What is a pour over?

What the hell is a pour over anyway?

By Acey Slade

Here at Dead Sled Coffee we don’t like to over complicate coffee. After all, when you’re waking up with bloodshot eyes from either a night of raging rock n’ roll or a night of raging kids who won’t go to bed, you just want the best coffee available immediately, if not sooner.

At the same time we also like to share our knowledge of coffee in a non-pretentious, hipster-free way.

One of the easiest ways to step up your coffee game is by making pour over coffee. It’s an inexpensive, easy-to-do, and makes a damn good cup of mud.

So how is it different from using a normal drip coffee maker? Why is it better? A drip coffee maker will heat up the water that is in the pump to the proper temperature of about 200 degrees Fahrenheit. After it pumps that water onto the grinds, the water that follows behind it never gets heated up high enough as it’s all being pumped through. Also, the drip coffee maker usually saturates the beans in just the center of the grinds. So, the beans around the size never get fully saturated, and the ones in the middle get over saturated. Get it?

With a pour over, the premise is similar. You’re still getting hot water over beans with a filter, but with a pour over you’re controlling where and how fast the consistent temperature water goes over the coffee. It’s also great if you just want to make one cup of coffee.

So how you make it?

Below is an easy and fun way to get started with a pour over. A stern barista may disagree with some of this, but hey, this is the easy way to get started. Look at us as the gateway drug to better coffee.

You can buy pour over kits almost anywhere. I’ve seen then in places like Marshalls, etc. It’s just three pieces. A funnel, filer, and a pot. 

If you buy your coffee already ground, awesome! It’s most likely that coffee is already ground to the right size. If not, you want to grind your beans to medium – medium/course grind.

1. Heat up water in a tea kettle to about 200 degrees (just below boiling), and pour a little water onto the filter, and pour out whatever goes into the pot. It’s just a way of getting any paper dust out of the filter. 10 oz. of water will be needed for the rest of this.
2. Add 2 TBSP of coffee to the filter and saturate the grounds evenly with about 1-2 oz. of water. This is called the bloom. This step allows the coffee to degas which ensures better tasting coffee. Let it sit for one minute.
3. In a circular or crisscross motion, slowly pour the rest of the water over the grounds. Be sure to do it as slowly, and as evenly as possible.
4.  Wait for the coffee to filter. This should take about 2-3 minutes.
5. Pour into your favorite cup (hopefully this cup) and go kick all of the ass.