When starting out, it’s common to face difficulties when trying to improve your pour-over coffee. The goal to achieve great coffee is to have a flavorful cup with balanced sweetness, body, and acidity. So, how do you achieve that?
In this article, we discuss five common problems that can arise when brewing coffee. By learning about these issues, you can expand your knowledge and improve your ability to tackle them effectively.
Introduction
Pour-over brewing requires a certain degree of attention to detail and skill. The resulting final brew often is a reflection of the tools, techniques, and knowledge used to create it.
In simple terms, pour-over coffee brewing or manual hand brewing ground coffee involves pouring hot water over coffee grounds in a filter to extract the coffee aromas and the coffee flavor.
The process involves heating water to a specific temperature, grinding the coffee beans, and placing the grounds in a paper filter below. Hot water is then poured over ground coffee in a slow and steady stream, allowing the hot water to extract the coffee while it drips through paper filters below into a carafe.
By following a brewing method and having good control of the water flow and temperature, you can achieve a flavorful and balanced cup of coffee.
Basic Pour-Over Tools
Before we begin, here is the recommended equipment for brewing pour-over coffee:
- Hario V60 Coffee Dripper
- Hand grinder (metal burr)
- Pour-over kettle (preferably with temperature control)
- Electronic scale
- Good quality water (Filtered)
You can use any pour-over dripper that you are comfortable with. Grinders and hand-pouring techniques will contribute to how your coffee will taste. Selecting the best quality grinders will benefit you in the long run as well.
A budget-friendly kettle such as the FISH Smart Electric Kettle by Timemore is a good choice for its temperature settings and narrow sprout. It also provides a good handle so that you are able to control the water flow rate and adjust to various speeds.
Learning to Taste
Brewing and tasting coffee go hand-in-hand, and you will need both skills to progress as a home barista. The are 5 basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami and we can detect them in the mouth.
When tasting coffee, take a moment to let it linger in your mouth. Perhaps, you notice that it lacks flavor – and that’s alright. Alternatively, you may detect that it’s a little salty or sour. In either case, compare your observations to the flavor notes on the coffee bag, and make a mental note of what you notice.
Understanding Extraction
When you pour water onto the coffee grounds, extraction takes place – compounds that result in the flavors that you taste in a cup. About 70% of the coffee is insoluble, while 30% is said to be soluble. The ideal target according to the coffee industry is around 18-22%. (Source: How To Make The Best Coffee At Home)
There are 2 terms you want to get familiar with when brewing coffee – Under-extraction and Over-extraction. Under-extraction is a result of coffee grounds not fully extracted to the optimum target, resulting in a salty, sour taste. Over-extraction happens when your coffee grounds are extracted ‘over’ the optimum target, resulting in a bitter, hollow taste.
Many factors affect this, but the most common are water temperature and grind size. Make your adjustments by either increasing or lowering grind size or water temperature to evaluate the results to refine your taste.
The coffee-to-water ratio should follow a standard rule of thumb of 1:15 or 1:16, which is 1g of coffee per 15/16 ml of water. For example. a 12.5g of coffee will be a total of 200ml of water (12.5×16). As a guideline, light roast coffee can be extracted with higher temperatures (92°-100°), a medium roast (85°-95°), and dark roasts (80°-85°).
The goal is to find the best possible settings for better extraction when you brew coffee. Combining the right grind size, pour-over technique, water temperature, and tools will be key as you continue brewing various coffee with different brewers.
5 Common Brewing Problems
By understanding these common problems, we believe you can improve your pour over brewing skills.
1. Bitter and Hollow (Over-extracted)
If your coffee lacks flavor and tastes overly bitter, it’s likely that it has been over-extracted. The most common cause of over-extraction is steeping the coffee for too long with the water. However, it’s important to note that other factors can contribute to over-extraction, such as excessively hot water temperature, or using a finer grind size.
2. Salty or Sour (Under-extracted)
If you notice a sour or salty taste in your coffee, it could be that it is under-extracted. This can occur if the coffee grounds are too coarse, or if the water temperature is too low. Another possible cause is that the brew time was too short, which can hinder the extraction process. To improve your pour-over coffee, try doing a proper bloom to ensure an even extraction.
3. Clogging
Do you find that water is draining too slowly through the coffee bed during brewing? This may result in longer than usual brew times, leading to an over-extracted coffee taste. One of the common reasons for slow drainage could be a grind size that is too fine.
4. Muddy or Imbalanced Flavors
While you may have brewed a good cup of coffee, you might feel that it could be even better. There are several reasons why that can impact the taste of your coffee, including the freshness of the beans, the quality of the water, and your brewing technique.
If you have specialty coffee beans roasted for filter coffee, its freshness will deteorate after a month. Using a low-quality grinder such as a ceramic burr grinder often results in uneven grinds and extraction, therefore giving a poor taste.
Another factor could be that the brew method needs improvement and tweaking. Try other pour-over drippers and brew methods to test the results.
5. Weak or Diluted
If you use a scale to ensure that your brew has the right coffee-to-water ratio, such as 1:16 (12.5g coffee to 200 ml water), then you’re less likely to encounter this problem. However, uneven pouring during the bloom or later stages can still occur. To avoid this, pour gently and set a specific amount of water for each pour. For example, you could aim for a bloom of 35g, a first pour of 65g, and a second pour of 100g. This will help ensure that each pour is consistent and that the entire bed is evenly saturated throughout the brewing process.
Controlling Turbulence
Achieving good coffee extraction also requires the right brew method, grind size with water temperature. Another tip is to have a consistent flow rate as your pour water onto the coffee grounds. When the water is poured too quickly or unevenly, it agitates the coffee grounds, causing turbulence. The final cup will result in an uneven extraction and imbalanced flavor.
However, controlled turbulence such as gentle stirring, a spin, or pulsing of the water flow can be beneficial if practiced correctly.
Expanding Your Sensory Skills
Perhaps you would like to develop good sensory skills, and the ability to pick apart the flavors pretty quickly. There are courses you can consider organized by the SCA (Specialty Coffee Association) or visit your local specialty coffee shop if there are any coffee brewing courses or workshops.
If you practice tasting your coffee and trying various single origins with different taste notes, you will gradually develop an understanding aroma, body, mouthfeel, and aftertaste. It is a rewarding skill when you are able to taste and tell where the coffee originates from.
Lastly, the SCA provides a flavor wheel and you can use it as your guide in your tasting experiences.
Conclusion
Great-tasting coffee is achievable with the plastic Hario V60 or CAFEC Flower dripper, and you can find out more tips on brewing with these brewers:
With a pour-over gooseneck kettle, electronic scale, and high-quality grinder, you can be assured to achieve delicious coffee. In our humble opinion, we would advise against buying expensive filter coffee when you start until you have understood how to improve your go-to coffee beans.
It would also be helpful to keep a notebook or coffee log journal to track your recipes and experiments. You can even use our free Notion Brewing Template to make it easier. Stay open to finding new brewing methods online, and practice regularly. These small habits can go a long way in helping you improve your pour-over brewing skills over time.
Thanks for reading. We hope these tips will help you elevate your brewed coffee! Follow Art Of Brew on Instagram and Twitter or share your thoughts in the comments below.
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