Pour over brewing is pioneering a new front for specialty coffee; this is because it represents the intersection of excellence and artistry. Manual coffee brewing methods are becoming a popular option for coffee shop baristas and home enthusiasts alike. What has convinced many to make this switch is the unique character and richness that you can’t get with a coffee machine. The secret to making a perfect cup of coffee begins with a perfect grind and quality coffee beans. In this guide, you are going to find out the best grind size and the best coffee grinder for pour over coffee.
What Needs to be Considered Before Buying a Coffee Grinder for Pour Over?
In order to have a great pour over coffee, there is the need to pay attention to every step in the brewing process. The grinding is the most important step in this process because a wrong grind size can lead to over or under extraction.
What is The Best Grind Size for Pour Over Coffee?
The grind of a coffee greatly affects the flavor and you need to match the size of your coffee grind to the brewing method that you are going to be using. The grind size determines if your coffee will be too overpowering or too weak. If the grind size is too coarse, the coffee will be weak and be more like a tea. However, if the grind size is too fine it can result in a bitter tasting coffee and over-extraction.
A way to compensate for this is to increase or decrease the brewing time or the water temperature so as to extract more of the coffee. However, adjusting the temperature and brew time can only help to fine-tune your brew to perfection, but they can’t make up for a grind that has gone wrong. The best grind size for a pour over coffee is a medium-fine grind size.
The Best Type of Coffee Grinder for Pour Over Coffee
When buying a coffee grinder for pour over, the first thing that you should consider is whether to go for a blade or burr grinder.
The Burr Coffee Grinder
The burr grinder, or conical as it’s sometimes called, has two revolving conical grinding plates (or circular grinding plates) that move to squeeze and crush the beans. By doing the squeezing and crushing, it is releasing the oils and creating a richer smoother taste with your coffee beans. The plates rotate at a very low speed of about 500 RPM. The reason why it’s that slow is so the frictional heat exerted on those beans, which retain the aroma of the beans, is reduced. This grinder has a variety of different settings which makes it suitable for creating different brew systems. Typically when you use this, it grinds the entire batch of your coffee beans to a fine dust and that sort of coffee grind consistency is best suited for your pour over coffee.
The Blade Coffee Grinders
The blade grinder has two blades that rotate and chop or slice the beans at a very high speed; the speed here is about 20,000 to 30,000 RPM and as you can guess, is different from the burr grinder that only maxes out at around 500 RPM. The 20,000 to 30,000 RPM actually warms the coffee and there’s a lot of frictional heat that’s released into the beans which also reduces some of the aroma and the flavor that comes from the beans. The main disadvantage of the blade grinders is that you can’t really control the size of the grind and also it is not uniform.
Recommended Coffee Grinder for Pour Over Coffee
Baratza Encore Conical Burr Coffee Grinder
This coffee grinder is the best entry level machine with a wide range of grind sizes including the medium-fine grind size required for pour over coffee. The Baratza Encore gives an even and consistent coffee grind every time. One of the main selling points of this grinder is that it has a low RPM motor which doesn’t produce heat that can affect the flavors in the coffee. The hopper in this machine can hold up to 8 ounces of coffee beans which is enough for any pour over maker. The Baratza Encore is more expensive than a lot of basic coffee grinders but you get value for what you pay for with this machine.
It is important to know that how you grind your coffee bean determines the quality of the coffee you will get, so respect the beans so that you can enjoy your next pour over coffee creation.