newbie to pourover. A few questions

UNM

I have requested a pour over setup for my birthday.

My last experience of making filter coffee was many years ago with a plastic melitta cone, paper filter and supermarket pre ground.

My standards have changed since then.

What is the best setup for a newbie to pour over/filter? I am thinking Nehru sock perhaps something like this
http://sorrentinacoffee.myshopify.com/products/akira-cotton-cloth-filter-cone-pourover-neru-and-holder-set

What coffee/water ratio?

Suggested water temperature(I can PID my kettle)?

Any basic tips on best process and timing?

I realise there are probably other threads covering these questions, but haven't seen anything gathering the info in one place. Perhaps I am just lazy  - feel free to suggest links to other resources.

beanflying

All pourover filter media are slightly different to use so what applies to paper is different to the neru is different to the Coava Kone. So first decide on that side of the equation. I am a paper hater, rinsing filters before use and still getting a touch of paper depending on the filter used also the cup tends to be lacking in body and loses some of the oils and flavours of the brew :P The Kone is excellent in a commercial setting (tough reusable etc) but it does tend to let a small amount of fines into the cup (lot less than plunger) but lots of oils and good body and mouthfeel also. The Neru sits somewhere in the middle of that range for clean cup and still allowing a decent body and mouthfeel, downside is the occasional cafetto wash of the sock is needed so you may want to grab a spare or two. Vessel options - The Kone only really goes with the Chemex 4 or 6 cup (120ml cup) so larger volume than you might want. There is a paper filter designed for the Chemex too but think cut fold rinse before use isn't cool! Three Bags Full did have both the chemex and the Kone but there should be others. If you want to try a brew Deadman Espresso in Sth Melbourne were using the Kone. Pourovers with paper there is lots of options there with most being your typical sit on top of the cup or vessel in ceramic or plastic. The Neru sock can be used with these too depending on diameters. Market Lane Coffee have them in stock and use paper pourovers on their bar. The Hario sock type brewers and I know at one stage WoTb was importing some similar ones. Are my prefered weapon of choice. 2 or 4 cup versions (120ml) are available and in Melbourne St Ali would have them in stock. Unlikely you will find them in commercial use. Brew temp just 30 seconds or so off boil I find works, unlike a syphon where there is heat applied during the brew everything about pourover takes heat out of the process so a touch over the 92-93 degree ideal I find works better. Brew ratio depends a lot on grind size (every bit as important as with espresso) and brew time. There is lots of factors in pourover brewing and changing one will possibly mean changing 2 others to compensate.

galumay

Definitely look at the Clever Coffee Dripper, I love mine, just so clean and easy to use.

beanflying

As we were just chatting about is the CCD really a pourover or is it a brewed coffee that is then filtered  :-| I do have a similar brewer to this but it runs mesh in the bottom instead of the paper so I should drag it out for more of a play again. Extraction process with the CCD is more to do with brew time for a given grind to make sure you don't over or under extract the result. Pourover is more about grind size and water pour rate to control the extraction and result, that is you need to be fine enough for the filter media to hold in sufficient water to brew with for a given grind size and that is what controls the average brew time. Thoughts on the CCD is that is likely to be far less sensitive to grind variations?

galumay

I think thats right, its the biggest advantage of the CCD over other dripper/pourover methods. Nearly all of them require a grind that is too fine in order to slow the flow of water through coffee.

beanflying

That's where the pouring technique comes in. The initial wetting stage is important and then controlling and directing the pour after that. Love my Hario pouring kettle for this 8) There is more to the technique than just slapping coffee into the pourover and emptying the kettle. Lots of videos out there some good and some not so good. The one below is a good one . This is not to say it is hard or impossible to get a great brew from this method it just takes a little time to become one with the brew  Coffee and Zen  ;D [embed=425,349]

askthecoffeeguy

I'm a big fan of the CCD and I have no problems with paper taint whatsoever - the trick with the CCD is to keep your filter papers fresh and sealed in an airtight container - and to change them over at the first sign of deterioration With the CCD I grind 14 to 16g of SO coffee medium to course (5.2 grind setting on my Ditting), then insert the filter into the CCD and rinse the filter with hot filtered water at 95C, drain off excess water, add the coffee, and then pour enough hot water to cover the grinds and leave to sit for 30sec I then add probably another 220ml of hot water (or until about 3cm below the top of the filter paper), stir gently to breakup the crust, and leave to sit for another two minutes (so two and a half minutes in total including pe-infusion) And I used to pre-heat the glass that I'm pouring into - but I dont bother any more - I just plonk the CCD on top once the time is up, wait for about 40sec - and the rest as they say is history! I really like how the paper filter traps oils, acidity, and disolved solids - to produce a brew which is true: clean and crisp with tea-like characters, plenty of 'fruit' flavours up-front, and to me an excellent way to examine the individual and unique characteristics of the coffee And this method seems to work well even if the coffee has little or no age on it post roast, and equally well several weeks in Personally I prefer my oils in my espresso and syphon based coffees - but it's horses for courses I guess.... Cheers, ACg

WotB

Sorry I've come in a bit late in this discussion, iinet was to blame this time, with their upstream provider severing the fibre to my exchange resulting in 2 days downtime. Anyway, as BF said I did at one time import a sock brewer.  It was a Yama 600ml.  Perfect for 2-3 real cups (not the 140ml Japanese ones, which are marked on the side).  I think I still have a few kicking around.  It's a basic brewer that doesn't require a whole lot of fiddling to get a great brew.  I also use some stainless mesh filters from Kaffeologie, at one time I imported them as well.  The mesh gives a brew with more body than the cloth, only downside being a tiny amount of sediment (nearly negligible). I've used the CCD, and really, the brew method is simply just a filtered plunger style.  While you can use it as a pure pourover, filter options are limited.

Koffee_Kosmo

I have been meaning to get myself a single cup Swiss Gold filter http://www.swissgold.com/e/coffee.php The other advantage is that it will double up as a loose leaf tea strainer Win Win for me

Brett H

on 1342228514:

I have been meaning to get myself a single cup Swiss Gold filter http://www.swissgold.com/e/coffee.php The other advantage is that it will double up as a loose leaf tea strainer Win Win for me

Are these any good?  I've been thinking about getting the metal Kone and a chemex but I could not trust it to the dropsy work environment. 

beanflying

I actually own one of those particular swiss gold on cup ones. No real control over the brew time due to the flat base but ok for the drawer at work if you had one. Better option for a small pourover would be the grindripper combo David Seng imports.

kusakk

Chemex for clarity is our go to every time. Hario 1 cup v60 for a simple brew, paper filter, preset, 91 deg c, 30 sec steep time for 14g, full brew 1min 20 sec. Love the process of a pour over, helps turn on the palate!