Pour Over Brewing

My ultimate goal on my coffee adventure is to be able to have the necessary equipement to pull a great shot of espresso.  Unfortunately that requires some expensive equipment that is outside my budget at the present time, so I've settled for trying to learn other less expensive brewing methods.  The frist method I'm using is called Pour Over brewing.  It's just basically pouring hot water over freshly ground coffee beans to make a cup of coffee.  Pretty simple right.  Well for most people that might be the case but I had my challenges.

First off you need the some equipment to make this happen.  For me I purchased the Hario Pour Over kit, Hario Skerton Hand Grinder, the Hario Kettle and some coffee beans.  This is the same equipment used at Intelligentsia Cafes, so I decided that was good enough for me.  There are plenty of other pour over systems out there with the Chemex coming highly recommended also.  For the beans I decided to use the Klatch beans sold and used at Sunrise Coffee.  The reason for this is that I would be able to compare the drip coffee they make with my home brew to see the taste difference.

Still with the proper equipment and beans I had no idea what to do next.  After spending a some time on Youtube and some coffee forums I thought I had a good understanding of what to do.  Turns out I did not.

Challenge #1
This is all new to me, so I had no idea between what a fine grind is compared to coarse grind.  And although the Skerton Hand Grinder is awesome it doesn't have any setting on it to tell you what the grind size is.  After a few attempts though I was able to find a good grind size.  For the Skerton that is about half way between fully open and fully closed.

Challenge #2
It is very important for pour over brewing to be exact on your measurements and I was not.  Most instructions will tell you that for every how many ounces of water to how much weight in coffee is to be used.  Well I didn't (and still don't) have a scale for the proper measurement of the coffee.  It took a lot of trial and error to come up with using 2.5 tbs of coffee for 12 oz of water measurement.

Challenge #3
I don't like coffee (see previous post), so no matter how I brewed it, it all tasted bad to me.  After about 3 days and 15 pots of bad coffee, I was able to convince brother JJ to try a sip (he's been off the stuff for about a year now so he was reluctant).  At first I thought he was messing with me when he said it was a really good cup of coffee, but it turns out he was being genuine.  The true test is going to come on Friday when I visit my Mom and sister to have them try it out.

Not only was I able to overcome these challenges I was able to learn new things like what over-extracted and under-extracted meant and how they tasted and how to avoid them.  Now once approved by Mom and sis I will work on perfecting this technique and deciding what to tackle next.

Here is a summary of my Pour Over brewing process

Equipment:

- Dripper
- Filters
- Kettle
- Coffee
- Grinder
- Scale (optional)
- Measuring spoon (optional if you have a scale)
- Thermometer

My Parameters:

- 12oz of water
- 2.5 tbs of coffee
- Coarse grind setting
- Water at 200 degrees
- Total brew time is between 2:00 and 2:30 minutes

Step by step

- Place a dry filter in the Dripper
- Pre-wet the filter and pot with hot water
- Pour out water in the pot
- Grind the Coffee
- Place coffee in the Dripper with the pre-wet filter
- Smooth out the grounds so that they are somewhat even in the filter
- Pour just enough hot water over the grounds to wet the top and start a coffee bloom
- Wait at least 30 seconds
- Slowly pour in rest of the water by starting in the middle and working your way out to the sides in a circular motion
- (Optional) Once all the water is in the Dripper, stir the slurry (the water still waiting to make its way through the filter
- Drink and enjoy