Finer Pourover

The basics of pourover are well known. You can find some basic techniques on BrewMethods.com

I thought that I'd write about some things that are not as well known.

Pourover size. It's best to match the size of the pourover dripper with the size of the batch you want to make. Sounds obvious, but I even see professionals mis-use (or not ideally use) drippers. Take the popular Hario v60 size 02. Personally, I wouldn't pour (as opposed to make) 415 mL of water with this. It's probably best at around 550 mL of water. Why? When you have a smaller dose, there's a greater distance between the pour spout and the bed of coffee. This is rough on the grounds. Yes, the water temp. is a little lower because of the greater distance but I suspect that this is outweighed by the increasd agitation. I can't prove this nor do I care to; just my anecdotal observation. Small cone for a small cup of coffee; larger cone for a larger batch.

Water temp. It's actually hard to have water that's *too* hot for pourover. The narrow spout of a pourover kettle combined with the cone's exposure to the open air will do enough to cool down the water. Also, if you're pouring from one kettle to another, as I like to do, as long as you're not transferring tiny amounts of water, the ambient temperature of the room will do the job of making sure that the kettle in the kettle is around 201F. It'll cool down still further during the course of the pourover, which is not necessarily a bad thing. If you want to get out floral notes (which I typically don't care for), a trick is to use the hottest water possible.

RInsing filters. I used to do this religiously but if you have a high-quality white filter you don't have to. Some people think you get less paper taste by not rinsing. Haven't tested that but it's an interesting question.

There's more but this should do for now. Hands are tired.