Here are some tips in making pour-over coffee.

Most of you would assume it would start with the coffee beans. I do not start with coffee beans, rather I start by picking the dripper I would be using. In my case, it’s not that hard of a choice since I only have five of them. How I determine which one to use is based on which pet I see first at the foot of the stairs after I wake up. Most days it would be our senior dachshund and because of his years of wisdom it tells me I have to use either one of my V60s. The position he is sleeping on the floor helps it narrow down to which one specifically. If he’s sleeping on his right side, then I use the little red 01. I won’t go into specifics as to which pets determine the other drippers, well I’ll at least share that if I see this grumpy ginger cat staring at me as if asking “why are in my house, you filthy hooman?” then I know that I should use the origami to counter whatever curse she has thrown at me with a delicate brew.

Now that I’ve picked my dripper, it’s time to choose the coffee? No. I boil water. I use double-filtered water. The second filter is not really necessary, it just reminds me that I can filter my water twice. Can I get better tasting coffee if I didn’t have to filter it twice? Yes, but that would be just what everyone else does and that’s not fun. Moreover, I use an electric kettle that cost me a lot of money but it was worth it because I can set my temperature exactly to what I want for my coffee. Also, and this is something the manufacturer themselves do not want to admit, but the design of the kettle allows for the water to develop while boiling which leads to a better tasting cup – and that’s why I paid so much for it. Also, maybe why I don’t care filtering it twice in the first place.

Now the coffee. Yeah it’s coffee, always use good coffee blah, blah, blah. Weigh it, no biggie. Right…

I would really like to talk about the art of weighing the coffee. Getting it just right can make or break the cup of coffee you will be drinking. I make sure to drop the beans at the right height and angle onto my grinder’s bean catcher that is perched perfectly onto the middle of the scale. The speed of how the beans drop onto the catcher and when the scale begins to weigh them is also essential – too slow and too much air and dust particles latch on to the beans, and that can lead to a weird aftertaste. Too fast? I wouldn’t even want to go into that because it leads to such horrible things. When you do learn how to do it right, you’ll always be able to unlock all the potential from the beans you are using.

Just as important, though not necessarily an art form, is grinding the coffee. Experience tells you exactly how fine or coarse you have to grind your coffee beans, even getting to a point where you simply smell the coffee and know what grinder setting you need to use. I use a manual hand grinder. I can buy a proper electric grinder, but there is something special about feeling the beans bouncing inside the hopper. When grinding with a hand grinder, however, you have to make sure you are in the proper state of mind. The easiest way to achieve this is to stare outside a window at a 45 degree angle. You can also imagine how you would feel if you were a coffee bean that survived roasting only to be now facing the prospect of meeting your end by way of getting crushed by metal burrs – always did the trick for me when I was starting out.

So, after all that, I place the server onto the scale, place the dripper on top of it along with the appropriate paper filter for it, zero out the scale, wet the paper filter – you can totally watch a YouTube video about this part of the process. No need for us to split hairs about this.

Now, I have my coffee.

Just having fun. Happy Brewing!

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