Depending on where you live, you might be noticing single-cup or pour-over brewing at your local coffee shop. It's brewed to order, you often get to choose your beans or the origin of the beans, and you have to wait a little longer than you used to. Usually it's pricier as well. So is it worth it?
We've covered all different brewing methods here on The Kitchn from making coffee with a Chemex Coffee Maker to even more of a DIY French Press.
A more traditional coffee maker (like a Cuisinart or Mr. Coffee, for instance) boils water, pours it onto the grinds in a single cycle, and uses a paper filter to then drip coffee into your carafe. Most have a mechanism where they can keep this coffee warm so you can nurse it and have numerous cups throughout the morning. The problem, if you see it that way, is that you have very little control over the way these machines work or prepare coffee other than the amount of beans you add or the grind of the beans.
The hand-pour method, on the other hand, allows you to control the speed of the pour (making it slower), giving the water more time to come in contact with the grounds and, therefore, making a richer and more flavorful brew. Pour-over converts claim that each cup truly tastes different and starting to experiment with this method will allow you to truly learn about nuances in flavor. Last year in The New York Times, writer Oliver Strand mentioned that pour-over coffee is "so clean, so round and fruity, that you can fully taste all those complex layers of flavor that are supposed to be lurking in the best single-origin and micro-lot beans."
Related: How to Brew Great Coffee: The Pour-Over Method
(Images: Emma Christensen)
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I use a Melika single cup 5 days a week. I do think the flavours are bolder than traditional drip methods, and there's less silt than French Press (which I use on the weekends).
And by "Melika" I meant "Melitta"
It's funny to hear a Mr. Coffee called "more traditional" than a pour-over coffee method. I of course know what you mean--it is more usual nowadays. Coffee in a Melitta is much, much better. That doesn't mean you can always use it practically. When I was a kid most families made coffee in a percolator on the stove (or plug-in). To me that is the worst coffee!
Hands down, the best coffee comes from the warm-over tray method. It's not really 'in' yet, at least on the Starbucks-addled middle American radar, but you can start to see it more at your more discerning gas stations.
The warm-over tray coffee I get at my local Kum-and-Go is divine. The beans are sourced from a carefully selected blend of local expired catering sacks, and the way Samir and Luigi pour in my two containers of Irish Creme International Delight...so divine. Well worth the $1.05.
Pour-overs are hands down the best way to experience all the flavors in coffee. We use the Clever dripper and it is worth the time. Of course, our coffee shop here in San Antonio, Local Coffee, does pour-overs too, they are masters!
All my love, @TorchyBlane, I suspect we are united in the way we like our coffee. In my case, it's in a way that would get me spat on in Europe.
Yes. Totally.
I'm a huge fan of pour-over coffee; some of this may be due to the fact that I'm about four blocks from Philz Coffee in SF which has hands-down some of the best coffee I've ever had.
I do use a standard drip coffee maker at home because it was a gift and is a really nice machine that grinds the beans before brewing, but whenever it stops working well I'll probably invest in a good grinder and do french press (which I also love) or pour-over at home.
oh yes! my melita serves me well for my wake-up. but better yet - i'm lucky enough to work just blocks from the king of pour-over coffee: coava, where they designed their own metal filters (lauded by the NYT). worth every penny of the $2.50/cup.
http://coava.myshopify.com/
I've never owned a coffee maker in 25 years of drinking coffee, always a Chemex or single drip.
Not a fan of French Press, I have a small one that I used once.
I bought a pour-over filter holder for camping (I got tired of the grit of boiled coffee, and coffee press coffee).
At first, I thought I liked it better because coffee by a campfire is just better, but now that I use it in the office (with a tea kettle), and at home when I don't want a whole pot, I have to say, it's a better cuppa.
I wouldn't recommend it for a 12-cup morning (it'd take forever, and 12 filters).
I like pour-over coffee, but it's so much easier and faster to make it at home with a filter cone. I don't think I'd be that excited about paying extra for it at a coffee shop, knowing I could have made it at home for a few cents. I'll stick with espresso drinks when I'm out.
You guys are discussing weather dirt or mud tastes better. Take a trip to Italy, Seattle or Sydney. Granted, espresso is very difficult to make properly, but that's no excuse.
Sorry
I use a Bodum Filter Belgique and it produces a very good cup of coffee without the mud. Added bonus - no filter papers.
I love all coffee paraphernalia. It's a weakness of mine. For taste I prefer coffee makers that don't use a paper filter (like French Press or even sweet Turkish coffee.)
Oh, oh, I also love the small stove top percolators.
Depends on the beans, really. Some a better for the pour-over than others, which is true for all the different types of coffee making devices.
Cold brew wins the flavor fight hands down over all other methods. French press ranks second here. The coffee maker gets the most use during the week for convenience (it's either that or skip the mornin cuppa).
I love pour-overs! They seem to have some 'body' or density to them!
Maybe I had a bad experience, but I had pour-over coffee at Blue Bottle in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and, to me, it was watery. I tend to describe it as "tea-flavored coffee". Now I've nothing against tea, but that's not what I was trying to get that day. To me, part of coffee is the mouth-feel... the fuller-body texture of a good cup of coffee should end up somewhere between tea and hot-cocoa. I'd much prefer a cup of traditional drip or the occasional french-press brew over what I had that day.