Pour over coffee – sometimes written as pourover – is a style of making coffee that coffee enthusiasts love. But you don’t have to be a coffee fanatic to give it a try because it’s just a simple way to make a good cup of coffee. Pour overs don’t require a machine, and you will only need a pour over dripper -Â which resembles the basket inside a traditional drip coffee maker – that can be placed on top of a cup or carafe to brew your java.
How to Brew a Pour Over Coffee Step by Step
- Step 1: Place a filter in a pour over dripper and fill it with your coffee grounds, then place it on top of a cup or carafe.
- Step 2: Bring 1 cup of water to a boil for each cup you intent to brew.
- Step 3: Remove water from heat and pour a small amount over the grounds to moisten them.
- Step 4: Slowly pour the rest of the hot water over your grounds, filling the filter and replenishing it as needed until the whole cup is brewed. You will likely need to refill the filter 2-3 times. Your fresh coffee will drip out into your cup in just a few minutes.
How Much Coffee Do You Need?
Pour overs use about the same amount of coffee:water as most drip coffee makers do. Coffee that is ground for a drip coffee maker will work fine unless your filters have other instructions on them.
On the packaging of your coffee, it will typically direct you to use 2 heaping spoonfuls of coffee per cup that you brew and a typical coffee spoon holds 2 tablespoonfuls. That said, a lot of drip coffee makers are calibrated for relatively small cups. I like to use 3 heaping spoonfuls of coffee grounds for every 8 oz or so of water that I use. I will adjust this slightly up or down depending on how dark my roast is.
If you want to get very technical, weigh out your coffee to ensure a consistent amount every cup. This option will always produce a good cup of coffee, but takes an extra minute.
Why Try Pour Over?
I enjoy making pour overs because the ritual of making the coffee is relaxing. It only takes a couple of minutes to prepare everything and brew the coffee – and that time is a nice little mental break from work in the mid-morning or mid-afternoon when you might want to clear your head. It is also a very convenient way to brew just one cup at a time when you don’t need a whole pot. Finally, it is an almost silent way to brew coffee, so you won’t wake up a snoozing partner (or kids) in the morning when you’re brewing it to get your day started.
What do you think?