Pour Over Predicament

Perhaps I’m in the minority here but 95% of my coffee consumption is pourover.

As a general rule of thumb flat bottomed drippers such as Kalita tend to be more forgiving of less than optimal technique than conical shaped ones like the V60. However, the V60 is cheap and there are tons of recipes you can try to really help you understand the mechanics of pourover brewing.

Having used a number of drippers (and given many away once I realised I had a dripper collecting problem) I now tend to reach for the Fellow Stagg X most often, particularly in the morning when I just want to make a good cup without having to think too much. I still use the V60 to experiment and try to draw certain characteristics out of a particular bean.

My latest acquisition is the Tricolate brewer, which I haven’t had a chance to put through its paces yet. It is designed as a no-bypass brewer, meaning that water is forced to makes its way through the grounds instead of some of it being allowed to take a route around the grounds down the sides of the brewer walls. It also has a built-in water dispersion screen to help feed water uniformly to the grounds below. I might make a thread if no one here has talked about it yet.

root Perhaps I’m in the minority here but 95% of my coffee consumption is pourover.

I suspect you are not in the minority for enjoying pourover, because even though I have an espresso machine (well a few of them), the coffee from Pourover can be quite different…so I often include it in my routine…I suspect many others do exactly the same.

I know @MWJB enjoys his pourover/immersion etc.. brews

root Tricolate is not a “no bypass” brewer, this is a commonly quote myth, with no evidence. Any time you are pouring water & disrupting the bed, you have the opportunity for bypass.

Tricolate is definitely not a brewer to recommend to someone starting to explore drip coffee. It’s more for people who like very difficult & time consuming puzzles. You know, like those interlocking metal rings you can’t get apart, in Christmas crackers? :-)

Please don’t start a thread on it until you have a reliable brew regime, equal to/better than V60/Kalita/Melitta etc.

You can use various things as a dispersion screen, like a steel can strainer, or an Aeropress with a metal filter (which a few people might have lying around).

MWJB I think you’re right that the “no-bypass” claim is an exaggeration, it would probably be more accurate to say it’s been designed to reduce bypass.

I agree the Tricolate wouldn’t be a good recommendation for those new to brewed coffee. I obtained it more for experimentation than anything.

I don’t understand the advice against creating a new thread. This is a relatively new forum without much content. Why discourage people from creating new threads to explore different brew methods? The arbitrary bar of ensuring a brew regime equalling other well known drippers is like saying, “Don’t make a thread about a new espresso machine until you’ve gotten a shot out of it that’s as good as machine X or Y.”

root It was a request, not advice, nor instruction.

Everything I have read/watched about the Tricolate has turned out to be somewhat wanting. I just don’t think it is fair to prospective buyers to promote this product until it is proven to work at a basic level. Or, until someone can convey a reasonably successful brew regime.

Most grinders & brewers do perform at least ‘normally’. There are variations of course, and specific preferences that might be a bit harder to hit, but I have never encountered another bit of kit that was so fundamentally, far removed from other options on the market.

If you nail it, or even get good & reasonably consistent taste scores, I’ll be first to read and engage with your thread.

Why would anyone promote anything that made their coffee taste significantly worse than a plethora of alternatives?

MWJB I disagree that creating a thread to discuss something is the same as promoting it. It’s just as likely that people will decide against a purchase based on negative reactions in a thread discussing it.

People like Scott Rao and Patrik Rolf have taken the device seriously enough to experiment with it, and I don’t think they were being somehow unfair to prospective buyers by doing so.

I’m not on board with the idea that not talking about something will naturally result in better consumer choices, or even that informing purchase decisions should be the primary consideration when deciding what to discuss on a forum.

DavecUK root

My brew preferences change with the seasons. The warmer it gets, the fewer longer drinks I want, so the proportion of espresso (a ROK when I used it) and shorter drinks goes up.

Middle of winter and a nice large long steep in the Clever is perfect, or a couple of back-to-back pourovers.

The choice in flavour profiles/ characteristics between the methods is fantastic. Variety is the spice of life!

Beverast I think the price at least partially reflects the fact that it’s a niche device being made in small batches in comparison to the mass produced Aeropress. As it’s an unproven device with mixed reviews it’s difficult to say whether there are any benefits over the AP, honestly. The thing with the AP is that it’s a really versatile device that can be used in multiple ways. For example, you can emulate the Tricolate brew style. See 20:00 onwards of this video:

My advice would be to try something like this if you already have an AP and are curious about the Tricolate.

DavecUK Welcome to zoomer coffee youtube. 🤪

For pour over I’m a big fan of the v60.

I’ve got a chemex, and while I think it looks great, I find that it takes a long time to brew. Also, due to the large amount of glass the coffee is also fairly cool. I almost never use it now.

V60s size 1 cool quickly, so personally I don’t think you can go wrong with the plastic funnel. It’s not as attractive as the glass ones, but needs next to no preheating and doesn’t break when you drop it.

My only brewer is an Aeropress. Other than that I drink espresso either straight or with steamed milk.

I like the Aeropress but sometimes I feel its a bit ‘flat’. I’ve had nice brews but nothing like the natural Ethiopian served to me from a V60 in the now defunct Track in Marlow. That really wowed me. Do you brewing cognoscenti (looking at you Mark B/Dave) think the V60 gives a ‘superior’ cup (livelier, more intense, not 100% sure what I’m trying to articulate here)?

The reason I haven’t tried one yet is I’m a bit faffophobic and don’t want to clutter my ridiculously small kitchen with more coffee paraphernalia like pouring kettles etc, and learn the dark art of V60 brewing, but might give it a go if people can convince me its tastier, cleaner etc than AP. I do 10 minute steeps with AP and favour light /med naturals.

Hotmetal I’ve been pretty happy doing v60 with a standard kettle. I’m sure it’s easier with a gooseneck, but I can get a low flow steady stream with some careful pouring.

Unlike many coffee related gadgets a plastic v60 is only £5, so I say give it ago

Hotmetal I like a V60 from time to time….tried friend’s aeropress, and it was too much faff for me, plus a pain to clean up. V6 seems cleaner tasting too.

If you do get one, I think a plastic cone is better than glass or ceramic as it doesn’t need warming and is super cheap (plus lightweight, chuck it in a cupboard..

Hotmetal The V60 gives you a cup in 2-4 min that it takes 20-30min to brew in the Aeropress. When both are good they’re comparable, but long steep Aeropress are only an occasional thing for me.

If you want drip, but don’t want a goosneck/faff, buy a Melitta/Kalita 185/Wilfa pourover cone.

V60 is quick, extracts well & consistent, but not magic/different to other popular cones. It’s not an art, it’s a mechanical process & what you get out is a reflection of what you put in (care, coffee, grind).