Coffee Dripper. (Gravity Drip).
The pour over coffee brewing method simply uses gravity to pull hot water through fresh coffee grounds, extracting solubles through percolation. Pour overs create a clean, flavorful cup of coffee, and are a delightful experience to wake up to in the morning. But first, let’s go over some coffee basics that will improve your coffee and create consistency with your brews. Let’s dive into our pour over brew guide right now.
First things first…
WATER
The ideal water for coffee brewing is filtered, soft water. Over 98% of your final drink is water, do not underestimate it! Water from your regular charcoal-filter water pitcher will work well. Avoid using tap water, heavily mineralized water, or distilled water.
TOOLS
Scale – A kitchen scale (set to grams) to weigh your ground coffee and water. If you’re going to use a scoop, such as a tablespoon, be sure to note how many scoops you’re using for consistency. Since coffee’s weight depends on its roast level, you’ll find that an affordable kitchen scale will make a world of difference for your daily coffee brewing.
Kettle– Gooseneck kettles are fantastic for controlling your pours, but are not necessary. All you need is a way to boil water, whether it’s a stovetop kettle or a gooseneck with temperature control.
Timer – For timing your pours and noting total brew time.
Brewing Equipment – V60, Chemex, or any pour over device you prefer.
Grinder – Control and customize your final cup of coffee by fine-tuning your grind size. A burr grinder is recommended.
COFFEE
Fresh is Best!
Fresh roasted coffee (within 3 months of roast date) will give you a flavorful, enjoyable cup.
Grind
Grind to a medium / fine setting using a burr grinder. If you do not have a burr grinder, we recommend having your roaster grind the coffee for you. Yes, you will lose some freshness, but the uneven grind sizes produced by a blade grinder will have a bigger impact on your cup of coffee. When hot water is poured onto coffee, the solubles will begin to displace into the brewer or carafe. If your grind size is too big, the coffee will be under-extracted and can taste acidic. If your grind size is too small, you can get some bitterness in the cup and the brewing process will be slow. What you want to do here is grind to the smallest size that allows for a decent brewing time, and no bitter flavors. Start at a medium grind size, and work your way finer one click at a time until you find your preference.
Filter
You likely have two options for your pour over brewer, a paper filter, and a metal mesh filter. A paper filter will give you a cleaner tasting cup and has an easier clean up! We recommend the bleached filters, and making sure to rinse your paper with hot water before starting the brew. Metal mesh filters are reusable (love that) and they allow for more fine coffee grinds to sneak through. This will give your coffee more body, but you will have a small amount of “sludge” at the bottom of your cup. If more body is what you’re after, try the mesh filter!
One last thing before we get into brewing steps.
You’ll see below we mention creating a divot in the coffee bed. You can use your finger or a chopstick for this, what this does is allow for even saturation of the coffee with minimal water bypass (water flowing easily over the bed of coffee, and around it, instead of through it).
The swirl – grasp your brewer with both hands, and gently pick it up and move it in a small circle to create a slurry in the top of the brewer. This evenly saturates the coffee and will help create a nice flat bed of coffee for the water to flow through.
Brewing Steps
Use our pour over brew guide steps as a starting point, and alter to your preference. These are guidelines, not rules! Love your coffee freely!
1:16 Coffee:Water
(about 60g/L)
3:30 Brew Time
Our Pinup Coffee Co Pour Over Brew Guide Recipe:
(Makes one large cup, this is our go-to V60 recipe)
20g ground coffee
320g water
- Weigh your coffee, then grind it to a medium/fine setting.
- Heat fresh, filtered water to a boil. Let the water sit for 30 seconds to 1 minute to cool to 198- 202F (lower temp for darker roasted coffee).
- Rinse paper filter with hot water (this also preheats your brewer) and discard rinse water.
- Place brewer on a scale, add fresh grinds, make a divot/well in the grinds, zero the scale.
- Start timer and pour 50-60g of water over the coffee, pouring to evenly saturate the grounds while avoiding pouring directly on the filter. Wait 30 seconds for coffee to bloom*.
- Pour another 50g water, let the water draw down about half way.
- Add remaining water about 100g at a time, swirl gently, pausing after each pour to let the water draw down about half way.
- Wait for brewing to finish, discard filter, and enjoy!
*Fresh roasted coffee “blooms”, you’ll see it expand and release tiny bubbles, this is the coffee grinds releasing CO2 and aromatics, letting water in to begin the process of extraction. Fresh coffee blooms!
Feel free to adjust your ratios, and keep playing around until you find your perfect match!
Chemex Recipe
1:16 Coffee:Water
45g:720g*
*Grind slightly more coarse for large amounts of brewed coffee
Try your own! (And follow us on Instagram for all things fresh coffee. See you there!)
