Coffee Brewing Methods: 6 Different Ways To Make Coffee At Home

Pour Over Method

Why We Like Pour Over Coffee

The pour over method produces coffee with a delicate and smooth texture that resides somewhere between juicy and tea-like. A pour over coffee’s flavor is often at its most expressive, partly due to the filtration, which adds polish and clarity to the cup, and partly due to the amount of water used in relation to the ground coffee.

How It Works

A paper filter that fits into some sort of dripper is all you need for pour over coffee. The paper filter results in a clarified mouthfeel as it holds back oils and undissolved coffee particles from the final cup.

While there are countless drippers on the market, we’re partial to our version, the Blue Bottle dripper. Engineered to take the guesswork out of brewing pour over coffee, its conical shape cuts a similar profile to other ceramic drippers, but its very design—a flat bed with 40 interior ridges—promotes more even extraction, bringing out the best flavors of the coffee.

If the pour over brew method appeals, but you’re eager to brew more than one cup at a time, the classic Chemex carafe can brew up to 8 cups of coffee at time.

Tips on Grind

For single-cup drippers, a medium grind size about the coarseness of sea salt is optimal. The extraction time—the span of time from the first pour to the last—should take fewer than 3 minutes to achieve the most balanced flavors. For Chemex, the grind size will depend on the amount of coffee you use; if making more than a couple of servings, you’ll want the grind size to be slightly coarser than for a single-cup dripper, otherwise, the water will overextract the coffee, resulting in bitterness.

Who's It For?

Pour overs are for anyone who appreciates a short but focused morning ritual and isn’t afraid to experiment. While drippers are considered an “entry level” manual brew tool, using one does require focus and care. The biggest challenge for the pour over method is the pour technique, a series of four pours in which the stream of water leaving the kettle gently saturates the coffee grounds. Since it’s the method we use in our cafes most, we have our pour over method down to a science. Learn more about it in our brew guide. Throw in a scale, grinder, and swan neck kettle and you’ll be well on your way to coffee perfection.