Getting a Full Bodied Cup of Coffee From a Pour Over

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I’ve been pretty into coffee for the last few years, and I’ve been experimenting with multiple ways of preparing a good cup.

For the last couple of years I’ve been focused on the French Press, which is a fine method. Here you’re soaking the coffee in the hot water for approximately four (4) minutes, which gives the coffee plenty of time to mix with the water.

The pour over technique

Lately, though, I’ve been doing more pour overs. The pour over method has a few advantages over the French Press.

  1. It’s faster. You can usually have your cup of coffee in just a couple of minutes

  2. Clean up is easier. All the grinds stay in the paper filter and you just dump them and you’re done

  3. There’s less residue in your cup. With a french press you’re pouring out of the same water that the coffee was soaking in, and there’s usually a sludge that makes it into your cup

Those things being true, I’ve noticed a major downside to the pour over–weaker coffee.

I like my coffee strong. I want to feel it. I want to get the full taste of it. And few things irk me more than the taste of hot water with coffee in it (I’ll never understand the Americano).

Ways of combatting weak pour over coffee

So I’m trying a couple of things to improve the quality of my pour over cups:

  • I’m increasing my grind size, i.e. going more coarse

  • I’m adding somewhat more coffee

  • I’m keeping the pour constantly filled so that water is always on all the grinds

  • I’m pre-rinsing my filter and pre-heating my cup (don’t think that one matters)

  • I’m blooming my coffee for a full minute instead of just a few seconds

I think the last one is going to do it for me. I’ve read that blooming allows a lot of gas to escape which can help with flavor, but I can’t help but think that it’s going to help with extraction as well.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to trying this out tomorrow. If you have any ideas on this I’d love to hear them.

[ Oct 3, 2013 ]

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