We recently hosted a pour over class in the cafe that focused on brushing up on those hard skills you need to prepare a perfect cup at home. Below is a recap and step by step process that will help guide you, in the absence of having our baristas on hand.
Always remember the Four Pillars of Coffee:
- Grind
- Proportion
- Freshness
- Water
Tools you need:
- Hario V60-02 Dripper (or other)
- Hario V60 Filters (or appropriate to your dripper)
- Scale or Tbspn & Measuring Cup
- Kettle
- Coffee
- Love
The steps below will yield a 9 oz (265g) cup of coffee:
STEP 1Bring at least 20 oz (600ml) of water to a boil.
STEP 2Grind 15g of coffee (about 1 Tbsp) per cup to a coarseness that resembles sea salt. To enjoy the beautiful flavours of a single origin coffee that is lightly roasted, we recommend using less coffee: roughly 1.5g/fl oz of water.
STEP 3Place a filter in the dripper.
STEP 4Pour at least 100 ml boiling water over the empty filter to remove any “papery” taste and warm your dripper. Discard the rinse water.
STEP 5
Add your ground coffee to the filter and gently tap it to level the surface of the grounds. Place the brewer on a carafe or cup, place this entire set-up onto a digital scale, and set it to zero. Alternatively, measure out your boiling water to your desired recipe if you do not have a scale.
STEP 6
There should be a total of four pour overs for this coffee prep:
During the first pour, and arguably the most fun, you will see the coffee start to “bloom.”
The pour should take about 10 seconds. Use about 30g to just wet your grounds. Make sure all the grounds are saturated, even if you need to add a bit more little water. A cross motion pour from side to side over the bed of dry grounds is the house preference. As the hot water hits the grounds, CO2 is released creating a blossoming effect, hence the term "bloom".
Start your timer. This bloom should last for about 20-30s.
STEP 7
Starting in the middle of the grounds, pour in a steady spiral toward the outer edge and then back toward the middle. We try to consistently bead the water pouring out of the kettle into what would resemble a pearl necklace (this is much harder than it looks)! Add roughly 90 grams, bringing the total to 120 grams. The goal during this pour is to sink all of the grounds on the surface of the bed. This creates a gentle turbulence that “stirs” the coffee, allowing water to more evenly extract the grounds. Allow 45-55 seconds to elapse.
STEP 8
As the mixture of water and coffee from the second pour drops to the bottom of the filter, coming close to the level of the grounds, pour an additional 100 grams of water using the same pattern as the second pour. This brings the total up to 220 grams and should take about 15–20 seconds.
STEP 9
When the water and coffee from the third pour begins to dwindle, complete your fourth and final pour. Add 45 grams, bringing the total up to 265 grams of water. This pour should take only about 5 seconds.
Enjoy!