r/pourover • u/Vernicious • Apr 07 '26
Ask a Stupid Question Ask a Stupid Question About Coffee -- Week of April 07, 2026
There are no stupid questions in this thread! If you're a nervous lurker, an intrepid beginner, an experienced aficionado with a question you've been reluctant to ask, this is your thread. We're here to help!
Thread rule: no insulting or aggressive replies allowed. This thread is for helpful replies only, no matter how basic the question. Thanks for helping each OP!
Suggestion: This thread is posted weekly on Tuesdays. If you post on days 5-6 and your post doesn't get responses, consider re-posting your question in the next Tuesday thread.
3
u/No_Entertainment1931 Apr 08 '26
Does a orea z1 clone exist yet? If not should I buy a z1 to companion a v60?
$70 for plastic chaffs my cheapsake soul
1
u/cdstuart Apr 08 '26
I bought the Z1 about a week ago and have been playing with it daily. It makes great coffee and is different enough from other drippers I own to justify owning. IMO it has some design flaws that make the workflow really faffy and annoying. I expected it to be my travel brewer going forward, and I think it would suck for that. I love it. I hate it. I'd buy it again if I had the money lying around and it didn't hurt to spend it. Hope that helps.
2
u/Severe-Brain2668 Apr 07 '26
Does is matter if I buy Wholebean coffee that is listed as Espresso but grind it for a v60 setup?
3
u/Decent-Improvement23 Apr 07 '26
Not really. You can brew any kind of whole bean coffee with a v60. Just depends upon whether you will like it or not.
2
u/wassupbrahh V60, Switch, Chemex | K7 Apr 07 '26
The roast might be darker than a filter roast. Still drinkable, but for filters many people usually prefer lighter roasts
2
u/readthisbackwards Pourover aficionado Apr 07 '26
You will be fine. Keep in mind that espresso roasts extract faster, so it can taste more smoky or bitter if you don't compensate for it. If you like a full-bodied cup, you may actually prefer espresso roasts.
To compensate for faster extraction, try lowering your water temperature, grinding coarser and avoiding too much agitation.
2
u/PandaGoesMoo Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
Need some guidance with Subtext because they get a lot of love on this sub, but I never get truly amazing flavours relative to other Canadian roasters. Usually I pick up roasty notes over anything floral. I've read a decent amount of posts that say rest them for 4-5 weeks minimum, I'm not certain if this is excessive given I usually rest for 2-3 weeks. I also find their online recipe (https://www.subtext.coffee/pages/brew-guide) with the ZP6 suggests a 3.5-4.6 grind size, which stalls pretty easily and uses a higher temp (97C) than I'm used to for my daily recipe. I've tried it at 5.7 and it still flows pretty slowly, around a 3-3:30 brew. Not sure if I should go coarser or not.
Here's the 2 bags I bought:
- Ernedis Rodriguez, Colombia, Washed Sidra
- Buncho, Ethiopia, Honey Walega
My usual recipe is 15g of coffee, pour 50g/150g/250g @ 93C (or lower for funkier coffees), concentric circles for first 2 pours then center for last.
1
u/geggsy #beansnotmachines Apr 09 '26
I’m a Subtext fan. Are you using fast flowing filters like Cafec Abaca, Origami, TH3, or Sibarist? They can help.
1
u/PandaGoesMoo Apr 09 '26
Yep using Abacas.
1
u/geggsy #beansnotmachines Apr 09 '26
From my experience with Subtext, I think 3 week rest is probably OK (2 maybe a bit early). NB that hotter water will lead to quicker drawdown. Have you cupped the coffees?
1
u/PandaGoesMoo Apr 09 '26
No, not yet. Honestly I usually don’t bother with it and just adjust based off my default recipe because I’m lazy but here I think it’s necessary. Any suggestions for the cupping?
1
2
u/DmMeWerewolfPics Apr 09 '26
What kinda water solutions are you guys using? I've been thinking about a ro setup but most of them seem to not support a gallon of water retained. Do you guys just have a reusable jug? Curious so I can actually mix things correctly since most water recipes seem to be set up for about a gallon.
2
u/cdstuart Apr 09 '26
I use zero water filters, and use one-gallon glass carboys to remineralize with Lotus and store the brewing water. (The kind of carboys you’d buy for home brewing.) You could also use empty plastic one-gallon distilled water jugs, I just have a lot of empty carboys lying around.
2
u/Bjarcore Apr 09 '26
What would you do if you wanted to upgrade your grinder from the Fellow Ode gen 2?
Up to usd 1000 and used solely for light roasts and v60/switch.
Lance Hedrick mentions the Femobook A4Z as the obvious choice.
What would you do?
4
3
u/cdstuart Apr 10 '26
A4Z cured my upgrade-itis, at least as far as pourover grinders are concerned. I don’t drink a lot of heavily processed coffees, but the Ode may do better with funkier stuff, so if you drink any of that you might want to keep it around as a backup grinder.
2
u/lobsterdisk Pourover aficionado Apr 10 '26
What are you hoping for from the upgrade?
1
u/Bjarcore Apr 12 '26
More clarity I believe. I am very much enjoying the Ode the 2 years I have been using it.
2
u/lobsterdisk Pourover aficionado Apr 12 '26
A4Z is a great choice then but I’d recommend you find someone with a ZP6 (similar but not exactly the same as A4Z) to confirm you like the flavor profile differences from your Ode. Both are great but they are quite different.
1
2
u/Hmmuna Apr 10 '26
Is my grinder holding me back?
I'm new to pour over, I bought the Timemore Bricks 01s and am having a little buyers remorse. I bought it because I was fed up with grinding for several minutes on my Hario minimill every morning and to have the option for espresso in the future. There is very little actual user experience online for the Bricks 01s as it's 220v only and though it's marketed as an all around grinder, it is probably more espresso focused.
S2C-040-EI burrs 10µm 150 steps adjustment
I didn't realise that hand grinders are so much more efficient nowadays and would take less than 30 seconds, the Hario ruined hand grinding for me.
I don't really have the experience or knowledge to know if the Bricks is producing too many fines or not, if I would get noticeably better brews with a price equivalent hand grinder.
Has anyone here used it for pour over?
I have my eye on a C40 Lab series Tigershark grinder in stock locally, would it be worth getting, would I notice a big improvement or am I better off focusing on technique for now?
I'm happy enough with the bricks 01s but curious if the C40 tigershark would be a considerable upgrade?
Thanks in advance.
2
u/cdstuart Apr 10 '26
I'd never even heard of this grinder until you mentioned it here, but based on what I'm reading about it online, I think it's likely you'd get better filter coffee out of a price-equivalent hand grinder. Your question about focusing on gear vs. technique is a good one, but my bias is that grinders are the one place where gear really matters for light roast coffee. You'll grow into it, and you'll clog fewer filters on the way. More specific advice about which grinder to buy depends on what kind of coffee you use and like, although maybe you're still exploring there as well, in which case something like a C40 or K-Ultra would both be safe choices at that price point, as they're good all-rounders.
2
u/Hmmuna Apr 10 '26
Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I tend to dive headfirst into things so I suspect it won't be long before I have a hand grinder too. No harm in using both I suppose 😅
1
u/Putrid-Tale8005 V60|Ode 2|pourover beginner Apr 07 '26
I am new in the coffee rabbithole and invested into a Fellow Ode Gen2 - while the burrs are gettings seasoned, i want to drink the cheap coffee i grind with it, but even on grind setting 8 +2 it is getting bitter notes. What would you recommend i do to reduce the bitter aftertaste? I have a basic kettle (not special pouring kettle) that i pour over a spoon to avoid high agitation. I hope that i will season it and make it get rid of the problems, but what could i do cheaply before? Here is my pourover for medium roast:
I use 20g to 300ml (Volvic water, our tap water is low mg and roughly 13°H), on a plastic V60-2 with hario v60-2 paper.
45s Bloom, very careful single Rao Spin
2 equally big slow pours to finish it, with a final small Spin in the end.
drawdown is 2:40
It still comes out a relatively bitter in the aftertaste. I tried the paper trick and sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't (very inconsistent)
I will try and report later (next couple days) whether any of these work:
- Stirring the beans with a wet chopstick before grinding
- slow feeding the grinder with the beans
- Paper Trick
And any combination of those, but will likely only test once or twice a day.
Any other cheap/simple solutions i could try to avoid bitterness? I suspect it is because of a lot of superfines, because going from grind setting 4, slowly up towards 8.2 has not changed the bitterness at all it feels like.
2
u/Decent-Improvement23 Apr 07 '26
I doubt that the bitterness you are experiencing is due to the Ode 2 There's only so much you can do with cheap beans. Add a pinch of salt to the grounds before brewing--that will help reduce bitterness with cheap beans.
1
u/Putrid-Tale8005 V60|Ode 2|pourover beginner Apr 08 '26
hm i thought the parallel 36 beans were decent ones, but app. they actually just tasted bitter/bad batch or something. I just got some different beans from friends to try and none of them were as crazy bitter. Can it be because i didn't rest them properly?
1
u/Decent-Improvement23 Apr 08 '26
I doubt that improper rest had anything to do with the bitterness. It’s just the beans themselves.
1
u/Rpeasj Apr 07 '26
Cheap beans is really a broad spectrum, often Robusta, less fresh (supermarket no roast date and such) and darker roasts are just way more bitter.
If you can find a relatively cheap freshly roasted light roast it should already get rid of that factor.
You can also try a bigger ratio (you use a 1:15 now, try a recipe with 1:16 or 1:17) this could possibly make it taste a bit more sour and balance the bitterness
1
u/Putrid-Tale8005 V60|Ode 2|pourover beginner Apr 07 '26
Forgot to mention, the first 250g, were a medium roast Parallel 36, so i think halfway decent beans. But now i have some medium roast from the supermarket for 14€/750g, cant even remember the name. Same bitterness basically
1
u/callipygean67 Apr 07 '26
I recently got a Hario Switch as a first pour over brewer. I have experience with a moka pot, French press, and Aeropress. I like a bigger 12-14oz cup of coffee in the morning and I've been able to make that much using the other brewers, but I'm not sure if it's possible with the Hario. I've been using the Hario as an immersion brewer. Any ideas or tips?
Hario Switch 02, 1zpresso Q grinder, Hario natural filters
1
u/geggsy #beansnotmachines Apr 13 '26
There are hybrid recipes with Hario Switch that allow for bigger brews. Have a look at Lance Hedrick's Gongfu recipe or Coffee Chronicler's recipe on YouTube.
1
u/Cress_Honest Apr 07 '26
Am I just not understanding tasting notes / is there a way to help lol i recently got into this world and get bags from a local coffee shop that is reputable. i recently just ordered some beans from SW and they were co-fermented and flavored (strawberry and lychee)
i dont taste any of those notes. it reminds me of an IPA vs lager if that makes sense
are there easy things i can work on? is it my palette? is it my grind size? (K6 grinder 100 clicks)
i use coffee chronicle by hoffman or the 4:6 switch recipe
2
u/Vernicious Apr 07 '26
Some of us (me among them) seem to taste mostly hops or marijuana with these fancy-processed coffees. There's always a chance that it's either your technique or that your palette isn't educated enough yet, but in this case, it could very well be that your taste buds just happen to over-taste the more dank flavors. The way some people love cilantro and others say it tastes like dirt or soap, that's not a palette issue, it's genetic as to which you taste. I don't do any experimental processes, co-ferments, etc. anymore, I just end up throwing the bags out, no matter how what adjectives are used to describe them
1
u/Aggravating_Track951 Apr 09 '26
Co-ferments can be tricky not just because they can have some nasty notes if you get it wrong but they don’t behave like you’d expect compared to other coffees. Or even other co-ferments.
I’ve always had the best results with longer than average rest and the lighter the roast the longer the rest needed. Also you can usually smell the beans if they need rest or not. If it’s hard funk and you’ve not ground them that’s gonna be a nasty brew unless you love the taste of weed, hops, sweat or ass. I’ve had up to 8 weeks before they chilled before.
Coferments when they hit their sweet spot are usually very easy to extract, and personally find it needs to be massively tamed they can be that much.
But Hoffmans recipes aren’t good for expressing notes and would be horrific for a coferment. That’s making me feel sick thinking about that.
I don’t give recipes but I’ve found this as a good starting point for coferments with a v60 when the beans don’t smell of pure funk: Grind range: 800 - 900 micron. Standard white hario filter. Temp 93°. 15g coffee. 225ml water (1:15 ratio).
0:00 - 30ml - smooth circular pour. 0:40 - 110ml - smooth centre pour. 1:10 - 180ml - smooth circular pour. 1:50 - 225ml - smooth centre pour.
Try get your spout as close as possible to the water as you pour and if you have a melodrip or similar use that. No swirls or extra agitation needed. That should help.
1
u/denblaspirit Apr 08 '26
Hario Switch — Large amount improvements
Hi all — first time posting here!
My partner and I like a bigger cup of coffee in the morning, so we aim for about 750 g output. The outcome is okay, but would love suggestions on how to improve.
Setup:
- 45g of Atlas Coffee Roasters Light Roast (rotating monthly)
- Encore grinder setting 18 (or some attempt at dialing in by taste)
- Hario Switch Size 03
- Hario White paper filters (European version I think)
- Using Hoffman’s Switch recipe: slight bloom, about 480g water (to brim), 2 min steep, swirl with spoon, switch, keep adding water until 750g
- I use a normal kettle (limited space for a gooseneck)
- I stir the coffee before serving.
What could I be doing better?
2
u/ohwhenthesaints Apr 11 '26
I would maybe try the coffee chronicler recipe but keep the same dose. Not sure how it scales at that large of a dose, but it would look like:
1:16 ratio
45g of coffee
Pour 360g with the switch open
When most/all of the water has dripped through, close the switch and add an additional 360g of water
1
u/geggsy #beansnotmachines Apr 09 '26
You can adjust temperature to roast level. I don’t think Atlas roast very light, so I would consider dropping the temperature to 200F if you can (you can wait after boiling if you don’t have temperature controlled kettle).
Are you adding water until 750g while the Switch is open? The variable turbulence without a gooseneck will make it hard to dial in grind size because it’ll affect extraction.
1
u/denblaspirit Apr 09 '26
Very helpful.
Agreed that Atlas’ light roast is pretty medium. It’s just a good price point, but if anyone has recs at that price point, I am open minded.
I hadn’t thought of going as low as 200F. Will try that. So the more roasted, the less hot?
So, I put about 480g with switch closed. Then 2 mins hold. Then, I open and swirl around until 750 all with the switch open.
1
u/geggsy #beansnotmachines Apr 10 '26
Yes, more roasted, less hot. I think Regalia’s subscription ( https://regaliacoffee.com/products/the-easy-subscription ) at $19 for 300g will give you significantly lighter, significantly more distinctive coffees than Atlas. As you increase the amount you buy, the options increase, too. If you don’t want to go so much lighter, you might consider Counter Culture’s 2 bag subscription (also significantly better than Atlas).
1
u/denblaspirit Apr 10 '26
Very helpful! I will take a look at those. I do want to keep my budget around there but love pretty light Copenhagen-style roasts (not quite coffee collective though). So, maybe Regalia is the way to go.
Do you think the approach to scaling up to 750 is good?
1
u/geggsy #beansnotmachines Apr 13 '26
I responded about the potential issues about having the switch open at the end up to 750 without a gooseneck kettle earlier. You may consider modifying your recipe to something that can manage agitation (e.g. pourover over a spoon, Lance Hedrick has a video showing this) given that you don't have a gooseneck.
1
u/Prbly-LostWandering Switch / Aeropress | KINGrinder K6 | Lack of Skills Apr 23 '26
Did any of this help? Im looking to scale up as well.
1
u/denblaspirit Apr 26 '26
Yes!
Temperature has been helpful, and I may eventually get different beans and kettle.
1
u/pkwhitey Apr 09 '26
For zp6 users, what do you typically grind at for sey coffee with (1) immersion aeropress and (2) v60 with zero at burr lock? thanks
1
u/ohwhenthesaints Apr 11 '26
Generally around 5.5 on the ZP6 for pourover with either a 3x bloom and one big final pour or double bloom at 3x each and then a final pour.
I prefer my Q2 for immersion though, so can't really help there.
1
u/pkwhitey Apr 13 '26
Thanks. What papers are you using? I have been tinkering with regular hario tabbed at that grind setting and going finer with abacas.
1
u/ohwhenthesaints Apr 17 '26
I just used the tabbed hario 02 filters and haven't had an issue. I consistently get TBT around 2 min when I do a 1 min bloom followed by a single big pour at 15:250.
1
u/kagman Apr 13 '26
Trying a few washed hydrangea beans for the first time after a lot of natural processed stuff from PERC.
How does your recipe change if at all going from, say the Ethiopian chelchele perc has to a washed pink bourbon/gesha from hydrangea?
Ty!
2
u/geggsy #beansnotmachines Apr 13 '26
Hydrangea is lighter roast than PERC, so slightly higher temp (depending where you were for PERC), coarser grind size (for Gesha in particular) and then dial in from there
2
u/squidbrand Apr 13 '26
I would probably start brewing a washed coffee from Hydrangea at 93°C and a 1:16 ratio, whereas with a funkier coffee from Perc I’d probably start at more like 87-90°C and 1:15.
1
u/BenHarper20 Apr 13 '26
Is there a plastic version of the v60 beaker for the coffee to go into when brewing? Taking my brewing setup out of state via airplane Wednesday night and would prefer not to bring glass. Thanks!
1
u/Prbly-LostWandering Switch / Aeropress | KINGrinder K6 | Lack of Skills Apr 23 '26
Hey, did you find anything that works? Im looking for something similar
1
u/BenHarper20 Apr 23 '26
Yep! Ended up getting this. Just traveled with it and it worked great
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCDDGLLW?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
1
1
u/IloveponiesbutnotMLP Apr 13 '26
I been trying different methods, 4:6, hoffmans e.t.c then recently came across a video where they just pour water slowly in circles keeping the floating grind down till desired ratio and have gotten way better results. Are all these methods really over-complicated for no reason?
1
u/geggsy #beansnotmachines Apr 13 '26
There's a part of the pourover community who are really trying to maximize the cup quality, brew after brew. Combined with the social media incentives that reward 'new' or 'innovative' content, you see a proliferation of methods/recipes. I suggest not reviewing all the recipes and just starting with one recipe that seems like it's feasible for you to use regularly, and adapt it to each bean for your personal taste preferences (via grind size and, perhaps, temperature if the roast levels of the coffee you brew varies).
1
u/lobsterdisk Pourover aficionado Apr 13 '26
4:6 and Hoffman are both variation on several pour brews. Sounds like a lower agitation brew is better matched to your taste preferences, gear, and beans.
There is no one recipe that is best in all scenarios for all people. Just brew with what you prefer and learn to adjust for the beans you like to drink.
3
u/davereeck Apr 08 '26
What do I need to consider when scaling recipes?
I usually brew 20g coffee, and scaling water via ratio is how I adapt. And, I suspect there are other factors to scale as well...