Pour-over for beginners: gear, ratio and the first three brews

To start pour-over you need a dripper (a Hario V60 or Kalita Wave), paper filters, a scale and a kettle, plus a grinder if you buy whole bean. Use one ratio, 1:16, which is 20 grams of coffee to 320 grams of water for one big mug. Then make three brews, changing only the grind, and keep the one you liked best.

What gear do you actually need?

Five things, and nothing else for now:

• A dripper: Hario V60 or Kalita Wave. The V60 is a cone and the Kalita Wave has a flat bed. Either works, and our Chemex vs V60 post covers the wider choice.
• Paper filters that fit the dripper.
• A kitchen scale that reads in grams.
• A kettle. A gooseneck pours more gently, but any kettle will do to start.
• A grinder, or ground coffee ordered for pour-over.

Skip the timer app and the thermometer for the first week. Your phone clock and water just off the boil are enough. If you are deciding between a machine and this, see drip machine vs pour-over.

What is the ratio, and what are the steps?

Use 1:16, one part coffee to sixteen parts water by weight. For one large mug, that is the recipe below.

1. Rinse the paper filter with hot water and discard the water. This also warms the dripper.
2. Add 20 g of coffee, ground medium, like table salt to coarse sand. Level the bed with a gentle shake.
3. Start the clock and pour 60 g of water, wetting all the grounds. Wait about 30 seconds.
4. Pour in slow circles up to 320 g total, finishing around 2 minutes 30 seconds to 3 minutes.
5. Let it drain, swirl the cup and taste.

Use water just off the boil, roughly 200 to 205 °F (93 to 96 °C). Our roaster suggests 94 °C (about 201 °F) for No. 4 Conjuncture, which sits right in that range.

What are the first three brews?

Keep the dose, water and pour the same. Change only the grind, and taste each one.

Sour or thin means the water ran through too fast, so go finer. Harsh or bitter means it stayed too long, so go coarser. Each of these has its own page: too sour, too bitter and too weak. If the cup is simply too strong or too weak for you, adjust the ratio by one gram of coffee at a time.

What mistakes do beginners make most often?

Three come up again and again. First, pouring everything in one go. A short first pour to wet the grounds, called the bloom, lets the coffee release gas and extract more evenly, so do not skip it. Second, changing several things at once. If you change the grind, the dose and the pour at the same time, you cannot tell which change helped. Third, tasting only when the cup is very hot. Let it cool for a minute and taste again, because the flavors open up as it cools.

Weigh everything for the first week. After that, you will know what 20 g of your usual coffee looks like in the dripper and what a good pour feels like, and you can go by eye if you want to.

Which of our coffees should you start with?

Start with No. 7 Praxis. The roaster says it is for working out what you actually like, and that it works in any method. It suggests brewing it twice, once at 60 g per litre and once at 70, and keeping whichever you preferred. That fits the three-brew idea well, since you learn your own taste from one bag.

If you would rather begin with an easy everyday cup, No. 1 Common Sense is the one the roaster calls the cup you make every morning without thinking about it.

Both come whole bean or ground. See all ten coffees, or use the subscription (11% off, skip or cancel in one click) once you have found your cup. Grinding at home is the biggest upgrade, and whole bean vs ground coffee explains why.