Pour Over Brewing Guide
A daily ritual, a thoughtful cup
In our cafés, we’re often asked the perfect way to brew our beans—and long conversations usually follow. For me, that cup is often a pour over—simple, familiar, and deeply satisfying. Over the years, especially with pour over, I’ve learned that the “right” way to brew coffee is usually the one that fits into your life and brings you the experience you’re looking for in a cup.
In our home, it’s a Hario pour-over system, a gooseneck kettle, and a quiet kitchen before the sunlight hits the windows. The water heats. The scale comes out. The coffee gets ground. It’s a constant ritual we return to through the changing days and seasons.
Yes, caffeine is one part-it’s also the warmth, your attention, the taste of sweetness and brightness coffee gives when you let it take its time.
Sometimes we drink it black. Sometimes with cream. Rarely with sugar. Always with appreciation.
And while people often ask how to make the perfect pour over, what we’ve learned over decades of roasting is this: good coffee isn’t about chasing perfection. It’s about understanding a few fundamentals, then trusting yourself. What follows is how we brew our coffee—shared so you can make it your own.
What You'll Need
We’re often asked if you need special equipment to make a great pour over. You don’t—but a few thoughtful tools do make the process more consistent.
- A kettle (a gooseneck gives you more control)
We recommend Fellow, Bodum, or Capresso - A scale
(Measuring in grams—and ounces if you prefer—helps with consistency) - Fresh coffee and a good grinder
We recommend Breville, Bodum, Fellow, or Capresso grinders and Ohori’s
A pour-over dripper
(Hario, Melitta, or Kalita Wave) - Paper filters that precisely match your system
- A cup or a carafe
Coffee-to-Water Ratio
You’ll often hear about a “golden ratio” in coffee—typically 1:16 to 1:18. We think of this as a helpful starting place, not a rule.
In our home, we tend to brew a slightly richer cup:
- 24 grams of coffee
- 10 ounces of water (300g)
If this tastes good to you, stick with it. If not, adjust. Once you find your ratio, consistency matters more than precision.
Grind Size
For pour over, we recommend a medium-fine grind.
In our stores, this lands around a #6—finer than drip coffee, much coarser than espresso. This grind allows the water to move steadily through the coffee, extracting sweetness and balance along the way.
Grind size is one of the easiest ways to fine-tune flavor—and a great place to experiment.
Step-by-Step Brewing
1. Heat your water
Use water at 198–201°F. We roast our coffee with the intention of coaxing out lipids and flavonoids without pushing bitterness forward too early. Boiling water isn’t necessary and can alter the intended taste profile.
2. Rinse the filter
Pour hot water through the empty filter and into your cup or carafe, then discard the water. This removes paper residue and warms the brewing vessel.
3. Add coffee grounds
Place the ground coffee into the filter and gently level the bed. Zero out your scale again.
4. Bloom (pre-wet)
Pour about 1.5–2 ounces of water in slow circles, avoiding the side walls and center. Let it sit for 30–45 seconds.
You’ll see the coffee rise and release gases. This is the coffee opening up before the main brew.
5. Main pour
Continue pouring slowly until you reach about half your total water. Before it fully drains, begin your final pour. Continue gently until you reach your desired volume.
Some coffee folks stir the water and coffee grounds at this stage to ensure full saturation. I’ve experimented with both and don’t find a big difference, but give it a try.
6. Let it finish & enjoy
Allow all the water to pass through. Drink it black or with cream—however you like it.
The Science Behind Pour Over
Extraction Explained
Pour over brewing is about controlled extraction—how water dissolves flavor compounds from coffee grounds.
Four variables shape the cup:
Grind size
Finer grinds extract more quickly; coarser grinds extract more slowly.
Water temperature
For our coffees, 198–201°F helps draw out lipids and flavonoids while preserving balance and clarity. This mirrors how coffee behaves at higher elevations, similar to Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Contact time
The longer water stays in contact with coffee, the more it extracts. This is influenced by grind size, pour speed, and filter type.
Agitation
How you pour—circle size, speed, consistency—affects how evenly water moves through the coffee bed.
When these elements are in balance, sweetness, clarity, and brightness come through together.
Even in our own home, we don’t brew exactly the same way. One of us prefers a little more coffee. The other likes a lighter cup. Sam likes to warm his cup and brew into a carafe; Tai warms her cup during the filter rinse. Both are right.
Use this guide as a place to begin. Trust your taste. Make small changes. Pay attention.
Good coffee isn’t about getting it right—it’s about finding what feels right to you.
