Pour Over Coffee vs. Coffeemaker

Which brew method is right for you

A pour over coffee has a clarity of flavor that’s hard to attain from an electric drip coffeemaker. But for some, the mechanized version’s lure of convenience is just too strong. Here, we break down the differences between the pour over method and the drip coffeemaker. While we champion pour overs above all, we also want to help you to maximize your brew method—no matter the choice—for the best tasting coffee. 

Why is Pour Over Coffee Better?

In our ideal world—where everyone has a few minutes each morning to devote to a singular activity—everyone would make pour over coffee. We’re partial to the brew method, which is, according to Blue Bottle Founder James Freeman, “one of the most basic, approachable, and effective ways to make a beautiful cup of coffee.” 

The few tools needed to make pour over coffee—a dripper, filter, and kettle—are indeed minimal, giving the method an air of simplicity. But like the learning curve of riding a bike, an easeful pour over technique initially requires practice, summed up in a few mediocre cups. Fortunately, the reward is well worth it. In just a few tries, your coffee will transform into a more articulate version of itself. The flavors will be more pronounced, and the mouthfeel will be silkier. In the best-case scenario, the routine of making a pour over coffee becomes a ritual, even a meditation.

Why is pour over coffee so good? All of the variables affecting extraction—the coffee solubles that dissolve in water—are within your control. This includes choosing the coffee’s grind size and water temperature, adjusting the speed at which water saturates the grounds, and choreographing the frequency of pours. Small shifts in technique can enhance or detract from the coffee’s final taste. 

Take this last example, pour frequency, as a way to see how the manual pour over method gives you, the brewer, more precision. For the pour over method, we recommend a sequence of four pours. Each pour targets a specific volume of water, in a specified time frame. The most important, perhaps, is the first pour, nicknamed “the bloom” for the way the grounds swell up as carbon dioxide releases (a by-product from roasting). By pausing at the bloom, and getting the timing right for the three subsequent pours, you’re extracting the coffee’s best flavors and none of the off-putting bitter ones. This is but one way in which brewing technique can enhance the final cup. 

If this feels confusing—why is coffee so complicated—it might help to compare it to wine. A wine’s quality is fixed upon bottling, while coffee needs someone to transform the roasted beans into a drink. The pour over method is the ultimate technique to do this for someone who wants control.

What's the Difference Between Pour Over and Drip Coffee?

A drip coffeemaker is the mechanized version of the pour over method. In general, drip machines get the job done, but without precision or nuance, often resulting in an unbalanced and muddled cup. Fortunately, in recent years, smart new design features on drip coffeemakers have undoubtedly led to higher-quality results, closing the quality gap—once a chasm—between the two methods. We’ve even gone so far as to introduce our own batch-brew coffee, something we never thought we’d do, after witnessing the built-in intelligence of high-end professional machines. 

For home brewers, the pros of a drip coffeemaker tend to be of a personal nature, having to do with nostalgia or one’s own definition of convenience. For some, the gurgles of the machine elicits memories dating back to childhood. For others, the convenience of flipping on a switch is its own reward. The very thing pour over aficionados love—the ritualized technique of it—can feel like a few too many steps in a crowded morning. 

If these are your reasons for loving drip coffee machines, we won’t convince you otherwise. Fortunately, there are now a few home drip coffeemakers we can get behind, including the Bonavita Connoisseur, which has built-in features that mimic the manual pour over technique. 

Like the bloom pour in a pour over, the machine’s pre-infusion mode saturates the coffee grounds to allow for degassing before a steadier stream of water extracts the coffee. The water temperature holds within the ideal range (between 195°F–205°F), and a flat-bottom filter basket (the same shape as our Blue Bottle dripper) makes for more even extraction. Of the Bonavita Connoisseur’s advantages, Shaun Puklavetz, our Coffee Sourcing and Relationship Manager, puts it simply: “[I have] no real tips, which is kind of the beauty. Grind your coffee, push the only button on the machine, wait five minutes.”

How to Brew Your Best Coffee

Though pour over coffee is our polestar, we wholeheartedly support the vessel that gets you closer to a decent cup of coffee. Below are a few universal tips for both the pour over method and the drip coffeemaker. 

The Importance of Grind Size

Even if you’re using the finest coffee in the world, if the grind size is off, or uneven, the extracted coffee will taste subpar. For focused flavors, the coffee grounds need to be more or less the same size, and the right size for the brew method. While there are two styles of grinders on the market, blade and burr-style, only burr-style grinders have the mechanical capacity to grind coffee uniformly. For pour overs and drip coffees, we recommend grinding the coffee to a coarseness resembling sea salt.

Use Fresh Coffee

Coffee is as perishable as any other food. Once your bag of just-roasted coffee is opened, its vibrancy fades within a month or so. 

Use a Scale to Find the Right Brew Ratio

Using a scale helps you to find the right ratio of ground coffee to water. For our classic blends, we recommend 30 grams of coffee for every 350 grams water. To enjoy the nuanced flavor of a single-origin coffee that is lightly roasted, we recommend less coffee: 22 to 24 grams for every 350 grams water.

Use Good Water

Coffee is mostly water, so use good-quality tap water or filtered water.

To learn how to make the best pour over coffee, read our brew guide. Or leave the brewing to us, and visit us in our cafes soon.