Rituals: How to make a perfect pour-over coffee
An analogue and more resourceful approach to morning brew
Rituals is a new section of Left Brain, Right Brain 🧠 where on the first week of every month, I’ll cover a regular daily, weekly, or monthly personal habit. It may be a lifestyle, wellness, or work practice that has become a valuable and beneficial part of my life. Enjoy!
Coffee is my daily ritual.
Or maybe it’s the morning injection of caffeine I can’t live without?
The jury’s still out on the purported health benefits of drinking coffee, though credible sources here and here report decreased inflammation and overall liver and brain health.
Regardless, after challenging myself to go without coffee for periods of time, or substituting with tea, I finally asked myself why I should deprive myself of a daily practice that gives me a little bit of pleasure.
When I came up with no good reasons, I embraced the fact that I simply love a piping hot morning cuppa.
If you’re a coffee drinker and you are slightly nerdy, obsessive, or even a bit bougie about it, then here’s my daily coffee prep ritual.
How I make my daily morning coffee
I’m quite analogue about it. Because I usually make no more than a single serving each morning, I abandoned my Cuisinart automatic coffee machine years ago.
I hated wasting water and coffee, using a minimum of 4 cups of water and tossing half down the drain.
I also dislike Nespresso and Keurig machines because they occupy a lot of kitchen counter space, and the individual cups produce a lot of single-use-plastic waste – not to mention expose you to microplastics. And the thought of the water in the tank just sitting stagnant until next use just never appealed to me.
Most days, I wake up, boil freshly filtered water, grind my beans, and then prepare coffee via a pour over method.
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As for beans, I alternate between “Silencer Smooth” light roast from Black Rifle Coffee Company and any other creative beans I pick up when I’m grocery shopping or during my travels. Bonus points if they’re light roast and low acidity.
My latest finds are:
I use this OXO gooseneck kettle, and this Baratza Encore coffee grinder to achieve my desired grind (a fine grind set at “10”).
The gooseneck kettle is ideal because not only does it boil water quickly, but it also allows for pouring precision.
The grinder is top quality and provides a lower vibrating hum, and isn’t screechy or too loud like other grinders I’ve tried.
I then prepare a Hario V60 coffee pour over dripper with a Hario size 02 filter, filling my beans about halfway up.
By now, I pretty much eyeball my coffee grind to water ratio rather than measuring out cups or spoons anymore.
Start in the middle; swirl outward in a circular motion; stop before you touch the paper filter. Repeat.
You can test and repeat to find your desired coffee strength.
For creamers, I alternate between Oatly Barista or grass fed half and half. If the former, then I might also foam it with my little frother.
I don’t take sugar with my coffee.
As for the cost savings of prepping my own coffee, I still go out occasionally and discover or visit a favorite local coffee shop.
But at $5 to $7 per coffee for most shops vs. grinding and brewing at home for years, I think I’ve recouped my costs several times over (and saved time from going out). Plus, coffee prep has become a meditative daily practice for me.
While this is my pour over coffee ritual most mornings, there are days when I start with an espresso.
On those days, I'll use my Bialetti moka pot, which I'll show you how to use at a later date.
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Until next time,
Shindy
On Instagram + TikTok
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You might want to try puritycoffee.com. I was surprised by the quality and taste 🤗