Brewing Guide: Pour Over (V60 / Drip) Coffee
Your Essential Brew Guide To Make A V60 Coffee Like A Barista
A pour over is a popular brewing method, and as the name suggests, is quite literally the process of pouring water over coffee. Brewing by percolation, a pour over coffee is generally very clean tasting.
In using this method of brewing, the coffee to water ratio is particularly important, as is the speed at which you introduce water to the coffee. Below you'll find our recommendations on both factors, but it is also worth noting that different types of filters do also exist, available in cloth, paper or metallic material, with each providing a slightly different effect on the final brew. By comparison, paper is undoubtedly the most commonly used and provides the cleanest of brews possible as it is able to strain all the oils and coffee particles; cloth is the oldest method, with the fabric's holes' sizes allowing oils to pass through to give a fuller-bodied tasting brew (though re-usage is an issue); and metal, arguably the least authentic type, but also the most reusable.
To brew your coffee with a pour over, use light roasted filter coffee to achieve the best results, for which you'll be able to taste the coffee's subtle flavours and smell it's delicate aromas. Light roasted wholebeans and coffee pre-ground for filter are both available from all our roasters via GUSTATORY subscriptions, in which we recommend our Plus 87 coffee subscription, Selected Mix coffees, or our Single Origin / Light coffee option.
Use Medium Ground Coffee
We recommend using between 15-21g of medium ground coffee depending on the volume of your coffee cup, and with a brew ratio of 1g of coffee for every ~17ml of water, use 15g if your cup holds 250ml, or 21g if it holds 350ml. You may use wholebeans and your own grinder (recommended) or pre-ground for filter coffee. If wholebeans, to achieve a medium grind, you should use a mid-point setting on your grinder's dashboard, with the resulting coffee grinds neither as fine as sand nor visibly coarse
1 What You Need
To make your V60 pour over (drip) coffee, you will need: 1x V60 (or any other conical brewer i.e Kalita Wave), 1x V60 (or Kalita Wave) filter paper, 2x cups (a second is recommended), 1x digital scales, boiling water (using filtered water is also recommended) and medium ground coffee
2 Rinse Your V60 Filter Paper
Begin by placing your filter paper inside the V60, which is in turn placed over one cup, and then rinsing through some boiling water until all the paper is wet
3 Discard Excess Water & Replace Cup
Discard the now excess water from the first cup and place your V60 on top of a second cup (not mandatory, but recommended), placing this onto a set of digitial scales
4 Load Coffee Into V60 & Tare Scales
Load your amount of ground coffee into the V60 and ensure that the top surface of the coffee is made flat once inside. Next, tare the scales so that it states zero
5 Pour Water Into Your V60
First pour 70ml of water into the V60, checking the scales as you do for it's weight. Next, wait 30 seconds to allow the coffee to 'bloom' to allow gasses to escape (which is a good sign, indicative of fresh coffee), and then continue with the remainder of water until your scales shows as either 250g or 350g, whichever is the size of your cup
6 Allow Water To Drain & Enjoy
Finally, allow the V60 to drain it's water through so that all of the water enters the cup. This process should take around 3 minutes or so, and if any longer or quicker, consider changing the coarseness of your grind next time. Lastly, enjoy...GUSTATORY (adjective): curating excellence in taste.