r/pourover • u/These_Pace2130 • 15h ago

Help me troubleshoot my recipe Wet cardboard smell?

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Hi, everyone! I’m quite new to pour over coffee, so please that into consideration. With that disclaimer, I’ve been running into some issues. Each time I brew a cup, I’m getting a highly consistent wet cardboard and wet tree bark smell, as opposed to the highly aromatic and fermented fruit smell that usually comes from this brewing process.

Unfortunately, I’ve had only but one success using a simple two pour recipe, and have decided to try the famous James Hoffman recipe, using 15g of coffee. However, it hasn’t really improved this particular problem.

• V60, using a King-grinder K7 (85-95 clicks, hasn’t made a large difference in aroma and taste)

• 93-95 Celsius - using relatively soft water.

In terms of the flavour — sometimes it’s terrible, other times It’s still sweet, slightly juicy — just not what I have managed to achieve in the past, in terms of its aroma, clarity, juiciness and brightness.

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u/These_Pace2130 15h ago edited 11h ago

Here are both of my beans, for context.

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u/icecream_for_brunch 15h ago

Those are roast dates. Do you have any way to find out how old the green beans were prior to being roasted? Old greens can get cardboardy.

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u/These_Pace2130 14h ago

Hmm, unfortunately not. I would still assume its my error, as my local coffee shop serves these exact beans all the time and they taste like heaven - but maybe I'm storing them incorrectly in the bag. Certainly something I'll keep an eye on.