Brew guide · 6 min read
Pour over is the honest brewer.
It hides nothing. A great coffee tastes great and a mediocre one tastes exactly as mediocre as it is. That is the point — it is the method that tells you what you actually bought.
15g of coffee, 250g of water at 94°C, medium grind, done in about three minutes. Bloom with 45g, then pour in three stages. Aim for the bed to drain flat and level.
V60 — one cup
15g : 250g · 3:00 · 94°CFixing the cup
| It tastes | Meaning | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Sour, sharp, thin | Under-extracted — drawdown too fast | Grind finer. Pour more slowly. Check the water is hot enough. |
| Bitter, dry, hollow | Over-extracted — drawdown too slow | Grind coarser. Pour faster. Stop agitating so much. |
| Flat, no character | Stale coffee or bad water | Check the roast date, then check your water. |
| Drains in under 2 minutes | Grind far too coarse | Several steps finer. |
| Still dripping at 5 minutes | Too fine, or too many fines from a poor grinder | Coarser. If it persists, the grinder is the problem. |
Water: the variable nobody controls
Pour over exposes water quality more than any other method. Delhi and most north Indian tap water runs 300–500 ppm TDS, which will make even an excellent coffee taste dull and chalky. Aim for roughly 75–150 ppm. RO water alone is too empty and extracts poorly; blend it with a little tap water or use a remineralising filter.
Which coffees suit it
Everything, but especially washed single origins and lighter roasts. Pour over is where acidity, florality and origin character show up. If you have bought a traceable estate lot and want to know what you paid for, brew it this way before you brew it any other way.
V60 or flat-bottom?
A V60 is a cone with a large single hole and spiral ribs — fast, sensitive to pour technique, and rewarding when you get it right. A flat-bottom brewer such as a Kalita is more forgiving and more consistent, at the cost of a little clarity. If you are starting out, flat-bottom will frustrate you less.
Questions
Pour over, answered.
What is the best V60 ratio?
1:16.6 — 15g of coffee to 250g of water — is the standard starting point. Anywhere between 1:15 and 1:17 is reasonable; go stronger for darker roasts and lighter for delicate ones.
What grind size for pour over?
Medium, roughly the texture of table salt or slightly coarser. Adjust by drawdown time: if the brew finishes in under two and a half minutes, grind finer; over three and a half, grind coarser.
Do I need to rinse the paper filter?
Yes. It removes the papery taste and preheats the dripper and carafe. It takes ten seconds and it is the easiest improvement available.
Why is my pour over sour?
Under-extraction. The most common causes are a grind that is too coarse, water that is not hot enough, or pouring too quickly. Grind finer first and change only one variable at a time.