In the last year or so more and more people are beginning to discover an ancient brewing method, developed in Asia and slowly being popularized in American cafes.  This method is the pour over method.  Essentially, all you need is a ceramic drip cone, a filter, a kettle of water, and freshly ground coffee.  You pour the heated water over the grounds, they soak and then drain through the filter and into the coffee mug that dripper is sitting on.

It’s incredibly simple.

It’s incredibly inexpensive.

It makes the most phenomenal coffee you have ever had.

What Makes it So Much Better?

There is nothing inherently wrong with drip coffee makers, in fact if you are in a rush and want to serve coffee for a large group of people, it is more often than not the best way to go.

But what if you are all alone and just want a single cup?

Or what if you and a friend both want a cup of coffee, but a cup you can really enjoy?

Then a pour over apparatus like the Hario v60 dripper will give you everything you need.  Using a pour over device doesn’t take practice, the first time we ever used one we made an incredible cup of coffee – it was very bold, well extracted, and yet not even the slightest bit sour or bitter (which is a very clear sign that the cup wasn’t over extracted).

That is primarily what makes pour over coffee such a useful method of brewing coffee: it can make a very strong cup of coffee full of flavor notes and nuances from the soil the bean was grown in, but without creating a nasty, bitter cup that demands half a gallon of milk just to be drinkable.  People I serve coffee to are often surprised at how strong they actually enjoy their coffee when it suddenly doesn’t have that bitter after taste involved.

Myself as well as the other staff at Project Vvlgar first started to experiment with pour over coffee over the previous few weeks, writing tutorials on the methods and ratios, trying varying grind settings, and occasionally making messes.  We were all amazed at how fast and easy it was to brew up a cup of coffee that could rival any café or coffee shop we have ever visited.

But Why is it Better?

The difference between pour over coffee and drip pot makers is that when you pour the hot water into the ceramic drip cone for a few moments the water and grounds are together, soaking in a marshy mixture called slurry.

This is called “full immersion” and allows for a more thorough extraction of the bean.  It is the exact same method that the French press uses, but without the extra time, complications, or excess coffee.

The pour over method allows you to get that same “full immersion” brewing without the time investment of a French press – in practice it is as simple as brewing with a drip pot, and yet the final product is significantly higher quality.