How to Make Pour Over Coffee at Home

Pour over coffee may look complicated, but once you understand the basics, it can become one of the simplest and most enjoyable ways to make coffee at home.

Because you control the amount of coffee, water, temperature, and pouring technique, pour over brewing allows you to bring out different flavors in your coffee and experiment until you find your perfect cup.

What You’ll Need

To get started, you’ll need a pour over brewer, coffee filter, freshly roasted coffee, grinder, hot water, and a mug or carafe.

A kitchen scale and gooseneck kettle aren’t absolutely necessary, but they can make it easier to control your recipe and pour.

Step 1: Heat Your Water

Heat fresh, filtered water to around 195–205°F.

If you don’t have a temperature-controlled kettle, bring your water to a boil and allow it to sit briefly before brewing.

Step 2: Grind Your Coffee

For most pour over methods, start with a medium to medium-fine grind.

A good starting recipe is approximately 20 grams of coffee to 320 grams of water, following a 1:16 coffee-to-water ratio.

You can always adjust this later depending on how strong you like your coffee.

Step 3: Rinse Your Filter

Place your filter inside the brewer and rinse it with hot water.

This helps remove any papery flavor from the filter while also warming your brewer and mug. Discard the rinse water before adding your coffee.

Step 4: Let the Coffee Bloom

Add your ground coffee and gently pour enough water over the grounds to saturate them.

Let the coffee sit for approximately 30–45 seconds. This is called the bloom and allows gases trapped in freshly roasted coffee to escape before you continue brewing.

Step 5: Continue Pouring

Slowly pour the remaining water over the coffee using controlled, circular motions.

Try to keep the coffee grounds evenly saturated rather than pouring all of the water into one spot.

Continue until you’ve reached your desired amount of water, then allow the coffee to finish dripping through the filter.

Step 6: Enjoy and Adjust

Taste your coffee.

If it tastes too bitter or heavy, try using a slightly coarser grind. If it tastes sour or watery, try grinding slightly finer. Small adjustments are part of the fun of learning pour over.

Most importantly, start with coffee you love.

Pick up your favorite Blue House Coffee Roasters beans and experiment with your pour over recipe until you find your perfect cup.