Technique · pour-over

Pour-over technique: bloom, pulses and drippers compared

Pour-over is filter coffee made by hand: you control the water's speed, path and timing. That control is the appeal — and the reason measuring matters more here than with almost any other method.

Updated 2026-10-13 · sources listed at the end

The anatomy of a pour-over

Every hand-poured filter brew has the same stages, whatever the dripper:

Rinse. Wet the paper filter with hot water to remove paper taste and preheat the dripper and server, then discard that water.
Bloom. Pour a small amount of water — the Kalita Wave guide suggests 40–60 ml — to wet all the grounds, then wait 30–45 seconds.
Main pours. Add the rest of the water in stages ("pulses") or one continuous pour. The Kalita guide uses 3–4 further pours every 20–30 seconds in slow circles.
Drawdown. Let the bed drain. Total time for a single cup typically lands around 3–4 minutes.

The SCA's published targets apply here as anywhere: about 55 g of coffee per liter (±10%) and water at 200°F ± 5° where it meets the coffee. Many recipes run a little stronger, at 1:15–1:17. Use the ratio calculator to set your numbers.

Pulse pouring and the 4:6 method

Splitting the water into timed pulses makes a brew repeatable: each pour has a target weight and a start time you can read off a scale with a timer. The best-known structured example is the 4:6 method from Tetsu Kasuya, who won the World Brewers Cup in 2016. As published by HARIO Europe, it uses 20 g of coarse-ground coffee and 300 ml of water at 92°C (197.6°F):

Time	Pour	Running total	Phase
0:00	50 ml	50	first 40%
0:45	70 ml	120	first 40%
1:30	60 ml	180	last 60%
2:10	60 ml	240	last 60%
2:40	60 ml	300	last 60%
3:30	—	300	remove dripper

The idea: the first 40% of the water shapes the balance of acidity and sweetness (a larger first pour gives more acidity, a smaller one more sweetness), and the last 60% sets strength. More measured recipes are on the recipes page.

Drippers compared

Dripper	Origin	Shape & outlet	Filter	What it means for brewing
Melitta-style	Melitta Bentz, Dresden; registered 1908	Cup with a recessed bottom and inclined flow holes (per the 1908 registration)	Paper — Bentz's first was blotting paper	The original paper-filter dripper design
Chemex	Peter Schlumbohm, 1941	Glass hourglass flask, brewer and server in one	Proprietary bonded paper, thicker than standard	Thick paper removes most coffee oils for a "cleaner" cup
Hario V60	Hario, Japan; developed 2004	Cone at a 60° angle with spiral ribbing inside	Conical paper	Water passes through rather than steeping; pour speed matters a lot
Kalita Wave	Kalita	Flat-bottom basket, three small drain holes	"Wave" paper with 20 ridges	Holes limit drainage speed; flat bed is forgiving of pour technique

Hario V60

HARIO says its designers developed the V60 in 2004, naming it for its 60-degree cone. Spiral ribbing inside the cone and the cone's shape let water pass through the grounds rather than sit in them, with the aim of matching the taste of cloth-filtered coffee using paper. The dripper spread worldwide after the 2010 World Brewers Cup. Because the outlet does not restrict flow much, your pouring speed and grind size control contact time.

Kalita Wave

The Kalita Wave's flat-bottom basket has three small drain holes that limit drainage speed, and its patented filter's 20 waves stand away from the walls to avoid uneven paper contact. It comes in a 155 size (1–2 servings) and a 185 size (2–4 servings). A sample recipe: 20 g of medium-coarse coffee to 300–340 ml water, total time about 3–4 minutes.

Chemex

Peter Schlumbohm invented the Chemex in 1941. Its glass flask, wooden collar and leather tie earned it a place in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The bonded filters are thicker than ordinary drip filters, which removes most of the coffee's oils. The spout channel keeps air flowing so the filter does not seal against the glass.

Melitta and the paper filter

According to the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, Melitta Bentz of Dresden experimented with a perforated brass cup and blotting paper from her son's exercise book, and registered her "coffee filter with a domed underside, recessed bottom and inclined flow holes" on 20 June 1908. Every paper-filter dripper above descends from that idea.

Troubleshooting

Drains too fast, tastes sour: grind finer or pour more slowly.
Drains too slow, tastes bitter: grind coarser.

See the grind size chart and water guide for the other variables.