Pour Over coffee

There are many different ways to brew a cup of coffee.

We prefer black coffee and have found that pour over or drip style brewers works well.  Current brewer of choice is an Asobu  a Chemex style (we also have a classic Chemex pot) that has an insulated carafe. We also use a OXO coffee maker that is a Melta style drip brewer.

To make a really good pot of pour over you need to follow some basic rules. Start with fresh roasted whole beans. You are grinding at home right?  If not stop reading right now and buy a grinder. This alone will improve your morning joe regardless of brewing method.

The ratio of grounds to water is important, but you’ll need to find the right mix. Suggestion is that you start at 60 grams of coffee and 1000 grams of water. We are using a 75% mix ratio … dial it in to taste.

A scale is pretty important but the one you are using for everyday cooking is fine, if you don’t have one … why not?

We use stainless steel on the Chemex style brewers and paper on the OXO coffee maker. We find that the steel filters allow some fine particles to pass, but it really doesn’t affect the taste of the coffee.

Brewing method is a simple three step process. First you wet and bloom the coffee. Pour about 150 grams of 200 degree water over the grounds make sure they are all saturated. This stage is the bloom. Let that sit for about a minute or so.

Now add more water, bring the weight up to half of your finished amount.

Again let this sit a bit and then do a second pour. We do this because the full brew is more than the cone will hold.

If you are using a paper filter on a Chemex brewer you can just pour a steady stream into the middle of the grounds until the maximum water weight is reached. In the end you are trying to get this whole process finished in about five minutes.

If you want to watch some great vidoes on coffee techniques and styles here are a couple of YouTube links, enjoy.

Elemental Coffee co. 

James Hoffman

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