Pour Over Coffee

- Barista Basics

What is Pour Over Coffee?

Pour Over Coffee is a style of coffee making revolving around hot water being slowly poured over a bed of coffee grounds. This is where 'pour-over' coffee get's it's name. Pour over coffee is a type of coffee that sits under the umbrella term 'Filter Coffee' or 'Filtered coffee', which refers to any for of black coffee that has been filtered from the coffee grounds and generally has a coffee to water ratio of 1:15. 

Filter Coffee Beans vs Espresso Coffee Beans:

You may have noticed that Coffee Beans are typically divided into two main categories, Filter Roast and Espresso Roast. 
While there isn't a universally agreed on definition on these two categories generally speaking your coffee roaster has roasted that particular coffee for that particular brew method.

Filter coffee relies on gravity to pull the water down through your coffee beans and so this is why you need to grind much coarser than espresso, the hot water involved has much more time to extract the flavours from your coffee.

Making espresso happens in around 25-30 seconds, this is incredibly quick and has heaps of pressure that allows it to extract so quickly. In order for the water to extract all the flavours from the coffee your coffee roaster will develop your coffee beans for longer, generally resulting in a darker roast.

Another reason as to why Espresso roasted coffee is darker has to do with the fact that a lot of espresso is drank with milk (at least here in Australia it is). Because so much of the population are drinking cappuccinos and flat whites the coffee needs to have as much possible flavour to shine through the milk so coffee roasters end up developing their espresso roasted coffee even further to be able to have that rich bold flavour shine through.

When things start to get dark

Unfortunately this is when things start to get dark, and yes I am talking in both the literal and the figurative sense.
Because most coffee is drank with milk and to make those milk based beverages baristas use espresso's, coffee roasters roast and develop their coffee darker and darker.

The darker a coffee roaster roasts their coffee, you end up tasting less of the coffee itself and more of the roasting flavours.

Now at this point in time there is nothing inherently 'wrong' with light, medium or dark roasted coffee and a lot of this has to do with preference and what tastes good to each individual.
However many roasters (particularly the larger coffee roasters) will exploit and use cheaper coffee in their espresso blends as they know consumers won't be able to taste the difference. This becomes very competitive and makes it much harder for the industry as a collective to push for the opposite end of the coffee industry (the specialty coffee industry). 

Light and Bright Coffee

Filter roasted coffee is almost always significantly lighter than espresso roasted coffee, when you brew pour over coffee using filter roasted coffee you are able to taste thousands of different flavours. Coffee from all over the world is processed differently and there are thousands of different coffee species and varietals all resulting in a unique and different flavour profile. 

So when you make pour over coffee with low quality coffee it will taste ...low quality. By purchasing specialty coffee ( 80 points + ) roasted light from a local reputable coffee roaster you are supporting so many good things and best of all your coffee will be sure to taste amazing too.

Why you should drink pour over coffee

There are many reasons why people decide to drink pour over coffee.
The most popular reasons usually have to do with people becoming hobbyists and slowly journeying into coffee nerds, Some people drink pour over coffee for the health reasons or for the lack-of-milk, some people are attracted to the money they will save by brewing coffee at home without buying an expensive coffee machine or visiting a cafe and some people are looking to explore the different flavours locked in different coffee beans. 

What ever your reason is, brewing, drinking and enjoying pour over coffee is for everyone. We all enjoy coffee and while each of us have our preferences we are united in our love for coffee.