Pour over · V60
Pour over coffee recipe
This is CupTune's everyday filter recipe.
- Coffee
- 20 g
- Water
- 320 g
- Temp
- 94 °C
- Time
- 3:10
It makes one large cup, 320 g of water through 20 g of coffee, in a cone dripper, with a pouring plan short enough to memorise after two brews. It suits someone who owns a kettle, a scale and paper filters and wants a cup that tastes about the same on Tuesday as it did on Sunday. If you want the five-pour competition split instead, read the V60 four-six page. If you are brewing for two through a thick filter, the Chemex page is the better fit.
The spec
| Part | Amount |
|---|---|
| Coffee | 20 g, medium-fine |
| Water | 320 g at 94 °C (1:16) |
| Dripper | V60-style cone with paper filter |
| Pours | Bloom to 60 g, then 180 g, 260 g, 320 g |
| Total time | 3:10, of which 45 s is drain |
You need
- A cone dripper, a paper filter and a server or mug that holds 320 ml.
- A gooseneck kettle and a scale that reads to 1 g or better.
- A grinder you can adjust in small steps.
Ratio 1:16 · Grind: medium-fine · grind chart
Starting ranges come from your grinder maker’s own guide. Burrs, beans and calibration vary, so treat them as where to begin.
Steps
- 0:00, Start and bloom.
Rinse the filter, add 20 g of grounds and pour 60 g over ten seconds. Wet every grain.
- 0:45, Pour to 180 g.
Pour up to 180 g on the scale, taking about 25 seconds.
- 1:25, Pour to 260 g.
Pour up to 260 g, again about 25 seconds.
- 2:05, Pour to 320 g.
Pour up to 320 g in about 20 seconds, then stop.
- 2:25, Let the bed drain.
Leave the bed alone until the water has run through, around 3:10.
My notes for this recipe
Why these numbers
60 g of bloom. That is three times the dose. It is enough to soak the whole bed, and the 35-second wait afterwards lets the coffee settle before the real pouring starts. Both figures are authored.
Shrinking pours: 120 g, 80 g, 60 g. The three main pours get smaller as the bed fills. CupTune chose this shape so the water level in the cone stays low and the final pour finishes the job without flooding it. It is a choice, not a measured optimum.
Gaps between pours. Each pour ends, the bed drops, and the next begins about 15 seconds later. Pausing keeps the three additions distinct, which makes the record useful: you can say which pour you rushed.
94 °C. The temperature is an authored preference, and the evidence below suggests that a degree or two either way is not what you should chase.
What changes the cup: agitation and pour handling
Agitation is how much the water moves the coffee bed. A tall, forceful pour churns the grounds; a low, slow pour barely disturbs them. As a rule of thumb (not measured by CupTune), stirring pushes more fine particles into the filter paper and slows the drain, while gentle pouring does the opposite.
- Drain finishes well after 3:10. The bed is choking. Grind one step coarser, pour lower and skip any swirl.
- Drain done before 2:45, cup tastes thin or sharp. Water ran through too freely. Grind one step finer.
- Cup tastes dry or harsh. Too much extraction. Try coarser, or stop pouring a little earlier.
- One side of the bed is dark and dry after the bloom. The water missed it. Pour in slow circles from the centre outward during the bloom only.
Change one thing per brew and write down what it was. The drain times in that list are CupTune's planning marks, not measured limits.
Evidence and limits
One source supports a single claim on this page. Batali, Ristenpart and Guinard (2020) in Scientific Reports brewed drip coffee at 87, 90 and 93 °C and found that, when strength and extraction were held fixed, brew temperature had no appreciable impact on the sensory profile. CupTune's 94 °C sits one degree above the hottest water in that study, so the study does not cover it directly. Read it as a reason to treat temperature as a speed lever, not a flavour dial. Everything else here, from the dose to the pour times, is an authored starting point. Roast, grinder and water chemistry will move the numbers.
Questions
Should I swirl the dripper after the last pour?
Only if your bed is visibly uneven. A swirl levels the bed but also adds agitation, so it can slow the drain. Try it once and compare the drain time.
Why wait 35 seconds after the bloom?
The wait gives the wetted grounds time to release gas and settle. CupTune chose the figure so the first main pour starts at a round 0:45; shorten it if you like and note the change.
Can I double the recipe?
Doubling the coffee and water is simple arithmetic, but the pour times and drain will stretch. Scale with the timer open and expect to re-tune the grind.