

We often see baristas pause during pour-over brewing, waiting for the water level to drop before continuing to add water. This is called staged extraction.

The first stage involves pouring a small amount of hot water to moisten the coffee grounds, with the purpose of releasing internal gases to avoid affecting subsequent extraction stages. This step is called "blooming." The most common blooming method is pouring twice the amount of water as coffee grounds and letting it bloom for 30 seconds. For example, with FrontStreet Coffee's 15 grams of coffee grounds, they use 30ml of water for blooming, which is also the easiest "blooming formula" for beginners to master. Staged pouring is calculated based on whether there are pauses after the blooming stage. For example, if the pouring after blooming is divided into two stages, plus the blooming, it becomes a "three-stage pour," and so on; if the pouring after blooming has no pauses and is completed in one go, it's called "single-stream pouring."

Baristas use staged extraction because during the pour-over process, different chemical components in coffee extract at different rates. The order of flavor release when exposed to hot water is: acidity, sweetness, then bitterness. In staged extraction, besides the blooming stage, with the same coffee-to-water ratio, the more stages divided, the smaller the amount of water per stage, the more times the coffee bed is rinsed and stirred, and the higher the extraction rate.

Additionally, increasing the number of stages extends the total extraction time, and the more coffee compounds released in each stage, the richer the flavor layers. However, FrontStreet Coffee wants to remind everyone that the more stages, the longer the operation time, increasing the risk of over-extraction. In the later stages, larger molecular compounds in coffee are more easily released, and the sweetness is instead masked. This shows that more stages of pouring are not necessarily better. So how should staged pouring be calculated?

Recommended three-stage pour-over method

Based on past brewing experience, FrontStreet Coffee recommends beginners adopt a three-stage pouring method. Three-stage extraction helps to more fully dissolve flavor compounds during extraction, increases texture layers, while avoiding over-extraction that can result from prolonged soaking. For 15 grams of coffee grounds with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio and 225ml total water, the three-stage water amounts are divided into: 30ml, 95ml, and 100ml, with the electronic scale showing: 30g, 125g, and 225g.

Here, FrontStreet Coffee selects their own house-roasted washed Yirgacheffe Gedeb cooperative coffee beans, paired with an Hario V60 dripper for brewing. The V60's spiral rib design allows coffee grounds to release gases better, maximizing the volatilization and dissolution of acidic aroma compounds. Since Yirgacheffe uses light roast, the coffee beans have a harder texture and require hot water at 92°C-93°C to stimulate the floral and fruity notes in the coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee recommends a medium-fine grind size (78% pass-through rate on Chinese standard #20 sieve), similar to the coarseness of fine sugar. Grinding too coarsely cannot extract the mellow and rounded flavor compounds, resulting in thin coffee; grinding too finely can easily over-extract at high water temperatures, resulting in bitter and astringent coffee.

For brewing ratios, FrontStreet Coffee believes both 1:15 to 1:16 are acceptable. If you want a richer mouthfeel, use 1:15; if you want to more clearly perceive floral aromas and sweetness, you can use 1:16 to allow the flavors to disperse more.

First place the folded filter paper in the dripper, moisten it with water to make it fit better with the dripper, pour out the water in the lower pot, pour 15 grams of ground coffee into the dripper, and zero the electronic scale.

First, pour 30g of water for 30 seconds of blooming. Start timing while pouring, using a small stream of water from the center point and spiraling outward, making sure to moisten the entire coffee bed.

After 30 seconds, begin pouring the second stage of 95g water with a slightly larger, steady stream, aiming to lift the entire coffee bed. The water column needs to be poured vertically and evenly, with the timer scale showing 125g, completed around 55 seconds.

When the liquid level drops to about halfway, start using a small stream to pour the third stage of 100g in small circles, trying to control the water flow to not circle too widely, as this can easily disperse the coffee grounds and cause under-extraction. Finally, the total amount of water poured is 225g, with the drip filtration completing in about 2 minutes. After removing the dripper, shake the coffee liquid in the sharing pot evenly before tasting.

The amount of water poured in each stage is not fixed. We can adjust according to our accumulated pour-over experience and our understanding of coffee beans. FrontStreet Coffee understands coffee brewing as a scientifically-based experiment. To master pour-over coffee, we need to deeply understand the true meaning of each brewing parameter. This way, we can easily find experimental methods and establish a brewing framework that suits ourselves.

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