The many variables in pour over brewing can interfere with each other, but in brief if you grind finer then the brewing time should be reduced, as there is more surface area exposed to the water. If you want the water to "drip" out the bottom faster then the coffee should be ground more coarsely.
Nice to hear someone mention over extraction. IMO among Starbucks' many faults is that they both over-extract their drip coffee horribly and use too much coffee to water, making it undrinkable black. There is a tipping point on coffee to water, and they are always over it. I suppose that it evens out, however, since their cappuccinos and cafe lattes have almost no coffee flavor. Mercifully it has been years since I had their coffee, but when those big boxes of coffee showed up at meetings I just winced.
I agree on the Starbucks, there is a local place near me that does an excellent job. My other gripe about Starbucks is that everything that isn't iced is undrinkably hot. I ordered a flat white from Starbucks once that I couldn't drink for an hour.
Thanks for the reply. I want to reduce brew time and am experiencing stall to some degree. I am using 16g coffee for 233 ml water Medium roast, Melitta naturals, single cup. I had a problem last week with my filter, I didn't know i had to fold it. Now, its getting better as far as stalling, I just think I need to dial in the grind.
Thanks, Mick. I will report back.Too fine clogs the filter.
The grind should look like table salt. Start there and go up/down.
Wet the grounds. They Should "mushroom up" if the coffee is fresh.
Wait 30-40 seconds and start pouring in a circular motion.
Keep the water level consistent . You want to pour in as close to the outflow as possible. Always in the center but in a circular motion.
Don't pour down the sides, just the center.
Bloom
I am not an expert, but what I do know is that fresh beans outgas more during the bloom. I am thinking that this would add a little more time during pour over. Less time needed for older coffee, and I think if you poured for the same time as fresh, then maybe over extract? Just my 2 cents.
There are some differences, though when brewing a single cup they should be less pronounced than when brewing a pot full. I notice the biggest difference when using coffee that is very fresh, like 3-4 days old versus 2 week old coffee. In that there is so much off gassing during the bloom that the coffee bed can more quickly collapse on itself as the pour begins after the pre-infusion stage. It is as if the coffee bed has too many voids and cannot support the weight of the water being added, resulting in the flow being reduced similar to what would otherwise occur a few minutes later, causing the brew time to be stretched out. I rarely brew coffee over 3 weeks old, but I imagine the reduced off gassing of older coffee would also reduce the flow rate, as the coffee bed would be more dense as the post-bloom pour began. Though I would not expect much difference between 8 week vs 10 week old coffee, as both would have minimal off gassing.
Thanks, that gives me some food for thought. I will continue on and see how I progress.
I'll use a few different apps for coffee depending on if I'm using a Chemex or Clever dripper. Haven't ventured into the Hario region yet but that's coming soon. My app of choice is Coffio.
