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Pour Over Timer
Choose one cup or two, put the brewer on a scale and press Start as you begin the bloom. Pour again at each beep.
Step 1 / 4
15 g coffee, 250 g water. Bloom with 45 g, pour to 150 g at 0:45 and 250 g at 1:30, done near 3:00.
30 g coffee, 500 g water. Bloom with 90 g, then pour to 230 g, 370 g and 500 g. Done near 4:00.
Pour over recipe: time on the clock and scale reading
| Clock | What to do | Scale, 1 cup | Scale, 2 cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Bloom: wet all the grounds, then wait | 45 g | 90 g |
| 0:45 | First pour, in slow circles | 150 g | 230 g |
| 1:30 | Second pour | 250 g | 370 g |
| 2:15 | One cup drains; two cups get a third pour | 250 g | 500 g |
| 3:00 | One cup is finished; two cups drain | Done | 500 g |
| 4:00 | Two cups are finished | – | Done |
Scale readings are the total water poured so far. The recipe is 1:16.7 with a medium-fine grind and water at 195–205°F (90–96°C). It is a starting point: if the bed drains much earlier or later than the last beep, change the grind.
How to use it
- Put a paper filter in the brewer and rinse it with hot water, then empty the cup or server. Add the ground coffee, 15 g for one cup or 30 g for two, and zero the scale.
- Choose the brew size and press Start as you pour the bloom: about 45 g of water for one cup, 90 g for two. Make sure all the grounds are wet.
- At each beep, pour in slow circles until the scale shows the next figure in the chart. Finish each pour well before the next beep.
- During the drawdown, let the water drain through without pouring. When the timer ends, the bed should be flat and no longer dripping in a stream.
What the pour over bloom time is for
Freshly roasted coffee holds carbon dioxide, and hot water drives it out in a rush. You can see it: the bed swells and bubbles. While that gas is escaping it pushes water away from the grounds, so anything you pour in the first seconds extracts unevenly. The bloom is a small first pour, two to three times the weight of the coffee, followed by a pause. After about 45 seconds most of the gas has gone and the rest of the water can wet every particle.
Coffee that barely bubbles during the bloom is usually older or was ground a while ago. The recipe still works, but the bloom has less to do.
How long a pour over should take
For one cup in a cone dripper such as a V60, about 3 minutes from the first drop of water to the end of the drawdown is the usual target, and about 4 minutes for two cups. The pours are on a schedule so the brew is repeatable. The drawdown is the part that tells you something: it shows how fast water is passing through the bed, and that is set by the grind.
If the bed is dry well before the final beep, the grind is too coarse and the cup will taste thin and sour, so grind finer. If water is still pooling long after it, the grind is too fine and the cup will be bitter, so go coarser. Aim for a grind about the texture of table salt. A Chemex has a thicker paper filter and needs a coarser grind, and a brew in one typically runs 4 to 5 minutes.
Common mistakes
- Skipping the filter rinse. A dry paper filter can add a papery taste, and rinsing also warms the brewer.
- Pouring the bloom and leaving dry pockets. Give the brewer a gentle swirl so no grounds stay dry.
- Pouring fast down the middle or onto the paper. Water finds a channel and bypasses most of the coffee.
- Chasing the clock by pouring harder. If the brew runs slow, fix the grind next time.
- Reading the scale as water per pour. The figures in the chart are running totals.
Questions people ask
How long should a pour over take?
About 3 minutes for a single 250 g cup and about 4 minutes for 500 g, including the bloom and the drawdown. Half a minute either way is normal; much more than that points to the grind.
What is the right pour over bloom time?
About 30 to 45 seconds. This timer uses 45 seconds with a bloom of roughly three times the coffee weight, 45 g of water on 15 g of coffee.
Can I use this as a V60 timer?
Yes. The recipe suits cone drippers of that kind and flat-bottomed drippers as well. V60 is a product name for one cone brewer; the timings are a general pour-over recipe and not the maker’s own.
What is the Chemex brew time?
Typically 4 to 5 minutes. The thick filter slows the flow, so use a coarser grind than for a small cone and expect the drawdown to run past the two-cup timer.
What ratio and water temperature should I use?
Use 1:16 to 1:17 coffee to water by weight, such as 15 g to 250 g, with water at 195–205°F (90–96°C). Lighter roasts suit the hotter end of that range.