stanley_c_wong Senior Member Joined: 23 Oct 2006 Posts: 62 Location: Singapore Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Silvia, Krups 5020 Grinder: Rocky
Posted Tue Oct 31, 2006, 3:26am Subject: Re: How to Use a Pour Over Brewer
Thank you for a great article. I never knew I needed to stir when I pour in the hot water.
Juat a bit of trivia.
I hail from Singapore, in South-East Asia. If you have been to a coffee shop (NB: coffee shop, NOT coffee house, diff being in a coffee shop, a cuppa costs less than 1SGD.), you would know that the pour over is the preferred choice for making coffee. There are some interesting differences though.
The beans are not so much roasted as over-roasted or burnt. This yields a very black and thick coffee.
The filter used is a coffee sock made from cloth.
The start is about the same; hot water is poured into the coffee sock containing powdery coffee grind. It is left to steep. But then the coffee is poured into a secondary pot, again through the same coffee sock. The resulting liquid is thick, black and very strong. It needs to be diluted with half again water before serving.
Kopi-O (Coffee Black) is served with the concentrate, hot water and sugar. Kopi (Coffee) is served with sweetened condensed milk. Interesting to note, in Indonesia, it is somewhat different. Kopi (Coffee) is black coffee and is you want it with milk, you order Kopi-Susu (Coffee Milk).
If you are in the area, drop by for a cup. You would probably hate it as it is quite different from say, espresso. But it is very strong, very black and very sweet.
randikash Senior Member Joined: 5 Dec 2005 Posts: 4 Location: Minnesota Northwoods Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Tue Jan 9, 2007, 7:38am Subject: Re: How to Use a Pour Over Brewer
Nars, Hi, instead of putting the grounds into the filter and pouring water through it, try doing it backwards. Put the grounds in to the pot, pour water into it, stir slurry and cover. Let sit 4 minutes. Then filter into huge cup or other container. This is more of a french-press style, and gives more steeping time. Lily
randikash Senior Member Joined: 5 Dec 2005 Posts: 4 Location: Minnesota Northwoods Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Tue Jan 9, 2007, 7:42am Subject: Re: How to Use a Pour Over Brewer
Alex, I saw a coffee documentary on National Geographic channel a few days ago, and they had an interview with an organic coffee farmer (I think it was Brazil). They showed him making coffee with his coffee sock, which he had mounted in a wooden frame!
Excellent show, too! I expected a rather shallow, glossy treatment, but it was quite fascinating! Lily
Posted Wed Feb 14, 2007, 5:38pm Subject: Re: How to Use a Pour Over Brewer
Hi, I just recently learned how to use a pour over brewer by a Korean "master" His technique was to first "pre-heat" the pot and then "pre-wet" the grounds. This is from a pre-heated small metal tea-pot, and he works quickly to maintain water temperature.
Then he pours in a spiral outward with a steady pour for a 3 count (1,...2,..3) keeping sure that all of the grounds are covered.
Then he counts to 10 and makes the spiral again and repeats the process until finished. It was a amazing to watch and to learn from this guy. I just thought you might like to compare style or techniques.
logogogue Senior Member Joined: 1 May 2007 Posts: 2 Location: USA Expertise: I love coffee
Drip: Hario Nel Drip
Posted Tue May 1, 2007, 6:34am Subject: Re: How to Use a Pour Over Brewer
Rick Said:
I'd like to add 2 suggestions to improve the process ever-so-slightly.
Pour hot water into your cup to preheat it, then toss it before pouring in the coffee. Making a single cup of coffee in a brewer and pouring the brew into a cold cup will cool the coffee too much for many people's liking.
And it helps to first wet the grounds to saturate them, then to wait ~15 seconds before pouring the remaining water over them.
Great article, and a much under-valued way of making fine coffee.
Rick's point of a preheat and presoak is excellent and a completely necessary component to brewing great coffee. I go as far as heating up both my Nel Drip flask and my coffee mugs with hot water as well. Incidentally I also use a hot plate set at a low temp to keep the glass warm as I pre-soak the coffee grinds.
The article is great and it is awesome to see a lot of interest in hand brewing. I go to Japan often and many have perfected the art of hand brewing coffee and I suspect I wouldn't drink it any other way at this point. There are tons of great sites that are in Japanese that really get into technique about pouring water, etc., so just in case you can't read Japanese I will share a couple of thoughts that were helpful to me.
- But first and foremost, the photos are wrong!!! The nel drip cloth is INSIDE OUT in the photo! The author is using the filter incorrectly! The stitching is supposed to be on the outside and not the inside. He's not getting the benefits of using the canvas filter. I hope that he revises the photos.
- One thing I didn't know, for storing the canvas filter, Hario recommends soaking them in water in the fridge. I started doing that recently and the filter seems to be holding up much better.
- Rick suggests soaking the coffee for 15 seconds but the general recommended steep time is 20~30 seconds. It doesn't seem like much but it does affect the flavor in subtle ways.
- Japanese afficionados suggest that pouring hot water slowly from the center in a clock wise motion towards the rim is the best way. Part of the reasons hand brewing is so good is that "disturbing" the coffee grinds gently allows for more of the flavor to come through. Don't ask me the science on it, that's what the pros tell me and I agree. Mr. Coffee will never get that right and it tastes. Although I haven't been able to find it in the U.S. but I use the Kalita pot http://kalita.co.jp/detail.html?p005010000&52049 to allow me slow and consistent pours. If anyone knows of a place to buy it in the US, it's a worthy buy.
- speaking of pouring, just to reaffirm what may be obvious to most of you, slow pours will result in stronger flavor and quick pours will result in, you guessed it, weaker flavors. So pouring is a key component and so it really helps to have some way of pouring water in a controlled and consistent manner. This is probably the biggest factor in flavor.
Posted Tue May 1, 2007, 6:47am Subject: Re: How to Use a Pour Over Brewer
hey on the topic of where to buy good equipment, for some reaon Japan and Korean have a very good selection of stuff. It is expensive as all hell but there is a good selection. This is a korean site: http://www.gabeeyang.com/
logogogue Senior Member Joined: 1 May 2007 Posts: 2 Location: USA Expertise: I love coffee
Drip: Hario Nel Drip
Posted Sat May 5, 2007, 6:31pm Subject: Re: How to Use a Pour Over Brewer
Jason, I agree with you on equipment availability in Asia. I am sure some people will argue that you don't necessarily need all sorts of gear to make great coffee but it sure makes it easier and fun when you do have the right tools. Hario does sell items in the US in limited selections http://www.harioglass.com but unfortunately Kalita does not. Although I can't read Korean I did notice that they sell the same Kalita pot that I use on the link you posted. I suppose culturally there is the term "maniac" that is used to describe complete dedication to a craft and there is a market to serve to that level of attention and detail in Asia. For example, take this website, http://www.excafe.com/cafestyle/2007/03/nel.html It's a great resource that explains all of the components in detail and then exposes techniques to using the products. Nothing personal as I appreciate his efforts but Mark Prince doesn't even use the coffee filter correctly let alone explain pouring techniques and proper storage of the filter in any detail. Let me tell you on a site like this, sometimes it's all about the details.
chupie Senior Member Joined: 16 Jun 2002 Posts: 9 Location: Lincoln NE Expertise: Just starting
Posted Wed Jun 20, 2007, 8:32am Subject: Re: How to Use a Pour Over Brewer
OK, I swear I read this on this thread the other day and now I cannot find a reference to it at all. BUT, somewhere on this board I read that stirring while the water drains through (along with using about 1TBSP per 4 oz. water) gives the intense flavor of the french press without the sediment. So I tried it with my chemex and by golly, best tip ever. Makes coffee as good as my little brazillian pot but without the grit, so to whoever said this, whereever they said it. THanks.
Cafetiere Senior Member Joined: 12 Jan 2008 Posts: 129 Location: Milky Way
Posted Sat Feb 9, 2008, 8:38pm Subject: "Cups" n' "cups" -- Or "size matters."
I keep running into this in the coffee brew world. A "cup" avoirdupois is 8 oz. or a half pint. We can get anal about it. Here's the rundown from Wikipedia:
There is no internationally agreed standard definition of the cup, which ranges in volume between 200 and 250 millilitres. Because the cup sizes generally used in the many Commonwealth countries and the United States differ only by about 13 ml (0.5 fl oz), the respective measures are close enough for cooking.
I'm gonna snip out the other six paragraphs about Imperial, metric, Japanese, etc.
A "cup" avoirdupois is 8 oz. -- pretty much.
A "cup" in coffee is 4 oz. -- I look at the "cup" marks on the side of my Melitta carafe, and they're 4 oz.
My coffee bag says "Two tablespoons ground coffee per cup." And that seems like a lot -- until your realize they're talking "cup" as in 8 oz. and not "cup" as in coffee. Even though we're brewing coffee.
The upshot being that we need to realize that in the coffee world different roasters will list brewing instructions for "cups" or "cups" and that there's a distinction that is fundamental but unspoken.
One tablespoon ground coffee per 4 oz. "cup"
-- which is what my roast bean bag says in other words: "two tablespoons ground coffee per cup." (8 oz. cup)
Cloth filters --
Head to the cheapo 99 cent store and shop for white cotton handkerchiefs. Cheesecloth would work too. Fold it as you would a filter paper in the chem lab. Here's a link with photos:
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