There are many factors that lead to achieving a well balanced cup of coffee that’s as close as possible to how the farmers, producers and roasters intended. We’ve put together a few recommendations to level up your pourover game and brew consistent, delicious coffee.
If you’re just starting out and are looking for a step-by-step guide, you can also view our Pourover Brew Guide.
We provide recipes for every coffee we release, and these are a great starting point to achieving a delicious brew. You can find these on the physical recipe card, or on the product listing on our website. Each recipe has been developed and tested by a member of our expert team.
Although each part of our recipe is important, our biggest tip is to pay attention to how much contact time the coffee has had with the water (this is usually the part of the recipe that is most variable!).
If your coffee tastes sour, your brew may be under extracted - try increasing the contact time by pouring slower or using a finer grind. If your coffee tastes bitter, your brew may be over extracted - try decreasing the contact time by pouring faster or using a coarser grind. We usually recommend a window of 2:30 - 4:00 minutes total brew time.
Achieving a delicious brew requires a quality raw product. We recommend using a filter roast for brewing pourover as a lighter roast is better suited to longer extraction times and the gentle nature of pourover brewing will allow the more delicate origin characteristics to shine . We have a curated selection of filter coffee options to satisfy a range of flavour preferences- check out our collection!
Between brews, you also want to make sure that you’re storing your coffee properly. To keep fresh, we recommend keeping it in an airtight container somewhere where it won’t be light affected. A kitchen cupboard is perfect.
If you’re looking for something super special, why not try our Limited Edition Panama Geisha from Finca Lérida.
Using scales is the easiest way to get a repeatable, consistent brew. You can use scales to weigh your coffee (your dose), and weigh how much water you’re putting onto your coffee bed (your yield). Some even come with timers, so you can time your brews. Scales allow you to follow the suggested recipe to a tee!
A simple set of kitchen scales will do the trick, however, you can also explore our range of scales specifically designed for brewing coffee.
The rumours are true: freshly ground coffee does taste better. If you’re hoping for a fresh, delicate brew that brings out the subtle, fruity flavours of the coffee, we suggest grinding your beans immediately prior to brewing.
Coffee will start to oxidise quite quickly once it's ground, due to the increased surface area; this can cause it to lose flavour within a matter of days. For pourover coffee, you can use either a hand grinder or an electric grinder.
Check out our range of grinders.
It’s super important to use filtered water in your brew. Depending on where you live, tap water can contain minerals, chemicals and other compounds that can bring an undesirable flavour to your brew. We recommend using filtered water for all brew methods.
The BWT Water Jug has been specially designed for brewing coffee and tea. The filter removes any sediment, taste and odour from the water, exchanging these compounds for magnesium. The magnesium clings to the flavour compounds during the extraction process, which enhances your brew because it sticks to the compounds that give coffee its flavour.
If you’re after ultimate control over your brew, we recommend a kettle that has a gooseneck spout. The shape of the gooseneck provides precision in pouring so you have full control over the speed and force of the water you’re pouring over your coffee bed.
We have a wide range of kettles to explore. Our best-selling Fellow Stagg EKG Kettlecomes with temperature control, if you’re looking for a kettle with all the bells and whistles.
To achieve a balanced brew, ideally each grind in the coffee bed is extracted evenly. Pouring in a circular motion is mainly to create an even distribution of the water flow over the coffee bed. It also acts as a gentle agitation of the coffee grounds, so there’s movement in the coffee bed and the grinds are all extracted evenly.
We recommend starting in the middle and pouring in a clockwise direction, slowly moving further out like a spiral. Once you’ve reached the outside, slowly start to come back towards the centre in the same direction.
We can’t explain the science, but drinking coffee from your favourite mug just tastes so. much. better.
We hope these tips have helped! Please feel free to drop us a line if you have any questions, or you’re experiencing any issues with your brewing - we’re always more than happy to help!
Padre Coffee acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their continued connections to land, sea and community.
We pay our respect to Elders past, present and future, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
