V60 brew guide

Modern Standard's guide to brewing the perfect pourover coffee

  • V60, filter paper & mug

  • Hot water

  • Scales

  • Bag of delicious coffee

  • Timer

Step 1

Bring 300g of water to a boil. Grind 15g of coffee to a coarseness resembling sea salt.

Step 2

Place a filter in the V60 pour-over and place that onto a coffee mug or jug (remember it’ll need to hold 300g of coffee!). Wet the filter with hot water and then dump the water before proceeding with brewing.

Step 3

Add the ground coffee to the filter and gently tap it to level the surface of the grounds. Then place this entire set-up onto you digital scales, and set it to zero.

Step 4

Start a timer. Begin pouring water slowly over the coffee, starting at the outer rim and moving in a steady spiral toward the centre of the grounds. Stop pouring when the scale reaches 50g.

Make sure all the grounds are saturated, even if you need to add a little water. The pour should take about 10 seconds. Give the coffee an additional 30 seconds to drip before moving on to the second pour.

This is the first, and the most magical, because it is when you will see the coffee “bloom.” As hot water first hits the grounds, CO2 is released creating a blossoming effect—the grounds will rise up en masse.

Step 5

Starting in the centre of the grounds, pour in a steady spiral toward the outer edge and then back toward the centre.

Be sure to pour all the way out to the edge over the ripples in the filter. This helps to keep grounds from being trapped in there and removed from the rest of the extraction.

Add roughly 100g, bringing the total to 150g. The goal during this pour is to sink all of the grounds on the surface of the bed. This creates a gentle turbulence that “stirs” the coffee, allowing water to more evenly extract the grounds.

Allow 45–65 seconds to elapse.

Step 6

As the mixture of water and coffee from the second pour drops to the bottom of the filter, coming close to the level of the grounds, pour an additional 100g of water using the same pattern as the second pour. This brings the total up to 250g and should take 15–20 seconds.

Step 7

When the water and coffee from the last pour drops to the bottom of the filter, remove the filter.

Step 8

Enjoy your coffee.

V60 essentials