Coffee 101: The Pour-Over

The pour-over. It's so simple. It's so small. It barely takes up any room on your kitchen counter. 

A pour-over is just that — a way of brewing in which you pour the water over the coffee. You place the ceramic piece over your cup (I use this one from Blue Bottle), place a coffee filter inside, add freshly ground beans, and then pour. Pour slowly and steadily (I'm missing this gadget, which provides a more perfect form of pouring). Yet I've found that this method is nearly foolproof.

Unlike the French Press, which requires a precise brew time — stop a little short: the cup is watery, brew too long: muddy — this is very forgiving. Just make sure you pour slowly, and you saturate all the beans. Fill up the cone to the brim with water. Make sure the water is just below boiling — you don't want to shock the beans. And that's it. It takes less than five minutes, it makes a perfect cup — no sediment, full flavor. It beats those (awful) single cup "pods" that many are trying.