PIXIllate wrote:My answer is always the same, quite deep. If there is another V60 technique you prefer I'd love to try it.

I recently reread 1Q84. I'm reminded of a quote:
"If you can't understand it without an explanation, you can't understand it with an explanation."

This video isn't in Japanese, but is a pretty good demonstration of the usual Kono method. After the first 30 seconds - note how to fold the filter - you can skip to about 3:20 for kettle prep, 3:50 for how to hold the kettle, 4:00 for bloom start, etc. If you want to see a master at work, skip to about 10:30 of this video (the first part of the video is roasting). Unfortunately, there are edits in the brewing, figure about ten minutes from start to finish.

Yep, those are deep weeds alright. Fastinating how slow the pours are. I'm not sure I understand the method but at least it wasn't explained.

What's your most used method for daily pourovers? Are you still enthusiastic about Rouge Wave? I havnt tried them in a while.

I'm a bit skeptical whenever one method or another is advertised as "better". I mean, what is better, how do you define the 10% better? Is it something we can measure? Is it in the cup or in the numbers, or in our mouths and minds? Just saying.

The way I go about this is I try to understand where each technique is trying to go, what is the goal. Many of the "ultimate" techniques really seem to ultimately strive to be as fool proof as possible (perhaps this is why 80/20 was mentioned) but in my limited experience they tend to produce somewhat uninteresting cups, tending towards sweet and mellow. When trying to get the extra % (not talking about TDS here) out one has to go about seeking the correct technique for the coffee and brewer at hand. Espresso too is getting more complicated with the turbo style shots and whatnot being a thing.

Thanks for the interesting video!

PIXIllate wrote:Yep, those are deep weeds alright. Fastinating how slow the pours are. I'm not sure I understand the method but at least it wasn't explained.

... when I read the quote

Those are really methods for the coffees that they used - but I am guessing that you rarely have a roast that dark. Drawing out the 'bloom' part of the pour seems to accentuate sweetness and reduce 'roasty' flavours when grinding coarse with those roasts.

PIXIllate wrote:What's your most used method for daily pourovers? Are you still enthusiastic about Rouge Wave? I havnt tried them in a while.

First - Rogue Wave - haven't tried them for a while either. Last roaster I bought from was Tim Wendelboe.

Next, I don't do daily pourover, because I'm retired . Before, I used to use an Espro press. I find immersion is just easier in the morning when I was (always) struggling to get to work on time. However, eventually I put an espresso machine and a hand grinder in my office (powered grinders being a little too noisy).

I do go through phases where all I make is pourover, but 2023 has been a year of espresso. I haven't finished my Micra review yet, but I had the machine for six months, and d*mn, that machine pulled great espresso every time (and I don't know why).

I divide pourover methods into:
- what extracts less, for example, grinding coarse, lower temperature; and
- what extract more, for example, grinding fine, higher temperature.
... but one can mix-and-match, for example, grinding coarse, but using a boiling kettle. To me, the "weeds" part of pourover is, well, the pouring.

Anyhow, I do have a default method for light filter roasts that I will start with (along with a cupping cup) - but only because I've done hundreds of instrumented pours with this method over the years and so I am pretty consistent. For most light filter roasts, I can hit the targets of the video with Vario steels and the original V60 filter papers (now the boxed ones I believe). In my experience, the recipe does not scale to using more coffee, different filter cones, etc.

I'm not saying this is the best method, but I am consistent with it so I can use it as a starting point. (Consistency means one can brew multiple times and get the same taste, extraction yield, etc. across the brews.) The most common change that I make is dropping the "stir it like a bandit" part and extending the bloom phase from 30 seconds to 45-60 seconds.

I have not done the tap thing but I find I do jiggle the cone around a vertical axis, just a bit - always get a nice flat bed at the end.

baldheadracing wrote:...

I divide pourover methods into:
- what extracts less, for example, grinding coarse, lower temperature; and
- what extract more, for example, grinding fine, higher temperature.
... but one can mix-and-match, for example, grinding coarse, but using a boiling kettle. To me, the "weeds" part of pourover is, well, the pouring.

Anyhow, I do have a default method for light filter roasts that I will start with (along with a cupping cup) - but only because I've done hundreds of instrumented pours with this method over the years and so I am pretty consistent. For most light filter roasts, I can hit the targets of the video with Vario steels and the original V60 filter papers (now the boxed ones I believe). In my experience, the recipe does not scale to using more coffee, different filter cones, etc.

I'm not saying this is the best method, but I am consistent with it so I can use it as a starting point. (Consistency means one can brew multiple times and get the same taste, extraction yield, etc. across the brews.) The most common change that I make is dropping the "stir it like a bandit" part and extending the bloom phase from 30 seconds to 45-60 seconds.

video

Thanks for this. That's simply not enough coffee for me but I'm going to try brewing the Hatch Luna I have using this method just to compare against the profile I've been getting with the Hoffman method. I have those original V60 papers to use.

I'm willing to admit it's me and that I'm not capable enough but to put it simply, pourover just doesn't hold a candle to a great espresso for me. Even my shots that are only okay are much more flavorful, complex and engaging than any pourover I've had to date.

PIXIllate wrote:
I'm willing to admit it's me and that I'm not capable enough but to put it simply, pourover just doesn't hold a candle to a great espresso for me. Even my shots that are only okay are much more flavorful, complex and engaging than any pourover I've had to date.

I've been doing a lot more cuppings lately to enjoy my coffees as per Craig's suggestions. Otherwise I am an espresso person. This rabbit hole seems so deep.