Avoid Ordering This Coffee Drink During Busy Hours

My go-to order when I try out a new coffee shop is a pour-over. It's a reliable method of extracting all the flavors from the bean, and, if they roast their own, it's the best way for me to determine if I want to buy a bag for home. However, I'll only do this after the morning rush because making individual hand brews is a time and labor-intensive undertaking. During a service rush, either the barista won't be able to focus on my drink, and it won't be as good as it could be, or I gum up their system and slow it down for everyone. In that case, I'll order a batch-brew since it's early enough that it has a good chance of being freshly made.

Some shops are prepared for this brewing dilemma and have someone on staff devoted only to making single-cup coffees. When the spot employs one person who is hyper-focused and passionate about every aspect of the pour over, that's when you know your cup is going to be special. Some coffee bars, like Endorffeine in Los Angeles, only have one person making every drink to exacting quality, and the wait is part of the experience. Other specialty shops will focus instead on making high-quality batch-brews every 30 minutes or so instead. These can be just as delicious and much faster.

With all the time and labor that goes into making an individual cup of coffee by hand with a V60, it can cost a bit more in a cafe. People can be understandably turned away by the price of some pour-overs. $10 can be a lot for a single cup of coffee. A really good specialty shop will make that price worth it, though. There are advantages a cafe can have to help them make a particularly good cup, from the skill of the barista to the quality of the equipment. A high-quality grinder can cost anywhere from $1,500 to close to $4,500. These top-end machines, along with the maintenance time and money spent on them, result in coffee with more clarity and less bitterness.

The barista will have spent time dialing in the best way to brew a particular bean, depending on the roast level, type of bean, process, and flavors they hope to extract. Some need coarser grinds or hotter water or different brewing recipes. The time and beans spent on finding the perfect cup to serve to you cost that cafe money, but it results in an expertly crafted cup of coffee.