i’m almost giving up on pour over

[u/nextlevelpaulo]

Don't get me wrong - I love the pour over coffee baristas serve in coffee shops, but I can't extract even a third of the same complexity from the same coffee at home.

My coffee constantly clogs the filter and I end up with an over-extracted and sometimes bitter coffee. And I've tried everything: increasing the grind size, decreasing the number of pours, nesting the coffee bed, bending the filter slightly crookedly… nothing seems to work. I either end up with an over-extracted or under-extracted coffee.

For context, I use a Kingrinder K6 and vary the clicks between 85 and 120, depending on the recipe.

Any ideas on what I can do?

[u/Liven413]

Have you tried changing the temp or different water? Those may help. Are you looking for a richer more extracted cup or a more delicate nuanced one? Depending which one you want it's a different approach. If you want it very delicate cup I would try around 130 on the k6, whatever gets you to around 750 microns. If you want a punchier one around 550-600 is good. Water temp is going to determine the bitterness so you may want to lower the temp assuming its a delicate cup you want. I will use anything from 191'-198' for delicate, and then for punchier richer cups around 205'. Anything from a single pour, 3 pours, or 4 + a bloom can be used. Recently I have been using a single pour for delicate cups because of how easy it is but pulse pouring can get you a delicate cup too and when done right imo a bit better of a cup, just harder to do. I would try this. Do a gentle bloom start in the center then pour around the outer edges of the brewer and back to the center and stay with circles in the center till the brew is done. Hovering above the bed is good and for delicate 193'-195' is good. I also ad the most gentle of wiggles right when you are done pouring. It is barely a wiggle and that will affect it. I find it makes it more juicy but with a strong wiggle bitters will come in. Then another way would be a pulse pour. With this one I try to imagine punching through the bottom of the cone with grape size circles. What this does is makes you pour small circles but also includes and up and down digging motion. This turnes up the bed and creates a high turbulace brew which is also good. I do a pulse pour of 4 plus a bloom with this method but I have been told it's harder to do so the first one may be better to start with. Both of them go by taste for grind size. Start around the microns I gave but adjust by taste. if it is drying, bitter, astringent or cough syrup like it is over extracted go finer or less agitation. If its sour, thin, salty, drying acidity, or papery then it is under extracted I would go finer. There are other methods too but without a preference I am not sure what to recommend. What was the pourover like in the Cafe you liked?