Made for Leo · Home Brew Guide

Pour-Over Coffee, Done Right at Home

Pour-over is a manual brewing method where you pour hot water over ground coffee in a filter, one steady stream at a time. It rewards a little care with a clean, bright, aromatic cup — and it needs almost no space or electricity.

1

The Gear

You don't need a café's worth of equipment. Six things cover the essentials, and every one of them earns its place on the counter.

Dripper

The cone that holds the filter and coffee. A V60 gives you control over flow; a Chemex brews and serves in one vessel. Either works beautifully.

Paper Filters

Trap grounds and oils for a clean cup. Buy the shape that matches your dripper — cone filters for a V60, thicker bonded filters for a Chemex.

Gooseneck Kettle

The narrow spout lets you pour slowly and exactly where you want. This is the single biggest upgrade to your pour control.

Burr Grinder

Grinds beans to a uniform size so every particle extracts evenly. Fresh, consistent grounds matter more than almost anything else.

Digital Scale

Weighs coffee and water to the gram so your brew is repeatable. Ideally reads to 0.1 g and has a built-in timer.

Mug or Server

Whatever catches the coffee — a sturdy mug for a single cup, or a carafe when you're brewing for two.

On a budget? You can still brew a great cup. Any kettle works if you pour slowly and carefully — just aim for a thin, steady stream. And while a burr grinder is worth it, a bag of freshly pre-ground coffee (medium-fine) is a perfectly good starting point until you upgrade.
2

The Brew, Step by Step

This recipe makes one generous mug using a 1:16 ratio — one gram of coffee for every sixteen grams of water. Weigh everything, start your timer at the first pour, and follow the clock.

20 gCoffee
320 gWater (1:16)
90–96 °C195–205 °F

  1. Heat the water & grindprep

    Heat 320 g of water to 90–96 °C (195–205 °F) — just off the boil. Grind 20 g of coffee to a medium-fine texture, roughly the feel of table salt.

  2. Rinse the filter & set upprep

    Put the filter in the dripper and pour hot water through it into your mug. This washes away papery taste and warms everything up. Discard that rinse water, add the grounds, level the bed, and set the whole thing on your scale. Tare to zero.

  3. Bloom0:00 – 0:45

    Start the timer and pour 40 g of water (about twice the weight of the coffee), just enough to wet all the grounds. They'll swell and bubble as trapped gas escapes. Let it sit for 45 seconds — this is the bloom, and skipping it flattens the flavor.

  4. First main pour0:45 – 1:15

    Pour in slow spirals from the center outward until the scale reads 180 g total. Keep the stream gentle and the grounds submerged but not flooded.

  5. Second main pour1:15 – 1:45

    Continue pouring in the same steady spirals until you reach 320 g total. Try to keep the water level even rather than letting it run dry between pours.

  6. Drawdown & serve1:45 – ~3:00

    Let the remaining water drain through. A gentle swirl of the dripper settles the bed for an even finish. Aim to have the cone fully drained by about 3:00 (anywhere in the 2:30–4:00 window is good). Remove the dripper, swirl your cup, and enjoy.

3

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Almost every disappointing cup traces back to one of these. Each fix is small — and together they're the difference between muddy and magic.

Wrong grind size

Symptom
Too fine drips slowly and tastes harsh & bitter; too coarse rushes through and tastes thin & sour.
Fix
Dial in to medium-fine (table-salt feel). If the brew finishes much faster than ~3:00, go finer; much slower, go coarser.

Water too hot or too cold

Symptom
Boiling water scorches the grounds (bitter, ashy); cool water under-extracts (weak, sour, flat).
Fix
Stay in the 90–96 °C (195–205 °F) range. No thermometer? Boil, then wait about 30–45 seconds before pouring.

Skipping the bloom

Symptom
Fresh coffee off-gasses CO₂ that repels water, so flavor stays locked in — the cup tastes hollow.
Fix
Always pour a small bloom (about twice the coffee's weight) and wait 45 seconds before the main pours.

Not rinsing the filter

Symptom
A dry paper filter lends a faint cardboard taste and cools your dripper and mug.
Fix
Rinse the filter with hot water before adding coffee, then dump the rinse water out of your cup.

Eyeballing instead of weighing

Symptom
Guessing scoops makes every cup different — you can't tell what worked or repeat a good brew.
Fix
Weigh both coffee and water on a scale. Once 20 g : 320 g tastes right, you can reproduce it every morning.

Pouring too fast or carelessly

Symptom
A heavy, sloppy pour digs channels through the bed, so water rushes past the grounds and the cup tastes weak and uneven.
Fix
Pour a thin, steady stream in slow spirals from the center out, keeping the water level calm and controlled.