Scott Rao on V60 pourover

Simon

Heya guys, Scott Rao recently posted a video on his V60 method, it's really cool and very simple.

I actually gave it a try today (was inspired and did a quick roast up of some filter roast Yirg the other day), very easy method! I altered the parameters a little (360g water was too much to drink haha), but still kept the same ratio of coffee to water.

15.3g coffee, 250g water, brewed at about 96 degrees (was aiming for 97-98 degrees like Scott said in one of his comments below the vid but missed the boat). Brew finished at 2:20.

A little fast as I was aiming for at least 3 minutes total time (he didn't really give a set recommendation, between 2 and 4 minutes he said).

Initially a bit flat in flavour at higher temps.. So I resigned myself to maybe having to rest the coffee a bit more but as it cooled right down... WOWZA!! Peachy, smooth, creamy, caramelly.

I might still let the roast rest a bit longer (was about 1 and a half days post roast), and still grind finer to slow the flow rate, but super impressed!!

The ground were mostly flat at the end but still looked a little wavy (maybe I stirred too vigorously even though I purposely was less aggressive than usual), any tips guys on how you stir the grounds after the prewet/bloom? I'm just wanting to not disturb the level bed that early on, and don't want it to only level out at 1m:45s when you spin it.. (might have to watch the vid first to know what I'm talking about haha)

askthecoffeeguy

good quality information in the video - I noticed that both the coffee grinds he used and the resulting brew were quite dark - definitely a lot darker than the filter roast that I prefer to use my preferred ratio is also slightly different I prefer to use 14.5g of coffee and 240ml of water with a water temperature of 92C - my understanding is that higher temperatures tend to scold the coffee and i do a one minute preheat and aim for 2.5min extraction time in total im also a big advocate of pre-heating the coffee cup otherwise the coffee gets cold very quickly - which I actually dont mind too much as it tends to be a descending temperature coffee process anyway which means that the coffee gets sweeter as it cools for super fresh coffee I tend to fine the grind a bit more than usual, and increase the preheat / bloom times - which helps to compensate for freshness Im glad that he advocates for paper filters as opposed to stainless though as the tend to trap oils and acidity and let more of the fruit flavours through, which is after all my preferred drinking method! Pat

Simon

Ah nice! Yeah ah that's a similar ratio to his, but yeah I just lowered it as his seemed far too much volume to drink haha. 240-250ml is a nice amount . Although I don't know if this affects the brew (using less volume of water through the brewing process might result in quicker temp drop throughout.. but anyways it's not something I compensate for or worry about) Yeah I tend to get better results from lower temps relatively speaking, gonna try this at a few different temps I reckon. I usually preheat the cup too, but find that even after the brew is finished I wait at the very least 10 minutes before my first sip, still quite hot at this time, but sipping when too hot I get nothing.. And also scalds the tastebuds and ruins their perceptive ability for a few hours I heard! Ahhh I will keep that in mind for super fresh coffee, cheers Pat!

LeroyC

Just to clear up a common misconception- higher temps DO NOT burn or scold coffee. Anything from 99deg down is fine as the aromatic compounds aren’t affected until temps of 100deg are reached. So as long as your kettle has finished boiling you are good to go as the water drops to 99deg pretty much as soon as soon as it stops moving. The problems with really high temps are twofold: 1- They extract faster and more easily. Also the darker your coffee the faster the extraction. This is at any temp as it’s more soluble, but obviously high temps mean it can get away on you easily. This probably happened to many people and led to the belief that the coffee was ‘burned’ when it was actually just over extracted. 2- The high temps mute most of not all of the more complex flavours. This means you could be 10-15min away from getting the best out of your coffee. So factor that into any brew routine and you’ll be all good.

askthecoffeeguy

oh that makes sense it's defiantly been my experience that higher temps tend to dull the palate whereas lower temps seem sweeter and more fruit driven to p

Simon

Ah thanks for chiming in Leroy, that's awesome stuff to know actually will keep in mind! I reckon that's what happened with my brew perhaps, the higher temp just rushed through it a bit fast. Might try lower the temp instead of going finer and see what happens, or just try both at different times hehe

LeroyC

Yes if you want to drink it straight away then you need to pretty much hit the ideal temp for your brew water. The hottest water I ever use is 84deg and sometimes I’m down as low as 70deg. This is mostly for Aeropress, for pour over I find I need to add maybe 5deg. If I’m putting it in a thermal cup or flask for consumption a little later then I use water just off the boil. So as long as you don’t kill your brew with water at a rolling boil then you will get the same flavours at all temps that you always get, you might just have to wait (an agonising) 10-20min to get there. :-P

Simon

Ah really that's interesting, surely there are pronounced differences in the brew doing one at 99 degrees and another at say 80 (like you mentioned in earlier post)? I couldn't tell you what effects flavourwise but they would definitely extract at different rates and in different manners.. And that's awesome, I've been experimenting with lower temps the last few years, my lowest being 84 degrees, and I thought that was low! That's so cool I'm gonna have to try lower now :D