Hi all. This is my first post here, although I've been a B&B member for years. I may be ready to change up my coffee routine. I use an Aeropress every day, but the seal is starting to go and it makes a mess more often than not. I occasionally use a Bodum French Press, and the flavor is great, but the coffee does turn out a little "muddy." Any suggestions? Sorry for the long post.
Pour over coffee
- Thread starter jdp93
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Assuming you grind your beans, take some time to tweak your grind setting to make it less fine. There will always be some fines in french press. I actually like that as it gives a pleasant mouth feel, so long as it isn't too much. You also need to be careful how you pour the coffee out of the press into your mug/cup. The slower the better so the fines stay at the bottom of the carafe. I also have a Bodum and love it. Use it every day. And I also have a Bodum manual milk frother so I can make cafe au laits.
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Thanks for the tips! I have a Hario mini grinder, and I set it for a coarse grind when I am doing the French Press. I will do a slow pour next time I use it and see if that helps.
Hit just about any grocery store or walmart and pick up a small (#2) or medium (#4) size Melitta system.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Melitta-...175035&wl11=online&wl12=8467270&wl13=&veh=sem
They are priced very reasonably and the filters are available everywhere
Then all you need is a way to boil water which I am sure you have.
@jdp93, I'm also a long time B&B member posting here for the first time. Sometimes I use a french press, but I'm currently trying to dial in my pour over technique. I just got (10 days ago) a Hario Skerton grinder that I'm using with a Cilio ceramic cone and Melitta #4 filters. Before the Skerton I was using preground mostly, but sometimes an electric blade grinder.
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Isn't pour over just another form of drip coffee?
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I suppose it is. By "regular drip coffee" I meant coffee made using a coffee maker like a Bunn or Coffee Mate. Sorry, should have been more specific.
Straight Kenya AA this morning
Brewed through a plastic Melitta #2 dripper funnel using a #4 filter directly into a 1.2 liter thermal carafe. Water boiled using my Bonavita digital controlled electric kettle. Brew time: 30 second bloom. 4:30 min brew/pour (perfect)
When we travel, I take the same plastic #2 funnel and thermal carafe to make coffee in our little camper. In the camper I use a Japanese Enzo kettle to boil the water as I can't count on having electric where we might stop for the evening. I picked the Enzo not because of the design or style but because the handle folds flat and it fits in a drawer under the camper's stove.
Brewed through a plastic Melitta #2 dripper funnel using a #4 filter directly into a 1.2 liter thermal carafe. Water boiled using my Bonavita digital controlled electric kettle. Brew time: 30 second bloom. 4:30 min brew/pour (perfect)
When we travel, I take the same plastic #2 funnel and thermal carafe to make coffee in our little camper. In the camper I use a Japanese Enzo kettle to boil the water as I can't count on having electric where we might stop for the evening. I picked the Enzo not because of the design or style but because the handle folds flat and it fits in a drawer under the camper's stove.
Drip and pour over are about as different as electric and wet shaving. They both cut your whiskers, just a difference in the method of how.
Drip equates to "automatic drip" (automatic coffee maker). Turn it on, come back and pour a cup of what it has made.
Pour over is manual method where you control the amount of water in contact with the grounds, the temp of the water, the bloom time/period, and the time water is in contact with the grounds.
Bloom:
Pour
Brew
Drip and pour over are about as different as electric and wet shaving. They both cut your whiskers, just a difference in the method of how.
Drip equates to "automatic drip" (automatic coffee maker). Turn it on, come back and pour a cup of what it has made.
Pour over is manual method where you control the amount of water in contact with the grounds, the temp of the water, the bloom time/period, and the time water is in contact with the grounds.
Bloom:
Pour
Brew
I can appreciate the differences there. How does this impact the taste? I assume pour over would be a little stronger and fuller bodied?
Pour over can be what ever you want, as you control every aspect of the brew method from start to finish.
I can taste the difference between the different filters and filter shapes in pour over using the same coffee and water amount.
Coffee brewed in a V60 (60 degree funnel which are used by Chemex, Hario, and Bodum) will taste different than the same coffee brewed in a modified cone like Melitta and there is even a difference (though more subtle) in the number of holes the modified cone dripper has (1, 2, or 3 holes). Then you have the flat bottom wave edge filters like Bunn and Kaleta which impart another type of flavor to the coffee.
Auto drip is coffee from a machine that makes the same tasting coffee time after time (like a Big Mac). Now there are good, better, and excellent machines but other than the amount of coffee and water used, your control is very limited.
@MntnMan62, @jdp93, I probably shouldn't have used the words pour over. This probably gives people the wrong idea. What I should have said is manual drip. No special equipment, just the technique that people have been using for years with Chemex or the Melitta drip cone. I bloom the grounds with a first pour, wait a bit, then pour the rest of the water in stages to make the amount of coffee I want.
The variable that I'm currently working with is grind size. I think that my grind might be too fine, resulting in too long a contact time.
Maybe this should have been in another thread.
NOTE: Moved to separate thread
The variable that I'm currently working with is grind size. I think that my grind might be too fine, resulting in too long a contact time.
Maybe this should have been in another thread.
NOTE: Moved to separate thread
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks gentlemen. I've been considering getting a pour over set up and have been leaning towards a Chemex type with a paper filter. I figure that would allow me to make my guests who aren't into french press (my current favorite method) some good coffee such as for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
I've been enjoying this thread so thought I'd chime in. I prefer pour over methods, currently using a prima cone with a #2 filter. I find it brings out the flavors during brewing and drinking. It also makes a nice clean cup which is the main reason I don't care for French press. It also let's me dial in the grind as I don't have to go as coarse as possible to minimize sediment.
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I've used a Chemex since I was in college (like back in 1973).... I even have a few from the early days that have the Chemex seal empressed into the HOT glass (very early 1st and 2nd year).
They make super coffee, mostly because of the Chemex (OEM) filters.
You can use the Chemex brand filters in ANY 60 degree dripper.
I find that I use a Chemex filter in a Hario dripper brewed directly into a pre-heated thermal carafe more than I use my Chemex brewers. Mainly because using a V60 dripper I cut out the step of pouring from the chemex into the thermal carafe (brew directly into it)
For any pour over brew, I start with 2 cups of water heated to a boil for 2.5 min in the microwave, poured through the empty dripper/filter directly into the thermal carafe to 1) rinse the paper filter. 2) warm the porcelain dripper. and 3) warm the thermal carafe.
Once everything is hot, I pour out the carafe, put the grounds into the filter and start brewing.
You can use the same thermal carafe with many different drippers which makes for a very compact and varied coffee brewing set up.
Drawer with V-60, BeeHouse (Melitta), and Kalita drippers along with Chemex (3 styles), Melitta, Kalita, and Hario filters in it.
I'm going to have to say right up front that......
I am lazy.....
Most of the time I will just fire up my commercial Bunn machine and let it do its magic.
I will have to say that I enjoy the flavor of Chemex V-60 filters more than the flat bottom wave edge Bunn but the convenience of turn it on and make a pot out weighs the slight taste that pour over.
A commercial Bunn brewer is very hard to beat for speed, convenience, and consistency. It makes a 1.7 liter air pot of coffee that stays hot until it is empty (most of the day)
All that said I still like to rotate my coffee brewing methods. I have so many different choices that I could make coffee every day and never use the same brewer twice in a month.
I am lazy.....
Most of the time I will just fire up my commercial Bunn machine and let it do its magic.
I will have to say that I enjoy the flavor of Chemex V-60 filters more than the flat bottom wave edge Bunn but the convenience of turn it on and make a pot out weighs the slight taste that pour over.
A commercial Bunn brewer is very hard to beat for speed, convenience, and consistency. It makes a 1.7 liter air pot of coffee that stays hot until it is empty (most of the day)
All that said I still like to rotate my coffee brewing methods. I have so many different choices that I could make coffee every day and never use the same brewer twice in a month.
+1, a narrow pour spout or goose neck would be nice but a regular kettle is fine. I use a glass whistler kettle forget the brand name. With practice it's easy.
I like the fact that here's no grounds in the coffee when done and it is simple easy to clean up...throw out the filter and if you want rinse the funnel.
I bought a melitta single cup pour over brewer on amazon for $6, filters are cheap too, perfect for a single cup at a time.
-Stephen
