Pour over coffee is one method of making single serve coffee by using simple, inexpensive, low-tech manual drip coffee makers.
The pour over method produces great, flavorful coffee and if you like french press coffee chances are you will appreciated the pour over coffee too.
Unlike electric coffee makers, this manual drip coffee making method does not require power usage, and you can brew your coffee also when there's a power outage.
All you need is a brew kettle, a carafe or mug, a cone filter-holder, paper filters and - of course - coffee grounds.
As always, if you want absolutely fresh, tasteful coffee, you will want to buy fresh green coffee beans, roast your beans, grind and brew. For grinding, use a Connical Burr Grinder for a good-quality even grind.
Unlike the french press that uses rather coarse grounds, for the pour over you can do a fine grind, but not as fine as used for espresso.
After grinding, brew immediately for the bean flavors to be preserved, or use your ready grounds and brew.
To brew, first boil water to about 198f with a brew kettle. A regular kettle will not be best for the pour over, as a slow and steady stream of hot water that is needed for this brewing method is hard to control with standard kettles. There are some companies selling kettles that are designed to use for the pour over and they are easy to control.
Controlling the temperature and hot water stream actually is one of the advantages of the coffee pour over brewing method. It allows for brewing really hot coffee, that is not the case with many automatic drip makers, and it ensures extraction of the rich flavors of the coffee.
Next, grind your beans if you do it by yourself, place, the paper filter in the cone filter-holder, and pre-heat and wet the paper filter to wash away possible aftertastes of the paper filter.
Now, pour some water to saturate the grounds. Let it "bloom" for about 20-30 seconds. Then start pouring slowly, first in center of the grounds, then work your way outwords in a spiral motion and slowly, but steadily, saturate all the grounds.
Keep brewing for about 4 minutes, but no more. A timer can help control the brewing time.
Once done, your coffee is ready to drink. Toss away the filter and enjoy a tasteful, delicious cup of coffee.