It’s a simple way of producing tasty coffee.
As its name suggests, pour-over coffee involves pouring hot water over coffee grounds, but it also makes use of a filter so that once the water has poured over the coffee it can move through the filter into your cup or mug.
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Contents
Benefits Of Pour-Over Coffee
The pour-over coffee method has some advantages to know about, such as that:
- It helps to bring out complex coffee flavors much more than other brewing methods.
- It makes use of a filter that produces a clear and clean result. The water moves through the coffee and pulls out its oils and fragrances, while also preventing them from making the cup too fragrant.
- It’s healthier. This is thanks to its filter! The filter removes cholesterol from coffee and this can decrease your risk of cardiovascular disease, as research via Everyday Health reports.
- It enables you to have full control. If you’re the type of person who wants their coffee just right, you’ll love the pour-over method because it enables you to control every aspect of your coffee, such as the water temperature, how long the water brews, and more.
- It offers you a lot of variety. Since the process of making pour-over coffee is completely in your hands, you can customize how to make the best-tasting coffee.
- It’s really easy to clean your pour-over coffee device. These tend to be made out of glass, ceramic, or stainless steel, so they don’t turn cleaning into a chore.
Drawbacks Of Pour-Over Coffee
- One of the potential drawbacks of pour-over coffee is that it’s made by human hands. In the hands of a skilled barista, the result can be an aromatic and delicious cup of coffee. But this isn’t always guaranteed because there’s room for error. In addition to that, you won’t always get exactly the same result that your favorite barista achieves.
- While it’s simple to make, pour-over coffee takes more work. It’s not that easy to make at home because you have to take time to do it and most people want to be able to push a button on their coffee machine without having to do anything else to get a cup of delicious hot coffee in their hands.
- You need to ensure you have the right equipment and tools, such as a kettle with a built-in thermometer so that you can ensure that you brew your coffee at the optimal temperature. FYI, this is said to be between 195 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit.
How Do You Make Pour-Over Coffee?
If you want to start making pour-over coffee at home, here’s what you need to do.
- Start by heating the water so that it reaches the temperature you want.
- Next, put the coffee grounds and filter in place.
- Add a bit of hot water to the coffee grounds to wet them, then stop. Wait for half a minute to allow the water to soak the grounds, then pour the water again. This time, you should pour the water slower.
- Make sure you keep the water flow consistent. To make this step even more effective, opt for a gooseneck kettle so you can control how much water flows over your coffee grounds.
- When you have enough coffee to fill your cup, you can stop and enjoy the result.
What Is Drip Coffee?
Now that we’ve looked at pour-over coffee, what about drip coffee?
Drip coffee is coffee that’s brewed in a device that makes use of pressure to push hot water over the coffee grounds. However, as its name suggests, drip coffee is made really slowly – drip by drip.
Once the hot water has been pushed over the coffee grounds, it stops and gravity takes over by pouring the water bit by bit over the grounds. This is said to enhance the coffee flavor and make it stronger.
Similar to the pour-over method, drip coffee makes use of a filter. This filter can be made out of plastic, mesh, or paper.
The coffee grounds are mixed with the hot water and then move through the filter, which will catch any excess oils in the grounds so that they don’t negatively affect the final coffee taste.
To make it easier to define drip coffee, it’s said that drip coffee is basically the mechanized version of pour-over coffee!
Advantages Of Drip Coffee
- Drip coffee machines do all the hard work for you so they’re more convenient to use.
- By sticking to the same water to coffee ratio, you can ensure your coffee always comes out just the way you like it.
- You can use less coffee. Thanks to how the drip method is efficient at extracting coffee solubles because it makes use of a constant water flow, this means that you’ll need less coffee for every brew.
Disadvantages Of Drip Coffee
- You can’t really make many changes to the drip coffee method because you’re relying on the coffee machine to do its usual routine.
- Some drip coffee machines can be expensive. Although you might be tempted to purchase a less-costly model, this is not a good idea if you’re skimping on quality because cheap drip coffee machines are known for not having longevity.
- If you want to make use of cold water to brew a cup, you’ll have to buy an extra device to use with your drip coffee machine. This can also take a really long time to do.
- Cleaning an electric drip coffee machine isn’t as easy as cleaning a pour-over coffee device. You’ll have to disassemble the machine in order to clean all its parts.
How To Make Drip Coffee
To make a delicious cup of drip coffee, these are the steps you should follow:
- First, you want to fill the drip machine’s reservoir with enough water.
- Put the filter in place and add your favorite coffee.
- Simply press a button on the machine and let it start brewing.
Factors To Consider To Make The Perfect Cup
Maybe you’re on “team pour-over” or you love drip coffee and can’t imagine having your coffee in any other way. Whatever the case, there are more important factors to bear in mind than the pour over coffee vs drip coffee debate that will ensure your coffee is always tasty.
Coffee Grind Size
Your coffee grind size is make or break when it comes to the type of coffee you can produce at home.
You need to ensure that the coffee grounds are right for the way in which you wish to brew them. The best size of coffee grounds for the pour-over coffee method is medium-fine.
On the other hand, the best coffee grounds for drip coffee machines are those that are fine or medium, but it really depends on the type of filter that the machine uses.
So, if it’s a flat-bottom filter, you should choose a medium-size grind; if it’s a cone-shaped filter, opt for medium-fine. Plastic or gold permanent filters require you to use medium granules.
Choose Fresh Beans
You can’t beat the delicious taste and aroma of fresh coffee beans that you’ve bought from your local roaster. While purchasing coffee beans from your local supermarket is convenient, be careful when popping bags of beans into your trolley.
If the coffee beans are put on display in the supermarket under bright lights and exposed to the air, these “buy in bulk” offers can be a waste of money because they reduce the freshness and taste of the beans, as Eating Well reports.
Be Wise About Water
Not just any water will do when you want to make the perfect brew!
You should make sure you use bottled spring water. If you don’t like this, try installing a charcoal or carbon filter on your tap to reduce the minerals in tap water that can affect the flavor of your coffee.
It’s also a good idea to avoid distilled or softened water as these make coffee taste bad due to the good minerals in water that are lacking.
Monitor The Temperature
Earlier, we mentioned the importance of ensuring that the temperature of your water is right and this is of the utmost importance so that you can extract all the delicious flavor from your coffee.
If your water is too hot, it will cause your coffee to be over-extracted, while water that doesn’t reach the right temperature will cause it to be under-extracted.
Related Questions
How can you tell if your coffee is over-extracted or under-extracted?
Over-extracted coffee will taste bitter and lack flavor, while under-extracted coffee will be salty, acidic, and/or sour.
Can you buy cheap coffee filters?
Those budget-friendly (read: cheap) coffee filters are a no-no. Make sure you keep your coffee full of quality by choosing dioxin-free or oxygen-bleached coffee filters, as Eating Well explains.
Conclusion
Pour over coffee or drip brew? Which one is best for you?
After reading this article of pour over coffee vs drip coffee, you now have a better idea of which one suits you and your lifestyle. If you can’t decide which one you like, make use of both! It’s nice to have more control over your coffee while also having the convenience of a coffee machine.
Last Updated on May 15, 2021
