For a few years now, we usually make our coffee as a pour-over. There’s a little story to that. One time we were housesitting for friends. We knew they owned a coffee maker, but we couldn’t easily find it. They did have a cool, beehive kettle on their stove, though. We found the drip cone & the filters. I used to make pour-overs in college before they were called pour-overs. I had a plastic Melitta cone, which I’d put on top of my cup, and I’d pour boiling water into it.
I was curious why this beehive kettle would be designed the way it was. And then I internet-stumbled upon the passion of coffee drinkers and their brewing methods. And I read many articles about how to make a great pour-over cup of coffee.
For a recent example, check out this article about making pour-overs like a barista.
It was shortly before my husband’s birthday, so I thought that kettle and a pour-over dripper (also its own research topic) would make a perfect gift. Something he might not buy himself, but a small indulgence he could enjoy at the start of each day. You can put whatever kind of effort or exactitude into your pour-over as you like.
I like the simplicity and that you can tailor each person’s cup to that person’s wishes — strength, amount — by adjusting the grind size, the amount of coffee and water used, the rate and how you pour in the water. The coffee is made when the person wants to drink it; no more 1.5 hour old coffee sitting in the coffee maker. I enjoy the process of making it. I feel I enjoy my coffee more when I pay attention to making it. I particularly like inhaling and smelling over the dripper when you first let the grounds “bloom” — when you just wet, but don’t soak, the grounds, and you see the little bubbles of CO2 rise out of your grounds.
A few friends have asked if there’s anything I feel really strongly about regarding making coffee. I do think freshly grinding coffee makes a big difference, and best is right before you’re going to drink it. There are really so many variables!! Experiment with what works for you and discover what you like and what you feel is worth the effort and price.
I think this was posted the same day as mine, but I only read it now. I had never considered this. “When you don’t have a quality grinder, it may be better to use pre-ground coffee. Your local roaster or coffee shop may have a high-quality grinder. … If you buy in small amounts and store the pre-ground coffee well, you could get a better cup of coffee than if you had ground the beans yourself.” That’s because, “”With inconsistently ground coffee, some particles will extract more quickly than others and you could get a muddy or over-extracted cup.”
https://www.perfectdailygrind.com/2018/12/is-pre-ground-coffee-ever-better-than-freshly-ground