In Specialty Coffee, batch brews are often overlooked or even looked down upon. I think batch brewers serve an important purpose for early risers. I wake up at five in the morning and I typically do not have the mental capacity to think about my pour over recipe or my espresso routine. I would never talk badly about batch brewer users, however, if you want to get the most out of your specialty coffee beans then I highly recommend making a small investment in a pour-over setup. In this blog, I will go over why I think you should be brewing pour-overs instead of batch brewing, what kind of equipment you need to get started, and then I will go over some of the pros and cons of brewing pour-overs.

You have the brewer, what else do you need to make a good pour-over? You will need filters, some usually come with the brewer when you purchase it initially, but if not, the manufacturer typically has their own brand that fit their brewer perfectly. For the Hario V-60 I recommend these filters from Cafec, especially if you enjoy brewing lightly roasted coffees. Next, you will need hot water. Water from the tap and a small pot from your cabinet are all you really need to get started. Next, you will need a scale to measure out your ground coffee and your brewing water. From there you will just need specialty-grade coffee and a grinder, and you are all set. A lot of these items you will already have if you make coffee at home. If not, they are regular kitchen products or very cheap to purchase from Amazon.

You now know what you need and how to get started, but you may be wondering what some of the pros and cons are to pour-over brewing. When comparing the cost of pour-over brewing to batch brewing there are some similarities, but many more differences. Buying filters, high-quality specialty-grade coffee, a good coffee grinder, and water are costs that are very similar in using both devices. The major differences are the cost of the brewing device. Where the recommended plastic V-60 is less than 10$ on a good day, batch-brewers can cost anywhere from 50-400 dollars! That price is totally understandable for what you are paying for, the convenience of something brewing your coffee for you. At the end of the day, you are paying a super high price for a device to brew coffee worse than you. There are some automatic drip machines I like and can actually recommend, like the Moccamaster, the Ratio 6, and the Chemex Ottomatic. However, those are very expensive brewers that still limit the amount of variables that you can control by brewing manually. A con people may have to pour-overs is the high cost of electric kettles. If you are chasing those minor flavor enhancements that I have promised, then yes, your money would be well spent on a nice gooseneck kettle like the Fellow Stagg EKG, but for the average person a 10-15$ electric kettle, a stovetop kettle, or just a pot of boiling water is sufficient for adequate pour-overs. Simply put for pour-over brewing, the pros are the fun of the process of brewing manually, having control over all the variables to chase the perfect cup, and the low-cost barrier of entry. The cons can be the time it takes to brew start to finish, the trial and error of getting a good cup, and spending any more money on your coffee habit.

I have dished out all you need to know about the pour-over life, your final question may be “How do I brew a pour-over?”. Now that you have all the necessary equipment and you are committing to making pour-overs with your nice beans, I will give you a pour-over technique. In the next blog I will give you my ultimate pour-over technique, the kind of changes you can make to that technique to tailor to your specific coffee, and some common troubleshooting questions will be answered. For now, get to brewing good tasting high-quality, specialty-grade coffee. Brewing coffee should be fun, and tasty.

In Specialty Coffee, batch brews are often overlooked or even looked down upon. I think batch brewers serve an important purpose for early risers. I wake up at five in the morning and I typically do not have the mental capacity to think about my pour over recipe or my espresso routine. I would never talk badly about batch brewer users, however, if you want to get the most out of your specialty coffee beans then I highly recommend making a small investment in a pour-over setup. In this blog, I will go over why I think you should be brewing pour-overs instead of batch brewing, what kind of equipment you need to get started, and then I will go over some of the pros and cons of brewing pour-overs.

You have the brewer, what else do you need to make a good pour-over? You will need filters, some usually come with the brewer when you purchase it initially, but if not, the manufacturer typically has their own brand that fit their brewer perfectly. For the Hario V-60 I recommend these filters from Cafec, especially if you enjoy brewing lightly roasted coffees. Next, you will need hot water. Water from the tap and a small pot from your cabinet are all you really need to get started. Next, you will need a scale to measure out your ground coffee and your brewing water. From there you will just need specialty-grade coffee and a grinder, and you are all set. A lot of these items you will already have if you make coffee at home. If not, they are regular kitchen products or very cheap to purchase from Amazon.

You now know what you need and how to get started, but you may be wondering what some of the pros and cons are to pour-over brewing. When comparing the cost of pour-over brewing to batch brewing there are some similarities, but many more differences. Buying filters, high-quality specialty-grade coffee, a good coffee grinder, and water are costs that are very similar in using both devices. The major differences are the cost of the brewing device. Where the recommended plastic V-60 is less than 10$ on a good day, batch-brewers can cost anywhere from 50-400 dollars! That price is totally understandable for what you are paying for, the convenience of something brewing your coffee for you. At the end of the day, you are paying a super high price for a device to brew coffee worse than you. There are some automatic drip machines I like and can actually recommend, like the Moccamaster, the Ratio 6, and the Chemex Ottomatic. However, those are very expensive brewers that still limit the amount of variables that you can control by brewing manually. A con people may have to pour-overs is the high cost of electric kettles. If you are chasing those minor flavor enhancements that I have promised, then yes, your money would be well spent on a nice gooseneck kettle like the Fellow Stagg EKG, but for the average person a 10-15$ electric kettle, a stovetop kettle, or just a pot of boiling water is sufficient for adequate pour-overs. Simply put for pour-over brewing, the pros are the fun of the process of brewing manually, having control over all the variables to chase the perfect cup, and the low-cost barrier of entry. The cons can be the time it takes to brew start to finish, the trial and error of getting a good cup, and spending any more money on your coffee habit.

I have dished out all you need to know about the pour-over life, your final question may be “How do I brew a pour-over?”. Now that you have all the necessary equipment and you are committing to making pour-overs with your nice beans, I will give you a pour-over technique. In the next blog I will give you my ultimate pour-over technique, the kind of changes you can make to that technique to tailor to your specific coffee, and some common troubleshooting questions will be answered. For now, get to brewing good tasting high-quality, specialty-grade coffee. Brewing coffee should be fun, and tasty.