How to Make Pour Over Coffee: A Repeatable 1:16 Recipe

Before You Brew

This recipe is a practical home baseline, not a universal cafe standard. Dripper geometry, filter, grinder, coffee, water, batch size, and pouring style all affect flow. Keep the recipe stable for the first brew so the result gives you useful feedback.

Use freshly ground coffee and water that tastes good on its own. Start around 93 C / 200 F; a working range of roughly 90-96 C / 194-205 F leaves room for different coffees and roast levels. Temperature alone does not determine whether a cup will taste sour or bitter.

Equipment

• Manual filter dripper and compatible filter
• Mug or server large enough for the finished brew
• Burr grinder
• Digital scale accurate to at least 1 g
• Kettle; a gooseneck makes controlled pouring easier
• Timer
• Spoon or stirrer

The pour over setup guide explains compatibility and upgrade priorities if you are choosing equipment.

Measured Pour Over Recipe

Step-by-Step Method

1. Prepare the brewer. Place a compatible filter in the dripper, rinse it thoroughly, discard the rinse water, and set the dripper and server on a scale.
2. Weigh and grind. Grind 20 g of coffee medium-fine to medium. Add it to the filter, level the bed, and tare the scale.
3. Bloom to 50 g. Start the timer and wet all the coffee until the scale reads 50 g. Gently swirl only if dry pockets remain, then wait until 0:40.
4. Pour to 180 g. Add water in a calm, controlled pour until the scale reads 180 g. Keep the stream mostly over the coffee bed rather than pouring continuously onto the filter wall.
5. Pour to 320 g. Continue or resume pouring until the total brew-water weight reaches 320 g.
6. Let the brew finish. Allow the remaining water to drain. Record the total time and what the drawdown looked like; do not force the brewer to match a number by adding unnecessary agitation.
7. Serve and evaluate. Remove the dripper, swirl the server, and let the coffee cool slightly. Taste the whole cup before changing one variable for the next brew.

The Coffee Bloom Guide explains bloom water, degassing, and even wetting without treating bubbles as a pass/fail freshness test.

Reading Brew Time and Drawdown

For this 20 g recipe, 2:45-3:45 is a useful observation window. A brew outside it is not automatically wrong. Different filters, drippers, grinders, and coffees can produce good cups at different times.

If the brew drains much faster or slower than your own normal result, first check for a changed grind setting, filter fit, dose, pouring pattern, or unusual clogging. The dedicated fast-draining pour over guide covers that symptom in more detail.

Adjusting by Taste

Hold dose and brew water constant, then make one small change. Taste descriptors are evidence, not automatic diagnoses, so use the complete pattern rather than one word alone.

The pour over ratio calculator is the better tool when the cup is balanced but the strength is wrong. For broader diagnosis, see coffee extraction, grind size, and brewing temperature.

Adapting the Recipe

Without a Gooseneck Kettle

Use a kettle with a manageable spout and pour in smaller, calm additions. A spoon or other diffuser can soften an aggressive stream. Avoid trying to imitate intricate patterns that the kettle cannot control.

For a Larger Batch

Scale coffee and brew water with the same ratio, then expect bed depth and drawdown to change. Do not assume a doubled batch will behave exactly like the 20 g recipe. Use the ratio guide for the calculation.

For a Different Dripper

Keep 20 g and 320 g as the first comparison point, but use the manufacturer's filter and capacity guidance. Grind and pouring may need adjustment because geometry and flow restriction differ.

Common Recipe Mistakes

Bottom Line

Begin with 20 g coffee, 320 g brew water, a 50 g bloom, and two calm main pours. Record what happens, taste after the coffee cools slightly, and adjust one variable. The goal is not to obey a universal stopwatch number; it is to create a repeatable brew that you can improve deliberately.

Recipe Questions

Sources and Further Reading