When I interviewed YouTube speciality coffee expert, James Hoffmann, he said, “To make espresso at home is a lot. There's no other way to have that conveniently. Espresso at home is not as simple as you want it to be.” What he means is, brewing espresso at home is a messy, fiddly pastime, especially first thing in the morning. And yet he explains, “I am very interested in the ‘simple’, and I am also very interested in getting to ‘delicious’. Hobbies are fun, developing a skill is satisfying and upgrading things is a journey - it's all fun.”
But what if the luxury of an espresso machine was to be inaccessible to you for a prolonged period of time? Recently I travelled to Antigua, for instance, to write a travel feature, see family and top up the tan ahead of summer. I was there for three months. Yes, I know, what a privilege. But, the quality of my morning brew did cross my mind.
So for the three months, as well as my Aeropress (recipe here), I packed my V60, hand grinder (reviews coming soon), coffee beans (filter) by Barcelona speciality coffee roaster, NOMAD, filter papers and scales.
I’ve recently purchased a HARIO V60 Power Kettle Buono. It’s a gooseneck kettle with temperature control. And it’s added extra control to my brewing the best coffee possible. Knowing the temperature of the water takes the risk out of scorching the coffee and helps me focus on just getting the grind setting right each time. It’s just one less thing to think about.
Hario’s V60 Metal Drip Kettle Buono is small enough to fit in the suitcase if precision pouring is what's important to you. For this recent trip I just used what I had access to, namely a hotel kettle.
We’ll get to the V60 recipe in a moment, but first a little note on speciality coffee.
What is Specialty Coffee?
It’s coffee that is graded 80 points or above on a 100 point scale by a certified coffee taster (SCAA) or by a licensed Q Grader (CQI). You’ll likely find the points on your coffee beans bag. It’s also key to ask the café when the beans were roasted.
Coffee, of course, is a food so it's past its best after a certain amount of time.
Commercial coffee is often roasted and allowed to sit on shop shelves for 18 months before it's deemed unworthy of sale. By that time the only benefit of the coffee is the kick.
Speciality coffee is at its best one month after roasting. Too early and it's too acidic, too late and the flavour profiles written on the bag start to drift.
There’s something about the pour over. It somewhat grounds you first thing in the morning. It forces you into patience and reflection; espresso is far more involved.
My good friend Miguel, who joined me on James Hoffmann’s interview, always starts his day with a pour over. Then a Flat White later. And I understand why. It’s a lot less mess and really quite relaxing, too.
First of all, let's clear things up. Coffee is like wine.
As a rule, you get what you pay for. If you’re the type of person accustomed to the basic wine tasting words of sweetness, acidity, tannin, then perhaps speciality coffee could be for you.
And if you’ve consciously searched out this recipe on Google, you’re likely well-versed in the delights of speciality coffee or are about to embark on life away from Starbucks or Costa coffee beans.
Speciality coffee is an expensive hobby. But a very enjoyable one. Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK converted to speciality coffee during lockdown. In his interview with THE GOODS he said, “I went into lockdown as a perfectly sane middle-aged man and now I am importing Japanese coffee filters!”
So, what is the best V60 pour over method?
Here’s my method for the perfect V60 pour over coffee. This recipe will ensure your Saturday morning V60 coffee sets off on the best footing, whether you’re at home or thousands of miles away.
The Best V60 Perfect Pour Over Method
Excluding the initial amount of coffee used, every number in this recipe is either 50 or 250. Easy.
- Grind: Medium coarse - coarser than a V60, finer than batch brew, much coarser than espresso, and much, much finer than French Press. Think sand for fine, pebbles for coarse. We’re after those crumbs at the bottom of a crisp packet.
- Dose: 15 g
- Final cup: 250 ml
Method:
- If you have access to a HARIO or Fellow kettle, boil it to 96°C (205°F). If you don't have a temperature kettle (like I didn’t), just let it boil and sit for a few minutes. This temperature allows for better extraction.
- Grab a cup and place it on your scales.
- Put your brewer on the cup.
- Put the filter paper in the brewer. For this recipe, use either April or Kalita 155 filter paper, bleached.
- Wet the paper by pouring a bit of hot water on it. This gets rid of the papery taste.
- Discard the water that is now in the cup, and put it all back on the scales.
- Tare your coffee scales.
- Put your 15 g of ground coffee into the filter.
- Tare your scales.
- Press your timer.
- Saturate your coffee grounds with 50 ml of boiled water from the kettle.
- Leave it for 50 seconds.
- Pour 50 ml of water in a circle around the edge of the coffee bed.
- Pour 50 ml of water directly onto the middle of the coffee bed.
- Pour 50 ml of water in a circle around the edge of the coffee bed.
- Pour 50 ml of water directly onto the middle of the coffee bed.
- Remove the brewer. Leave until your timer reads 2:50 minutes.
How’s that for a 250 ml cup of coffee!?
If it took longer than two minutes and 50 seconds, then it's likely to be over-extracted. You’ll likely experience a bitter, ashy taste. A simple solution to this is to grind even coarser than before.
What if your brew took less than two minutes?
Then it's likely to be under-extracted, so it will taste sour. The solution? Grind finer and aim for the perfect sweet spot.
Why does this V60 method work?
If you follow this technique consistently, even if you vary the coffee you use, you can tune your palate until it matches the tastes you like, while you'll learn in a very simple way about acidity, body, and even the sensory manipulation of processing methods. The circular motion improves extraction and even ensures saturation, while the centre-pour allows you to control the speed and flow rate because the contact time is reduced compared to circular pours alone.
The combination discourages channelling and leads to uniformity and balance in the final cup.
Find Your Brewing Consistencies
If you don't like certain elements of this technique, make sure to adjust only one thing at a time. I anticipate that that one thing will be making subtle adjustments to the grind size.
Brewing coffee expertly is a hugely rewarding experience and no one should be left behind.
If you’re serious about coffee, Standart is a beautiful print independent coffee magazine that I can recommend. Michal Molcan, Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Standart was immensely generous with his advice when we were starting out.
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