Pourover coffee is simple yet one of the hardest types to master. But what makes a good pourover so great?
Written by Nguyen Minh Long
Situated in the heart of The Chevrons: Boulder+ lies a humble Base Cafe run by Joanna Lai. A self-taught barista, Joanna has been making coffee since 2013. She would watch YouTube videos, talk to good baristas, and attend coffee conventions and festivals. From then on, Joanna started experimenting with different coffee techniques and recipes. I went over to Base Cafe with the intention of learning how to make pourover coffee for the first time and finding out how inconsistency affects the overall taste of coffee.
Pourover coffee is the method of pouring hot water onto coffee grounds, allowing them to brew. There are various ways to make pourover coffee – using filter paper, a percolator, and a french press. For today, we will be looking at the usage of filter paper.
The instruments used to make pourover coffee at Base Cafe are Coffee Dripper, Electric Variable Temperature Kettle, Single Dose Coffee Grinder, Digital Weighing Scale, Pitcher and Filter Paper. While precision does play a part in making great coffee, I also learned from Joanna that consistency from the barista’s technical skills is usually the main factor that makes or breaks a good coffee.
The steps to make pourover coffee are rather simple. First, grind the coffee beans then put them into a filter paper, which goes onto the coffee dripper. Second, bring the water to the desired temperature. Lastly, pour water onto the beans.
As I watch Joanna prepare and make the coffee, I was amazed by her meticulousness and gracefulness. She would not allow any room for measurement error. However, observing Joanna execute the pour is a sight to behold. Her consistent pouring allowed her coffee to brew and drip very evenly. Joanna splits her pours into four parts. The first pour is called the bloom – that is when the coffee grounds release carbon dioxide when coming in contact with hot water, leaving bubbles at the coffee dripper. The next three pours are divided equally, depending on how much coffee the barista wants to make. It is measured by a digital scale placed underneath the cup. Joanna took three minutes for all pours.
Since I was new to brewing coffee, I only did the pouring but I was shocked at how hard it was to evenly distribute the water around the coffee dripper. While pouring, my hands were shaking because the kettle suddenly felt heavy and my heart started to pound faster. After the water drained, the residue was relatively uneven compared to Joanna’s. I struggled with pouring the water at a consistent rate - sometimes I would pour big circles and other times, smaller circles.
Right off the bat, Joanna’s cup tasted much fuller and had more flavour compared to mine. Even though mine took four minutes to brew, which theoretically is supposed to taste better, it did not come close to how Joanna’s brew tasted. Baristas on the outside but also tailors on the inside, the art of pourover coffee is not one to be underestimated by looks, but rather, one that takes years to master requiring utmost consistency and precision.