THE 10 BEST POUR OVER COFFEE MAKERS OF 2022
We all know we don’t have to need the finest gear and equipment to brew ourselves a good cup of coffee. One of the oldest ways of making coffee is the pour-over. When I was younger, both my grandmothers were making coffee that way. I always think back to those lovely family days, when our grandmothers were making coffee for us. They’ve made me realize that good things require time and patience to master. Things made with love and patience are great.
If you don’t want to spoil or waste your coffee beans by making too much coffee, try to pour it over. One of its main advantages is that you’re in control of how much coffee you make.
Would you like to be in control of the amount of coffee that’s used? Brewing coffee can be all about living in the moment, enjoying the brewing process. It’s an ideal way to take it easy and unwind.
We at Golden Sin love to help you in search of a decent pour-over coffee maker.
Don’t want to read the whole article? We at Golden Sin Coffee think that you can’t miss with the pour-over coffee maker from Bean Envy. Since coffee makers like the Chemex and Hario V60 are well known and do their job, we think that this one from Bean Envy is a good alternative. Click here for the link to Amazon!
THE 10 BEST POUR OVER COFFEE MAKERS OF 2022
You can click on subtitles to view the products on Amazon.
#1. CHEMEX Pour-Over Glass Coffeemaker – Classic Series
The Chemex looks beautiful, comes in glass, and is suited if you need to brew for multiple persons. When you look at it, it looks just like an hourglass. The upper part is where it’s filtered, the other part collects the coffee brew. It has a thick filter, meaning chances are low that your coffee will taste bitter. It’s not known for its high portability though because of its big size. Chemex requires thicker paper filters.
#2. Kalita Style coffee dripper, 102, Brown
The Kalita Style Coffee dripper is a Japanese product made in ceramic. This one is made especially for Kalita filters, so if you want to get most of it you’d best buy these. Its brown color is catchy and it would fit in almost every kitchen. The bottom is wide enough to be used on wide-mouthed coffee cups. This one won’t fail you.
#3. Bodum Pour Over Coffee Dripper Set
This Pour Over from Bodum is made of durable plastic. The double-wall keeps your extra cups of coffee hot for a longer period. This one can be a great start to “the pour-over journey”.
#4. Hario Pour Over Starter Set with Dripper
A coffee maker from Hario is a good choice to start with. Hario is a brand from Japan and is translated as “King of Glass”. They have a name to live up to and it looks like they’re doing just that. It’s easy to maintain. It allows good drainage because the ridges help to push water through the grounds.
#5. Cafellissimo Pour Over Coffee Dripper
This one is suited for multiple persons, it can hold 10 cups of hot coffee and keep it warm for a long time. This coffee maker is less suited to take with you because of its larger size and weight but it’s still doable, you can always leave the carafe at home. It’s easy to maintain and clean.
#6. Melitta Coffee Maker
This one is suited for multiple persons, it can hold 10 cups of hot coffee and keep it warm for a long time. This coffee maker is less suited to take with you because of its larger size and weight but it’s still doable, you can always leave the carafe at home. It’s easy to maintain and clean.
#7. Bean Envy Pour Over Coffee Maker
This is made of stainless steel and comes with a nice carafe. The carafe has a rubber bottom and goes with measurements on the glass and has a trendy glass handle. It’s easy to maintain. While it’s not one of the cheapest buys, it’s still portable enough to take with you on the go.
#8. Hario V60 Pour Over Set with Ceramic Dripper
Another Hario product. This one comes with a ceramic dripper, in the shape of a V at an angle of 60 degrees. It’s easy to use and clean. Hario is known for its high quality. Ceramic has the advantage of greater heat retention. The extra weight reduces its portability. The V60 never disappoints!
#9. Melitta Filter Coffee Maker
This one might be a good start to brew pour-over coffee. It’s not expensive and might be one of the cheapest you’ll find. It’s portable and easy to maintain and use. Downsides: it’s made of plastic, not very durable as other ones, and doesn’t come with a handle. However, this can be an ideal coffee maker to start the pour-over coffee journey.
#10. COSORI Pour Over Coffee Maker
Cosori comes with a glass pot and a brewer with a stainless steel filter. It’s suited to brew for multiple persons (8 cups). It’s easy to maintain. Also nice is that it has a wooden sleeve, you don’t see that very often. It looks a bit like the more expensive Chemex, it can cost about 2x as much depending on where you buy it.
WHAT IS POUR OVER
The name is very straight: you pour something over your coffee and that’s (hot) water. You pour water, at a certain pace, over your (freshly) ground coffee. It’s a brewing process that takes time, the slower you pour over, the more flavor you can extract. You’re in control of the process. The longer you do it, the better you can become at it.
HOW TO MAKE A POUR OVER
Pour over consists of about 7 steps, not all are even big but very important and required if you want a near-perfect brew.
#1. Hot water
Boil water and let it cool down for about 30 seconds.
#2. An amount of (freshly) grinded coffee
Grinding your coffee before brewing will improve the quality and taste. Generally, we use medium roast.
#3. Pre-wetting paper filters
Prepare your unit, place a filter in the brewer and add some hot water to it. This is beneficial for the taste.
#4. Add the coffee
Remove the water from step 3 and add coffee. Tare your scale if you’re using one have that extra control. It’s advised to do so in the beginning because you’re less experienced.
#5. Add water in about 3 rounds.
First round: add water to make sure all grounds are evenly wet so they can extract. Wait about 30 to 40 seconds. This helps to let the coffee breathe. This process is called blooming.
Second round: Repeat the first round and focus more on the darker parts of the grounds.
Third round: Pour about 2 minutes, evenly and in a circular motion. Wait about 1 minute after this.
#6. Remove the upper part
Remove the upper part with the filter or with some coffee makers, remove just the filter so you’ll be left with the brew.
#7. Stir in the brew
It’s important to stir the brew to mix it all.
#8. Pour it over!
You can now serve it in a cup and enjoy your coffee
POUR OVER: PROS AND CONS
PROS:
+1. Controlling the process: Every step of the process, it’s you who decide how you do it. You can always make little alterations in your process to reach a better result. Talk about controlling quality! The slower you pour over and do this evenly, the more flavor you can add to the coffee.
+2. It’s a moment of self-care: you brew (hopefully!) good coffee but take time for yourself.
This can improve your mental health and your pour-over skills!
+3. You don’t invest in a lot of equipment to brew that coffee. You can start low and improve your technique and upgrade later. Not having a lot of equipment also means you don’t have to maintain it.
+4. Portability: Filters don’t require a lot of space when you’re going somewhere.
+5. When you don’t have to invest in equipment, you don’t have to maintain it.
+6. Since you don’t use anything electrical, besides heating water maybe, making that cup won’t go with a higher bill.
Cons:
-1. It requires more time. What you can gain in quality, you can lose in time. Once you have more experience, you’ll reduce the time needed for the great cup.
-2. You won’t have the finest technique in the beginning. You’ll need to practice to perfect it,
as with most things in life.
THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN BREWING POUR OVER
Before you use pour over as brew method, make the following considerations:
#1. Materials
The materials are important for the quality of the coffee and each one has its pros and cons. We will discuss these in a nutshell:
Metal: metal means lightweight. It’s durable but doesn’t hold heat very well. This can influence the extraction process and thus the taste and flavor of your coffee.
Glass: Glass can be easily broken and they’re not the cheapest. The advantage is that you can see through it.
Ceramic: It’s thicker, sturdier, and heavier compared to other materials but it can hold heat very well.
Plastic: is a cheap alternative to others. It’s cheaper but still durable. This material gains more and more popularity. Another advantage is its lesser weight and thus easier to take with you.
#2. Shape
The shape of a dripper can be different. You have cone-shaped drippers and drippers with a flat bottom. There is much to discuss what shape is best.
Cone-shaped are the most common shapes you’ll find. Any seller will sell one of these for sure. A very popular one is the Chemex. Cone-shaped brewers have a lower part, where the coffee is caught drip by drip. The grind size is very important to decide how fast the water will flow through. The finer it is, the more difficult it is for water to get through and thus leads to more brew time. The opposite is true for coarser grinds: the coarser, the less resistance and thus easier to get through, resulting in less brew time. This shape is ideal to start with a pour-over.
Flat bottom coffee makers: they have a flat bottom, with 3 small holes (cone-shaped have 1 big hole) that provide extra resistance in the brewer. This means that resistance for water to get through is higher, resulting in a longer brewing process. You can use different grind sizes (coarser).
Flat bottom coffee makers tend to brew a slightly richer, fuller coffee.
This is because the bottom of the brewer is flat, with three small holes.
The three small holes, rather than the one big hole as with the cone-shaped brewers, provide some resistance within the brewer itself. This resistance slows the rate at which the water runs through the coffee maker. Meaning this brewer requires a less accurate grind size to make a great cup.
These 2 are the most common types of pour-over coffee makers. They both are ideal to start with. It all comes with perfecting your technique, thinking about your flavor to drink, adjusting grind sizes if needed. You learn this by doing. The shapes won’t get your technique in shape right? Sorry, couldn’t resist that one!
#3. Grind Size
When choosing a pour-over coffee maker. You must also think about what coffee will you make? The finer the grind is, the more resistance water will have to get through and vice versa. If you want this brew to be better than instant coffee or from an automated machine, think about what you want and the answer will be there. It would be a waste of time if you brew bad coffee right? So if you don’t know what type of manual grinder you should use, you can check here.
#4. Filter type
Filters are used to stop the oils from extracting in your coffee and are thus important for the taste. It depends however on what type of coffee maker you’ll be using, on what grind size you’ll use. It can also be handy for you because you just need to remove the filter and throw it in the bin and can use another one.
F.A.Q.
WHAT IS THE BEST POUR OVER COFFEE MAKER?
As with most things: it’s hard to give 1 right and absolute answer. It all depends on your personal preferences, context, a time investment. There is a wide range of options available, suited for the needs of almost every coffee-lover.
IS POUR OVER COFFEE REALLY BETTER?
Many believe it allows you to make a more flavored coffee. It’s a brewing method that requires more time, meaning there’s more time for extraction. The slower water can get through, the more taste your brew will have and vice versa.
HOW MUCH COFFEE IN A POUR OVER?
Mostly, coffee experts give a ratio to give you an idea. You must know that it depends on the equipment and the amount of coffee you want to brew. Generally, a ratio of around 1:16 will do fine. This means for X coffee, you use 16X water. You can adjust this ratio if you become more experienced to suit your own needs.
WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BLOOM YOUR COFFEE?
Blooming your coffee is nothing more than adding hot water to your coffee and allowing it to degas. This gives extra flavor to your coffee. You let it bloom for about 30 seconds. It can greatly improve your brew.
CONCLUSION
Making yourself a pour-over coffee equals making time for yourself and having a slow coffee. There is a lot of gear available to make a pour-over, depending on your needs. We at Golden Sin suggest you try Bean Envy. A good alternative to the Hario V60 or Chemex.
Enjoy your coffee!