7 Steps to make the perfect pour-over coffee at home

Learning how to make cafe quality coffee can be daunting. So, we’ve put together an easy 7 step guide to make pour-over coffee at home much more approachable.

What you’ll need

• Whole beans or plunger ground coffee
• Coffee Dripper
• Filter Paper
• Kettle
• Timer

Step 1. Rinse

First, you’ll need to rinse your filter paper with boiling water. By doing this, you are purging any unwanted paper flavour from the coffee.

Step 2. Prepare coffee

If using whole beans, grind your coffee to a medium-coarse grind. It should feel like white sugar between your fingers. If you are using ground coffee, ensure your coffee has been ground to a pour-over particle size.

Step 3. Load filter paper

Put the filter paper into the coffee dripper which should be sitting on top of your vessel. Spoon the ground coffee into the filter paper ensuring it’s sitting evenly.

For two cups, use approximately 2 heaped dessert spoons or alternatively use the ratio of 60 grams of coffee per 1 litre of water.

Key tip – if you are making more than one cup, ensure you use a single vessel large enough to hold the volume. Don’t split the brewing over two cups as this will effect the consistency of flavour between cups.

Step 4. Pour

Pour in a dash of boiled water into the ground coffee and stir until the coffee is consistently saturated. This should only take a few seconds. 

Step 5. Wait

Wait for 30 seconds for the coffee to degas. This really allows the flavour to develop.

Step 6. Pour again

Pour approximately 350ml (1 large mug) of water (or use the ratio of 60 grams of coffee per 1 litre of water) into the ground coffee and let the water slowly drain into a single vessel. The pour should take around 2 minutes and your total contact time should be around 2:30 minutes.

Step 7. Pour and enjoy

Once all of the water has finished draining, separate your coffee into your two (or more) drinking cups. Drink and enjoy!

Voila! That’s how you make pour-over coffee at home.