Popular among coffee aficionados, the pour over brewing method makes the flavor and aroma of single-origin coffees more shining. Also prevalent among brewing newbies, pour over is a relatively simple and easy process without complicated equipment. Another important consideration is choosing the best coffee beans to pour over.
What is a Pour Over?
Pour over is a coffee brewing method by pouring hot water on coffee grounds collected through a coffee filter. Sound quite simple, isn’t it?
A fundamentally manual process, this method surprisingly requires highly good control – the ability to control the speed when hand-pouring water and where to pour the water (the placement, whether you want the coffee grounds to be evenly saturated or not).
You need to do everything well to allow the coffee taste and aroma to come out as perfectly expected.
How to Choose the Best Coffee Beans for Pour Over?
Consider the following factors while deciding on the best coffee beans for pour-over.
1. Consider the Coffee Origin
Just like its fellow wine, some geographical factors – like soil and climate conditions – may affect the flavors traced in coffee. Accordingly, coffee beans from a certain region may offer a distinct taste or flavor profile.
- Central America
Coffee from this region has a complex flavor with a hint of spice flavor. - South America
Coffee from this region tends to be sweeter, has low acidity, and has chocolate or caramel flavor notes (which can usually be extracted by the pour-over method). - Africa
Coffee from this region has a higher acidity, resulting in a sharper flavor. Yet, at the same time, they also have a floral or fruity flavor with slight hints of berries and citrus. - Asia
Like those from Indonesia, coffee from this region has a rich, smoky note, producing coffee with a strong and concentrated taste. Find a wide selection of premium green coffee beans from the finest producers in Indonesia – including wide varieties of Arabica and Robusta – at Indonesia Specialty Coffee. - Hawaii
Coffee from this region tends to taste sweet, with slight hints of fruity (berries).
2. The Methods of Coffee Processing
How coffee beans are processed is another factor that affects their flavor. Coffee producers usually go through one of these three (3) methods in coffee processing.
The first is washing the coffee – removing every part surrounding the coffee beans before drying them. The second is natural coffee processing, where coffee fruits are dried in the sun by keeping the seeds inside that are naturally processed. The third is the honey process, removing the fruit without washing the beans, leaving sugar and fruit secretions or “honey” attached to the beans.
Natural and honey processing methods give a more complex and fruity note to the coffee beans.
3. Coffee Roast Level
Roasting level – the intensity and how long the roasting process – can significantly affect coffee flavor.
For example, the roast level suitable for pour-over is light and medium roasts. Why? Manual brewing, like pour over, can further extract the floral or fruity flavor in coffee beans, compared to other methods.
Meanwhile, if we use dark roasts for pour-over, they will tend to produce an overly bitter taste.
4. Coffee Grounds Grind Size
The best coffee beans for pour over fall into the range of medium-coarse to medium-grind grind sizes. If you choose coarse grind, you will get too coarse or large a grind size, making the hot water flow too quickly. As a result, the water does not seep into the coffee grounds, producing only a “watery” taste that cannot bring out the true taste of coffee.
Top 6 Must-Try Coffee Beans for Perfect Pour Over
Here are some recommendations of coffee beans best for pour-over. Still, it will ultimately depend on the taste preferences of each person.
1. Peruvian Coffee Beans
They have aromatic hints of spices, slight sweetness, and corn. You can taste notes of dark chocolate, a slight bitterness of burned caramel, and spices (cinnamon and gloves).
2. Brazilian Coffee Beans
You can smell very sweet, fruity, yet slight grassy notes. They are more milk chocolate with a slightly nutty taste of hazelnuts or pecan nuts and caramel sauce.
3. Guatemalan Coffee Beans
They have a strong coffee smell with burned caramel and spices of black pepper and cinnamon. You can taste an intense, richer body of pure chocolate and sweet caramel.
4. Ethiopian Coffee Beans
They smell super sweet and fruity with aromatic spices and offer an overload sweetness of jasmine, honey, and fresh notes without any bitterness (almost like caramel).
5. Costa Rican Coffee Beans
You can smell a slight sweetness with floral notes and nuts with the taste between dark and milk chocolate, nuts, and honey or agave syrup.
6. Indonesian Coffee Beans
They tend to have a dark and bold flavor profile with a noticeable earthiness, the long-lasting finish of unsweetened or dark cocoa. One example of this type of coffee bean is Sumatra Mandheling coffee beans, which tend to have a dark and bold flavor profile with a noticeable earthiness, as well as a long-lasting finish reminiscent of unsweetened or dark cocoa.
Discover your finest coffee journey by finding the best coffee beans for pour over. If you are looking for the true Asian coffee taste, kindly visit Indonesia Specialty Coffee and pick your favorite green specialty coffee selection.
