How to Make Pour Over Coffee (Step-by-Step, With Timer)

Pour over coffee has a reputation for being fussy, but the method is simple: you pour hot water over ground coffee in a filter and let gravity do the rest. What makes it great is control. You decide how fast the water goes in, how hot it is and how long it stays in contact with the coffee, so you can pull out a sweet, clear cup that a drip machine rarely matches.

This guide walks through a reliable V60-style recipe step by step, with exact weights and times, then shows you how to fix a cup that isn’t quite right.

What you need

You can make pour over with a lot of different gear, but these are the pieces that matter:

• A dripper. The Hario V60 (size 02) is the classic cone dripper and the one this recipe is built around. It brews one or two mugs. A flat-bottom dripper like the Kalita Wave works too, with slightly longer brew times.
• Paper filters that fit your dripper.
• A gooseneck kettle. The narrow spout lets you pour a thin, controlled stream. A variable-temperature electric model like the COSORI gooseneck is a budget-friendly way to hit the right temperature every time. See our best gooseneck kettles for more options.
• A scale with a timer. Pour over is all about weights and times. A dedicated coffee scale like the Timemore Black Mirror Basic 2 reads in 0.1 g steps and has a built-in timer. More picks in our best coffee scales guide.
• A burr grinder. Pre-ground coffee works in a pinch, but fresh, evenly ground coffee is the biggest flavor upgrade you can make. See our best burr coffee grinders for picks at every budget.
• Fresh whole beans, ideally roasted within the last few weeks.
• A mug or carafe to brew into.

The recipe at a glance

Variable	Setting
Coffee	20 g
Water	320 g (plus extra for rinsing)
Ratio	1:16
Grind	Medium-fine, between table salt and fine sand
Water temperature	93–96 °C / 200–205 °F
Bloom	50–60 g water, 30–45 seconds
Total brew time	2:45–3:30
Yield	About 280 ml, one large mug

The finished coffee is a little less than the water you pour because the grounds hold on to roughly twice their weight in water. Want a different amount? Our coffee to water ratio guide has a calculator and quick-reference charts.

How to make pour over coffee, step by step

1. Heat your water

Heat about 500 ml of water, more than you need, so you have plenty for rinsing. Aim for 93–96 °C (200–205 °F). If you don’t have a temperature-controlled kettle, bring it to a boil and let it sit for about 30 seconds. Hotter water extracts faster; cooler water is gentler.

2. Weigh and grind the coffee

Weigh out 20 g of whole beans and grind them medium-fine, between table salt and fine sand. Grind right before brewing; ground coffee starts losing aroma within minutes. If you’re not sure where to set your grinder, our grind size chart shows reference textures.

3. Rinse the filter

Fold the paper filter along its seam, set it in the dripper and place the dripper on your mug or carafe. Pour hot water through the filter to wet it completely. This rinses out papery flavors and preheats everything. Discard the rinse water before you brew.

4. Add the coffee and tare the scale

Pour the grounds into the filter and give the dripper a gentle shake to level the bed. Some people poke a small dimple in the center with a finger to help the bloom water soak in evenly. Put everything on the scale and tare it to zero.

5. Bloom (0:00–0:45)

Start your timer and pour 50–60 g of water, about two to three times the weight of the coffee. Pour in a slow spiral to wet all the grounds, then give the dripper a gentle swirl so there are no dry clumps.

You’ll see the bed puff up and bubble. That’s carbon dioxide escaping from the freshly roasted coffee. Let it sit for 30–45 seconds. Very fresh coffee blooms more dramatically; older coffee barely moves, which is a hint that your beans are past their best.

6. First main pour (0:45–1:15)

Pour in slow, steady spirals from the center outward and back, keeping the stream thin and avoiding pouring directly onto the paper. Bring the total to 200 g by about 1:15. Keep the water level roughly consistent rather than filling to the brim.

7. Second pour (1:30–1:50)

Once the water level has dropped a little, pour the rest in the same way until the scale reads 320 g. Try to finish by about 1:50.

8. Swirl and let it draw down (1:50–3:30)

Give the dripper one gentle swirl. This knocks grounds off the walls and flattens the bed so the water drains evenly. Then leave it alone. The coffee should finish dripping somewhere around 2:45–3:30. A flat bed of grounds at the end is a good sign that extraction was even.

9. Serve

Remove the dripper, give the coffee a swirl to mix it (the first and last drops taste different), and let it cool for a minute or two. Pour over coffee reveals more flavor as it drops from scalding to drinkable.

Pour over timer

Want someone to call out the pours for you? Pick a recipe below, enter your dose, and hit start. The timer tells you what to pour and when. It also has a standalone version at the pour-over timer page.

Pour-over brew timer

RecipeV60 — classic single cupKalita Wave — pulse poursChemex — 2–3 cupsFrench press — 4 minute steep

Coffee dose (g)

Total water

251 g

ratio 1:16.7

Grind

Medium-fine (between table salt and fine sand)

Water temp

93–96 °C / 200–205 °F

0:00

Bloom — pour and gently swirl → 45 g

Next at 0:45: Pour in slow circles → 150 g

StartReset Beep on each step

1. 0:00 — Bloom — pour and gently swirl (to 45 g)
2. 0:45 — Pour in slow circles (to 150 g)
3. 1:15 — Pour to final weight, then give a gentle swirl (to 251 g)
4. 3:00 — Target finish time

The timer’s default V60 recipe is a slightly smaller single cup (15 g of coffee to 250 g of water) with the same bloom-then-pour structure. Both recipes work; use the one that fits your mug.

Pour over brew timeline

If you prefer a printed reference, here’s the whole 20 g recipe on one timeline:

Time	Action	Scale reads
0:00	Bloom pour, gentle swirl	50–60 g
0:45	Start first main pour, slow spirals	200 g by 1:15
1:30	Second pour	320 g by 1:50
1:50	One gentle swirl	320 g
2:45–3:30	Drawdown finished	—

Troubleshooting: why does my pour over taste wrong?

Taste is your best diagnostic tool. Change one thing at a time, and change grind size first, because it has the biggest effect.

Problem	Likely cause	What to change
Sour, sharp, thin or salty	Under-extraction	Grind finer; use hotter water; extend the bloom to 45 s
Bitter, harsh or drying	Over-extraction	Grind coarser; use slightly cooler water (especially for dark roasts); pour a little faster
Drains too slowly (over about 4:00)	Grind too fine, lots of fines, or too much agitation	Grind coarser; swirl rather than stir; avoid pouring onto the paper walls
Drains too fast (under about 2:30)	Grind too coarse	Grind finer; pour in more, slower stages
Weak and watery but not sour	Ratio too lean	Use more coffee, e.g. 1:16 to 1:15
Strong and heavy but not bitter	Ratio too rich	Use more water, e.g. 1:15 to 1:16
Sour and bitter at the same time	Uneven extraction (channeling)	Swirl after the bloom and final pour; pour more gently; consider a better grinder
Flat, papery or dull	Unrinsed filter or stale beans	Rinse the filter thoroughly; buy fresher coffee and store it airtight

What “under-” and “over-extracted” mean

Water dissolves flavors from coffee in a rough order: bright acids first, then sugars and sweetness, then heavier, bitter compounds. Stop too early and you get sourness without the sweetness to balance it. Go too far and bitterness and astringency take over. Grind size, water temperature and contact time all push extraction up or down. Ratio, by contrast, mostly changes strength.

Pour over recipe variations

Once the basic method is second nature, try these variations.

Single small cup

Use 15 g of coffee and 250 g of water (about 1:16.7). Bloom with 40–45 g, pour to 150 g by 1:15, then to 250 g by 1:45. Expect a total time around 2:30–3:00, slightly faster than the 20 g recipe. This is the default recipe in the timer above.

Two mugs

Use 30 g of coffee and 480–500 g of water in a V60 02 (it’s close to the dripper’s comfortable limit). Grind a touch coarser than the single-cup recipe, bloom with 75–90 g, and split the rest into three pours. Expect 3:30–4:00. For regularly brewing for two or more, see our Chemex vs V60 comparison.

Light roasts

Light roasts are dense and harder to extract. Use water at the top of the range (94–96 °C / 201–205 °F), or just off the boil for very light roasts, grind slightly finer, and don’t be afraid of a 45-second bloom. If the cup is still sharp, try 1:15 for more body.

Dark roasts

Dark roasts extract easily and can turn bitter fast. Drop the water to about 88–92 °C (190–198 °F), grind a little coarser, and consider a lighter ratio like 1:17. Roasting makes beans more porous and soluble, so darker coffee needs a gentler touch.

Five-pour recipe

Instead of one bloom and two main pours, split 300 g of water across five pours of 60 g, each about 45 seconds apart, with 20 g of coffee ground slightly coarser than usual. This style is loosely based on the well-known 4:6 method popularized by Tetsu Kasuya. It tends to produce a sweet, balanced cup, and the first two pours let you nudge the flavor: a smaller first pour leans sweeter, a larger first pour leans brighter.

Iced pour over (the “Japanese iced coffee” method)

Brew hot directly onto ice so the coffee chills instantly and keeps its aroma.

1. Put 120 g of ice in your carafe.
2. Brew 20 g of coffee with 200 g of hot water, grinding a notch finer than usual since there’s less water to extract with.
3. Bloom with 50 g, then pour to 200 g by about 1:30.
4. Swirl to melt the ice and pour over fresh ice.

The total water (hot water plus ice) still works out to about 1:16. If you’d rather make a big batch ahead of time, see our cold brew guide instead.

Pour over tips that make a real difference

• Weigh everything. A tablespoon of coffee can weigh anywhere from about 4 to 7 grams. Weighing is the single most useful habit you can build.
• Use good water. Coffee is about 98% water. If your tap water tastes of chlorine or is very hard, use filtered water.
• Pour gently. A high, splashy pour churns the bed and can cause channeling. Keep the spout close to the coffee and the stream thin.
• Keep notes. Jot down dose, grind setting, water and time. When you hit a great cup, you’ll know exactly how to repeat it.
• Buy fresh, grind fresh. A decent grinder and freshly roasted beans will do more for your cup than any technique trick.

Next steps

• Choosing a brewer? Read Chemex vs V60 to see which fits your routine.
• Want a fuller-bodied, lower-effort cup some mornings? Learn how to use a French press or try our AeroPress recipes.
• Pick your next upgrade from our best gooseneck kettles roundup.