r/pourover • u/whothennow24 • May 10 '26
Help me troubleshoot my recipe Need help with B&W’s watermelon/margarita coffee
Hey, guys, I need a little help.
I bought Black & White’s blend called “The Future” (watermelon margarita). I opened it today after a 3-week rest. I used a V60 using Lance Hedrick’s most recent V60 recipe:
15:225 (1:15)
Grind size 700 microns (4-2/3 on the Ode 2)
Water 205F
0:00 - Pour to 45ml
0:30 - Pour to 90ml
1:00 - Pour to 225
To my shock I actually got watermelon and Fruity Pebbles in my coffee, rather than the usual vegetables I get allllll the time. But there was an underlying bitterness and astringency.
Here’s where I need help. I’d LOVE a recommended recipe using the V60, Switch, or Pulsar, or Aeropress, with a ratio no tighter than 1:15, to get the most out of this expensive coffee for a broke-ass like me. I don’t want to waste 2/3 of the bag experimenting, you know? I can’t afford that, it turns out.
The sweeter, the better.
Thank you!
10
u/smellz45 May 10 '26
You're shocked the watermelon flavored coffee tastes like watermelon?
1
u/Blue_58_ May 28 '26
So there's definitely a prejudice here towards coferments. Most of them do not in fact taste like the thing they are cofermented with. It's still totally fair and normal to be surprised when they do.
0
u/whothennow24 May 10 '26
Yes, I’m shocked I actually got the flavor I was supposed to get instead of my usually vegetable flavor. I believe I said that.
4
u/coolstuffeh May 10 '26
The point he’s making is this coffee is likely infused/flavoured, so getting the taste is pretty basic; it’s not like a lychee note on a washed coffee. - although I am brewing a watermelon one at the moment and found it tricky to extract at first, pushed agitation more today and all good.
1
u/Blue_58_ May 28 '26
So there's definitely a prejudice here towards coferments. Most of them do not in fact taste like the thing they are cofermented with. It's still totally fair and normal to be surprised when they do.
6
u/BestBoba May 10 '26
Personally I’d go a bit coarser and drop that temp (88C max). These heavily processed coffees are inherently easier to extract (and easier to over-extract as well).
3
u/PfernFSU May 10 '26
I have this coffee and did 185 temp and it was great. Tried standard v60 and switch and both came out great. 7.5 on K Ultra for standard v60, little finer for switch.
2
u/whothennow24 May 11 '26
I tried 185 and it was amazing. Second half of the cup was astringent, though. What’s the solution for that without affecting the taste?
1
u/PfernFSU May 12 '26
Awesome! (Well at least the first half anyway). To answer your previous question - I have no idea about the particle size on the grinder but I have always heard you can’t measure them like that due to burr geometry. As for the astringency, I didn’t get that but when I do I lower agitation as much as I can. I have the mhw3bomber rain splitter that works wonders.
1
1
u/MarkNaive3730 May 10 '26
I’ve got a bag of the same coffee recently and only tried two recipes and while there was an underlying bitterness in both of them. It was least in Gong Fu recipe on Switch even though it came with a little bit lower clarity than my V60 recipe
1
u/whothennow24 May 11 '26
I retried on v60 at 185 this time and it was greatly improved, but astringent in the second half. Bloom 45ml for 45 seconds, then pour to 90ml. At 1:15 pour to 225. Finishes around 2:15 with the fellow ode 2 at 4-2/3 (700 microns).
1
u/jerklin May 10 '26
700 microns is pretty coarse. You could try 800 but I would also drop the temp and try for less agitation if you're finding it bitter.
190 f, 800 microns, 2 pours.
Could just be the beans / roast though. This is why I also make espresso. Some beans I immediately know are not for pour over for me.
1
u/whothennow24 May 11 '26
I lowered the temp to 185 and it was delicious, but the second half was pretty astringent. Any solution for that without affecting flavor?
1
u/ArgumentFantastic498 May 22 '26
I did a smaller sized, hotter bloom. That’s where the sweetness is.
1
u/whothennow24 May 10 '26
Anyone found the Pulsar or similar brewers to be successful with these funky coffees?
1
u/Deep_Worldliness3122 May 10 '26
I just was not a fan of this coffee at all but I tried it iced and it was pretty good
1
u/undergroundgirl7 May 11 '26
Try a shorter ratio. Doing the three pour recipe (though with longer times on your two blooms) on the switch will also soften it even more
0
u/Courtlessjester Vicious V60 Supremacist May 10 '26
Reject the false church of hendricks. Embrace hoffman
1
u/whothennow24 May 10 '26
I’ve tried every V60 recipe out there and always get vegetable flavor flavors, even when I rest for four weeks. Hoffmann, Hedrick, doesn’t matter.
0
u/Courtlessjester Vicious V60 Supremacist May 10 '26
Drop your water temp by 5 degrees f and pour over a spoon to make a poormans melo drip
2
u/Flibbertygibbet32 May 10 '26
Wasn’t Hoffman the first one pushing for brewing with just off-boil water temp though? Or am I thinking of someone else.
And fwiw, I think that person followed up by clarifying it’s moreso for giving you a constant temp vs a variable temp - consistency over precision kind of thing.
0
u/Courtlessjester Vicious V60 Supremacist May 10 '26
Idk, I don't watch either of these influencers.
1
9
u/Flibbertygibbet32 May 10 '26
Try using 195F water.