The Only Pour Over Coffee Recipe You'll Ever Need In Life (2024)

A well-prepared pour-over coffee is a thing of beauty that can change your entire perspective on coffee. I’m not exaggerating. Prepare to experience flavor profiles you never thought possible.

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A proper pour over is simple in concept but complex in execution. Complete control over all brewing variables allows the potential for absolute mastery and plenty of room for human error.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to make pour over coffee like a true hipster barista. I’ll walk you through every aspect of the ultimate pour over, from the science of brewing to an easy-to-follow recipe.

Why Is Pour Over Coffee So Special?

There’s a reason serious coffee lovers favor this coffee method, and it’s not its simplicity; it’s exactly the opposite. Brewing coffee manually gives the barista complete control over every variable. Pour overs are known for complex flavors and clarity in the cup.

Choosing the right beans is also important for this method, but it’s also a matter of personal preference. I tried a lot of beans with this brew method and here’s my list of the best coffee beans for pour-over brewing.

Steven from Home Grounds gives an excellent introduction in this video:

In this section, I’m going to get a little nerdy with you. Let’s talk about what happens when you brew a pour over and the variables for optimizing extraction.

Infusion Vs. Immersion

Pour over is an infusion brewing method. The grounds are saturated by a continuous flow of water throughout the brewing process. This is distinct from an infusion method like a French press coffee where the grounds steep in water (1).

Infusion methods like pour over are efficient and better display the more subtle flavors of a great coffee. But they require more skill to achieve a perfectly even coffee extraction.

The Pour Over Brewing Cycle

Let’s get science-y! Pour over brewing has two stages.

The bloom is the initial wetting stage. It’s crucial to let carbon dioxide gas (CO₂) trapped in your grounds escape before it interferes with the brew. The amount of CO₂ in coffee beans naturally decreases from the point of roasting (2). So the bloom phase is particularly important for freshly roasted beans.

The brew is when you extract the flavor compounds from the ground coffee into your cup. About a third of a coffee bean is made up of substances that dissolve in water. That includes the delicious sugars and acids and some not-so-pleasant molecules that lend a bitter or astrigent note.

The perfect pour-over is about extracting the tasty stuff and leaving the bitterness in the coffee bed with the used grounds. To do that, you need to…

Optimize Pour Over Ratio, Temp, and Other Variables

There are five key variables when brewing a pour over: coffee-to-water ratio, grind size, brew temperature, brew time, and water flow.

Remember that different coffee beans require different optimization. For example, lighter roast beans are denser, so they often require hotter water, a finer grind, and/or longer brew times than more porous dark roasts.

Pour-over coffee ratio

The Specialty Coffee Association’s “golden ratio” recommends 55 grams of coffee per liter of water, or a ratio of about 1:18 coffee:water (3). Many baristas, myself included, prefer a more concentrated brew on the order of 1:14 or 1:16. It’s up to you to experiment with the coffee to water ratio.

Don’t forget to account for the size of your dripper when deciding how much coffee and water to use. You need enough coffee to form a proper bed but not so much the brewer overflows.

Grind Size for Pour Over Coffee

Nailing the grind size is crucial to get the best flavor. Too fine, and you’ll end up with a bitter, over-extracted cup – or you’ll clog the filter. Too coarse, and the brew will be under-extracted, acidic, and weak.

The key is to find the perfect medium grind to suit your coffee brewer and beans. For a first pass, grind to medium-fine (like sea salt or sand).

Pour Over Coffee Temperature

The SCAA recommends a brew temperature of 195 to 205 degrees Fahrenheit for ideal extraction (90 to 96 degrees Celsius). The best way to achieve this is using a variable temperature electric kettle or a kitchen thermometer.

Brew Time for Pour Over

Brew time occurs as a natural consequence of the grind size and ratio, so it’s a good test of your set up. Aim for around 3 or 4 minutes. The bloom time should make up between 30 seconds and a minute of that.

If the brew time is too long, you’ll exceed that ideal extraction range and start bringing in bitter flavors. If it’s too short, you’ll leave some delicious flavor compounds behind, and your brew will taste weak.

Water Flow

This is the hardest variable to optimize because there is so much potential for experimentation and no way to ensure consistency beyond trusting the muscle memory in your arm.

The most important thing is to ensure the entire bed of coffee is evenly wetted. You don’t want to pour the water in a solid stream down the middle of the brewer. A good starting point is to pour in a spiral from the center to the outside edge of the coffee bed and back. Once you’ve mastered that, start experimenting. Try pouring from different heights, pouring in pulses, or using a spoon to stir.

How To Make Pour Over Coffee

Grind beans, add water, drink delicious coffee. Sounds easy, right? In truth, this brew style rewards practice and patience. Here’s how to make pour-over coffee at home that’s perfect every time.

Step 1: Heat The Water

Heat your brew water to between 195 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit (90 to 96 degrees Celsius).

Step 2: Weigh The Coffee

Weigh 15 grams of coffee beans using a coffee scale to brew an 8-ounce coffee using a 1:15 ratio of coffee to water.

Step 3: Wet Your Filter

This is an important and often overlooked step if you’re using a paper filter, especially unbleached paper. Rinsing the filter gets rid of any papery taste.

Place the filter in the dripper and pour hot water around it in a circle (making sure to get up the sides) for about five seconds. Discard the water in the cup or carafe below.

Step 4: Grind Your Coffee

Grind your weighed beans to medium-fine using a good-quality burr grinder. Add your ground coffee to the bottom of the filter.

Step 5: Pour Water

Start by placing your entire pour over set-up on your coffee scale and taring it so you can monitor exactly how much water you add. Start your brew timer as soon as hot water hits the grounds.

Bloom: Using a gooseneck kettle, pour enough water to saturate the grounds – about twice as much water as coffee by weight. You’ll see them swell, rise, and bubble. Allow 30 – 60 seconds for the bloom to finish.

Brew: Slowly pour the rest of the water over the grounds. Start at the center and move out in a widening spiral to wet all the grounds evenly. Stop when you’ve added 225 grams of water for a 1:15 ratio.

Let it drip until you’ve reached your target total brew time.

Now, all that in a video form and two versions – the v60 coffee and Chemex brewing.

More Tips To Help You NAIL The Perfect Cup Of Coffee

You already have the tools to take your pour over brew from good to great. But these tips will take it from great to amazing.

Your Grinder Is Your Secret Ingredient

Brewing quality coffee requires a quality grinder.

• Avoid buying pre-ground coffee. Coffee quickly loses flavor once ground, so you want to grind as soon as possible before brewing.
• Don’t use a blade grinder. Blade grinders chop rather than grind whole bean coffee, resulting in a range of grind sizes and an uneven extraction.

Opt for a burr grinder with a burr set that delivers uniform coffee grounds in the medium-fine to medium-coarse range of the grind spectrum.

Geek Out About Water

Coffee is 98% water, so it should come as no surprise that the best water leads to the best tasting cup. The best water for coffee should be filtered. But don’t be tempted to use distilled water as some mineral content actually enhances flavor.

Keep A Record

I know it sounds dorky, but keeping a pour over journal is the best way to master this brewing method. After your morning brew, note down the coffee beans you used, the coffee brewing variables, and how the final cup turned out.

When optimizing your coffee, never experiment with more than one variable at a time.

Was your brew a bit under-extracted? Make a note to try a finer grind next time. Or experiment with a longer brew time or hotter water. But don’t do everything simultaneously, or you won’t know what made the difference.

Keep It Clean

Cleaning your gear is the last sexy part about making coffee, but it’s necessary for great flavor. Do you want grit in your brew? Or the flavor of rancid coffee oils? I didn’t think so.

Make sure you at least rinse your dripper under water after every use. Give it a more thorough scrub in warm, soapy water on a weekly basis.

Learn From The Best

Once you’ve mastered the basics, start experimenting with recipes from top baristas. You’ll learn more about your likes and dislikes and how the world’s best coffee minds approach the process.

Steven from Home Grounds does exactly that in this video, sampling three recipes from World Brewers Cup champions.

Choosing a Brewer

Now that you know all about how to brew the perfect manual filter coffee, it’s time to choose your gear. Each drip has its own personality and needs, ultimately resulting in a different experience. Fortunately, pour-over brewers are usually very affordable, so there’s no reason to confine yourself to just one!

Need a suggestion? If you’re just starting out, the Kalita Wave brewer is very beginner-friendly. If you’re a little more experienced, you can’t go wrong with the Hario V60 or Chemex coffee maker. Check out our list of the best pour-over coffee makers or the video below for more ideas.

Final Thoughts

That wraps it up for this beginner’s guide to pour-over coffee. Once you master these step-by-step instructions, you’re ready to start experimenting with different brewers and exploring new coffees. Prepare to enter a new world of coffee as your advanced barista skills tease out flavors you never thought possible!

Any tips you’d like to add for brewing the ideal cup? We’d love to hear about them – leave a comment below!