Brewing Methods December 18, 2025

The Art of Pour Over Coffee: A Beginner's Guide

Pour over coffee being brewed with a glass carafe

Pour over coffee is one of the most rewarding ways to brew. It gives you full control over every variable that affects extraction, from water temperature to pour rate. The result, when done right, is a clean, nuanced cup that highlights the unique character of whatever beans you are working with.

This guide covers everything you need to get started, from choosing your equipment to dialing in your technique.

Why Pour Over?

Immersion methods like the French press steep all the grounds in all the water at once. Pour over is different. You control the flow of water through the coffee bed, which means you control how much flavor you extract and how quickly. This makes pour over particularly well suited to light and medium roasts where you want to taste origin characteristics like fruit, floral notes, or chocolate sweetness.

The paper filter also removes most of the oils and fine particles, producing a clean body that lets subtle flavors come through. If you have ever tasted a washed Ethiopian coffee brewed on a V60 and noticed jasmine or bergamot in the cup, that clarity is what pour over does best.

Choosing Your Brewer

Three pour over brewers dominate the specialty coffee world. Each has its own personality.

Hario V60 is the most popular choice among specialty coffee enthusiasts and competition baristas. Its large single hole at the bottom and spiral ribs along the inside walls give you maximum control over flow rate. The V60 rewards precise technique but can be unforgiving if your pouring is inconsistent. It comes in ceramic, glass, plastic, and metal versions. The plastic V60 is actually excellent because it retains heat well and costs very little.

Chemex brews a larger volume and uses its own thick bonded filters that remove even more oils than standard paper. The result is an exceptionally clean cup with a lighter body. Chemex is a good choice if you typically brew for two or more people, and the iconic hourglass design looks beautiful on a kitchen counter.

Kalita Wave uses a flat-bottomed dripper with three small drain holes instead of one large one. This design is more forgiving than the V60 because the restricted flow evens out inconsistencies in your pour. If you are just starting out, the Kalita Wave is arguably the easiest path to a consistently good cup.

Essential Equipment

Beyond the brewer itself, you will need a few things:

Gooseneck kettle with temperature control. A regular kettle pours too aggressively for pour over. The narrow spout of a gooseneck gives you the precision you need. Temperature control is important because water that is too hot will over-extract and produce bitterness.
Scale that reads to 0.1 grams. Coffee brewing is largely about ratios, and a good scale is the single most important upgrade you can make.
Grinder capable of a medium-fine grind. A burr grinder is essential here. Blade grinders produce an uneven particle size that leads to simultaneous over-extraction of fines and under-extraction of boulders.
Timer to track your brew. Most coffee scales have a built-in timer, which is convenient.
Paper filters matched to your brewer. Always rinse them before brewing to wash away paper taste and preheat the brewer.

Water Temperature

The ideal water temperature for pour over is between 92 and 96 degrees Celsius. Within that range, you can adjust based on the roast level:

Light roasts: Use the higher end, around 95 to 96 degrees. Light roasts are denser and harder to extract, so hotter water helps pull out the full range of flavors.
Medium roasts: The middle of the range works well, around 93 to 94 degrees.
Dark roasts: Drop to 91 to 92 degrees. Dark roasts are more soluble and already on the edge of bitterness, so cooler water keeps extraction in check.

If you do not have a temperature-controlled kettle, bring water to a boil and let it sit for 30 to 45 seconds. That will usually land you in the right range.

Grind Size

For most pour over brewers, you want a medium-fine grind, roughly the texture of table salt. But this is a starting point, not a rule. Grind size is the primary dial you use to adjust extraction.

If your coffee tastes sour, thin, or tea-like, your grind is too coarse. The water is flowing through too quickly without extracting enough. Grind finer.

If your coffee tastes bitter, astringent, or harsh, your grind is too fine. The water is spending too long in the coffee bed and pulling out unpleasant compounds. Grind coarser.

Adjust in small increments and taste the difference. Over time you will develop an intuition for how your grinder’s settings translate to flavor.

The Brew Process

Here is a step-by-step method for a single cup using a V60 or similar cone dripper. This uses a 1:16 ratio, which is a good starting point.

Recipe: 15 grams of coffee, 250 grams of water

Step 1 - Prepare. Boil your water and let it reach your target temperature. Place the filter in the brewer, rinse it thoroughly with hot water, and discard the rinse water. Add your ground coffee and give the brewer a gentle shake to level the bed. Place everything on your scale and tare to zero.

Step 2 - Bloom. Start your timer and pour 30 to 45 grams of water in a slow spiral, wetting all the grounds evenly. You will see the coffee bed rise and bubble as carbon dioxide escapes. This is the bloom, and it is essential. Fresh coffee releases a lot of CO2, which repels water and creates uneven extraction if you skip this step. Wait 30 to 45 seconds.

Step 3 - First pour. After the bloom, pour in a slow, steady spiral from the center outward, then back to the center. Avoid pouring directly on the filter walls. Add water until your scale reads about 150 grams. The pour should be slow enough that the water level rises gradually without overflowing. Let the water draw down until you can see the coffee bed again.

Step 4 - Second pour. Repeat the spiral pour, bringing the total weight to 250 grams. Again, keep the pour slow and controlled. Let the water draw down completely.

Step 5 - Evaluate. Your total brew time should be around 2:30 to 3:30 for this recipe. If it finishes much faster, your grind was too coarse. If it takes significantly longer, your grind was too fine.

Pouring Technique

The way you pour matters more than most beginners expect. A few principles to keep in mind:

Consistency is more important than speed. A steady, even flow rate produces more even extraction than alternating between fast and slow pours.
Pour in concentric circles. Start from the center and spiral outward, then spiral back inward. This ensures all grounds receive roughly the same amount of water.
Stay off the walls. Pouring water down the sides of the filter creates channels where water bypasses the coffee bed entirely.
Height matters. Pour from about 5 to 10 centimeters above the coffee bed. Too high and you will agitate the grounds aggressively. Too low and the water will not distribute evenly.

Common Mistakes

Not weighing your coffee or water. Eyeballing leads to inconsistency. Use a scale every time.
Using stale coffee. Pour over exposes every flaw. Use beans within two to four weeks of roasting for best results.
Ignoring water quality. Tap water with heavy chlorine or high mineral content will ruin even the best beans. Filtered water makes a noticeable difference.
Rushing the bloom. Give it the full 30 to 45 seconds. Patience here pays off in the cup.

Experimenting and Improving

Once you are comfortable with the basic technique, start experimenting. Try different ratios, from 1:15 for a stronger cup to 1:17 for something lighter. Try different pouring patterns. Some brewers respond well to a single continuous pour, while others benefit from pulse pours with short pauses between each addition.

The beauty of pour over is that every variable is under your control. Change one thing at a time, taste the result, and you will quickly learn what produces your ideal cup.