1. Home
  2. Culture

BlissMark may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

5 essential tools for a perfect cup of pour over coffee

By Erin Rupp

Spice up your morning routine with the latest trend in coffee brewing—pour-overs.

Pour-over coffee, also known as filter coffee or drip coffee, is prepared by pouring hot water over ground coffee beans. The water flows through the coffee, passing through a filter into a cup or mug. This brewing method allows you to control the flavor and strength of your coffee.

Recommended Videos

Whether you’re a first-time coffee brewer or an experienced barista, drip coffee is an easy way to achieve a flavorful cup. Using the right tools makes it even easier. Check out our list of essential tools for making pour-over coffee at home.

Pour-over coffee is prepared in a dripper brewer that rests on a carafe or mug. Most drippers are cone-shaped and made of glass, ceramic, or steel. Go with glass if you want a simple dripper that looks good and holds heat well. Make sure that the holder is shaped like a funnel and the bottom is flat to prevent pooling. The Bean Envy Pour Over Coffee Maker fits the bill perfectly, and includes a laser-cut stainless steel filter to get you started right away.
$26 from Amazon $47 from Walmart

Coffee should be smooth, not thick or muddy, so a good filter is essential. Check the size of your pour-over coffee dripper before choosing a filter, as most filters are made for specific brewing devices. You can buy disposable paper filters, cloth filters, or reusable metal filters. With the durable dual Pour Over Coffee Filter from Willow and Everett, you get a high-quality mesh filter on the inside and a laser-cut filter on the outside, ensuring only the best enters your cup.
$0 from Amazon

The best way to make pour-over coffee is with whole beans. Coffee beans start to lose flavor after they are ground, so pre-ground beans don’t have the same taste as freshly ground beans. If you want to use whole beans, you’ll need a coffee grinder. Ritual’s Manual Ceramic Burr Coffee Grinder is a great choice for both portability and precision. Instead of a blade, it uses rotating metal burrs that make grinding easier and more consistent—plus it’ll look great on your counter.
$0 from Amazon

For the tastiest, most flavorful pour-over coffee, use a 1:16 ratio of coffee to water. To reach that golden ratio, you’ll need to measure your ingredients. Weighing your beans and water on a digital scale will give you the most control. Since coffee’s weight varies depending on how finely or coarsely it is ground, choose a scale that weighs in grams for greater accuracy. Coffee Gator’s Coffee Scale with Timer does exactly that, and even comes with a timer so you can be certain you’re brewing for the appropriate amount of time.
$21 from Amazon

The right temperature is also important for a successful pour over. The beans won’t extract correctly if your water is too cool, and they’ll scald if it’s too hot. For precise temperature control, consider an electric kettle. Choose one with a long, curved spout, called a gooseneck, to allow the water to flow slowly and deliberately. The Electric Gooseneck Kettle from Willow & Everett not only heats water within 1 degree of accuracy, it also stays cool to the touch and has an auto-shut off feature.
$0 from Amazon

A perfect pour-over coffee is just a few steps away. The tips above should get you started, but you’ll need to experiment with grinds, temperatures, and pours to discover which works best for you. With the right tools and a willingness to experiment, you can become a master brewer in no time.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Erin Rupp
Erin Rupp writes about productivity, design, and lifestyles. Her work has been featured on Freedom, Springboard, and other…
Supplies you need to host a modern, elegant dinner party

Dinner parties can be a fun way to meet new people, enjoy your closest friends, or bond with work relationships. The food is often one of the biggest decisions to make the night just right, but paying attention to the serving supplies can also set the mood for the evening.

These supplies can bring some elegance to the event without seeming too extravagant. In addition, these items can be added to the every day kitchen materials fairly easily. A few nice serving trays and some utensils, a cocktail shaker, and maybe a salt and pepper grinder can be nice additions to the tablescape and make your dinner party a success.

Read more
5 essential DIY accessories

Those who are into the DIY (do it yourself) mindset already know that some accessories are essential for the best success. After all, DIY, can be a lifestyle that finds opportunities around every corner. This means we may find ourselves taking something apart on one day, and then the next day we might be building something from scratch. The accessories that assist this kind of process are many and varied. The more of these tools and gadgets we can acquire, the more projects we can accomplish.

Here are some great items that will be at the top of the list of every DIY person.

Read more
Kitchen supply staples you need to have on hand

When most people think about kitchen supply staples, they think about the dishes and the silverware, maybe the pots and pans. But there are some smaller items that can really make the difference in making sure you have the things that you need, whether you plan to cook for a fancy dinner party or just order food for the family to be delivered.

The items in this list are important to have on hand at any time. These supplies range from a cutting board to make sure that you can chop some fruit for your child's snack to a paper towel holder for those times when things get messy in the kitchen. Here are the things you need to make sure that you are ready for the next meal that you cook (or just heat up) in the kitchen.

Read more