The pour-over we make every morning
No gooseneck gymnastics, no stopwatch theatre. The simple V60 recipe we actually use before the roastery opens.
There is a version of pour-over coffee that involves a scale, a thermometer, a timer and a degree of ceremony that puts people off making it at home. We want to give you the other version, the one we make every morning when we are tired and the roastery is cold.
This is for a V60, one mug, a light or medium coffee like Ardent, Lantern or Summit.
The recipe
- 18 grams of coffee, ground medium, about the texture of sea salt.
- 300 grams of water, just off the boil.
- A rinsed paper filter.
Tip the grounds in and shake them level. Start a timer if you like, but you can do this by eye.
- Pour 60 grams of water, just enough to wet all the grounds, and wait 30 seconds. The coffee will puff up. That is the gas leaving fresh beans, and it is a good sign.
- Pour steadily up to 180 grams, keeping the water in the middle and not drilling holes in the bed.
- When it drops to about halfway, pour the rest up to 300 grams.
- Let it drain. The whole thing should take around two and a half to three minutes.
If it tastes wrong
Sour or weak: grind finer next time, or pour a little slower. Bitter or hollow: grind coarser. That is the only adjustment worth making before you have had your first cup.
The point of pour-over is not precision for its own sake. It is that you get to taste the coffee clearly, with nothing in the way. A good single origin brewed simply beats a fussy method every time. Make it the easy way often, rather than the perfect way never.