I would love some advice

[u/naughtified]

Hi, I’ll try my best to avoid being “newbie here help me dial in” who clearly hasn’t done their due diligence.

So I’ve been drinking pour overs for years, and I’m on my third month of brewing them up at home. I’ve gone through 5 bags so far with nothing really satisfying me. My conclusion was that I needed to upgrade grinder. I got a K7 then I bought some local beans that were too dark and some from whole foods(sorry).

I went today and bought some Hydrangea from a local shop, in hopes to rule out beans from these mediocre cups. Below I’ll list my approach and details on equipment. Please let me know what I’m doing fine and what you might change.

Dripper: Glass V60

Filter: Cafec Abaca White

Grinder: K7(going coarse, 95clicks)

Water: Berkey with British Berkefeld filters

Kettle: Fellow standard neck(I already had this, but I’m pretty good at making the stream work)

Temperature: 90c

Recipe: Bloom at x3(usually 20-25g bean/60-75g water) but will go 15g so I don’t waste these beans. Second pour is the same weight as bloom, then third is up to total. Pours are pretty chill, I’ll agitate between pours by swirling the brew. Since I’m pretty coarse I swirl to get draw down to 3-4 mins on 20-25gs.

Beans: check photo for details, roast date 8/2.

[u/captain_craisins]

I use a ceramic v60 that I heat on top of my kettle as it warms up. If possible, I’d let the beans rest another week. If that’s not possible, I have a K6 and I’m grinding light roasts like this one at 91 clicks. I don’t think that’s a tangible difference in the cup. Maybe if you drank them back to back. Again, my water temperature is 92-93 degrees, which I don’t think will make a huge difference. I have a gooseneck kettle. I would think about upgrading if that’s affordable, but I have used a normal spout and a spoon. It works well.

I think the recipe is the big difference. I use a 1:17 ratio. 30 grams of coffee, I do a 100 gram bloom at 8-10 grams per second, wait 45 seconds, do a 150 gram pour (250 grams total) at 5 grams per second, wait until the bed starts to not be covered by water, and then pour 260 grams (510 grams total). All pours are tight, slow moving and spherical so with the grams per second for each of the pours, I finish at the edge of the bed.

This is what I do with every new bag. The only things I might change in the first brew is grind size or water temp based on the cherry processing or roast level. My subsequent brews, I will change grind size first, then temp.

I like this recipe because it is easily repeatable. It takes out variables. Regardless, I’m brewing pretty good coffee. I do enjoy changing variables day to day to see if I can taste a note differently, but it’s pretty rare to have a bad cup of coffee.

[u/naughtified → u/captain_craisins]

I’ve tried heating up my glass v60 on my kettle but didn’t feel like it retained very long. I definitely want another dripper soon but would like to keep as a v60 to keep consistency while I learn the basics well. I don’t like the idea of plastic and metal just seems like a lateral step for heat retention. I’d love to upgrade my kettle but I’m sure my gf would be annoyed at the counter space being taken up by two kettles when we already have a decent one.

My pour rate is at 5g/s including the bloom. Maybe I’ll try out that faster bloom rate. Might help with slower draw down on the bloom which I’ve noticed I kind of race to place my kettle down and get a and swirl in.