Pour Over Brew Guide: Pouring Techniques, Tips, Preparation

Water Quality in Coffee Brewing

Water quality is paramount in coffee brewing. Using fresh, clean, and soft water enhances the overall taste of your coffee. Avoid using hard or unfiltered water; if the water doesn’t taste good on its own, it won’t make great coffee.

Freshness of Coffee Beans and Medium grind size

For optimal flavor extraction, it’s essential to use freshly roasted and ground coffee. Grinding the coffee just before brewing ensures that all the flavors are fully extracted and vibrant. Grind your coffee beans to a medium consistency, similar to regular beach sand. Grinding finer produces more body but can also lead to potential bitterness, while grinding coarser may result in under-extraction and insufficient body. 

Water Temperature

I’ve found that a temperature of 95°C  works best for pour over. This temperature avoids bitterness and ensures a good extraction of flavors from the coffee grounds. 

Temperature Tip Without a Thermometer

If you don’t have a thermometer on hand, here are two simple tricks to achieve approximately 95°C water: Boil 1 liter of water, then mix in 65ml of room temperature water. Or wait for 2 minutes to cool down. 

Eliminate any paper flavor

Begin by placing a paper filter into the dripper and rinsing it with hot water to eliminate any paper flavor. Discard the rinse water.