Commentary on James Hoffmann’s “A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique” for pour-over coffee
Notes and comments on Mr Hoffmann’s “A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique”.
I previously wrote a commentary on Mr Hoffmann’s “Ultimate V60 technique” for pour-over coffee.
After trying the “Better Technique” I decided I liked it better and now use it nearly exclusively[0], which means the Ultimate V60 technique was actually the Penultimate V60 technique.
The “Better 1 Cup V60 Technique” is a bit easier[1] to remember, and I feel like I get more perfect cups out of it. (By “perfect cup” I mean a coffee with that really full taste which makes you want to have another straight away.[2])
[0] Except when I run out of filters or have smashed the V60 by dropping it on the floor *ahem*, “woops”.
[1] The only tricky part is remembering to pour slow for the first 50g so it takes 15 seconds instead of the 10 seconds used for all the other pours.
[2] It’s an unscientific measurement.
Same as the previous post, this is a commentary and not a critique. It’s mostly notes on what I learned using the “Better 1 Cup V60 Technique” to make pour-over coffee, with observations on some of the details.
Here’s the video, titled “A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique”.
Here’s the recipe, taken from the video …
The 1 Cup V60 Method
| Timing (mm:ss) | Action |
|---|---|
| 0:00–0:10 | Pour 50g of water for the bloom (20% of the total water) |
| 00:10–00:20 | Swirl it around until well mixed |
| 00:20–00:45 | Wait for it to bloom |
| 00:45–01:00 | Pour water at a rate that gets it to 100g at the 1 minute mark |
| 01:00s–01:10 | Wait a bit as the water goes through |
| 01:10–01:20 | Pour water at a rate that gets it to 150g at 1m 20s |
| 01:20–01:30 | Wait a bit as the water goes through |
| 01:30–01:40 | Pour water at a rate that gets it to 200g at 1m 40s |
| 01:40–01:50 | Wait a bit as the water goes through |
| 01:50–02:00 | Pour water at a rate that gets it to 250g at the 2 minute mark |
| 02:00–02:10 | Wait a bit as the water goes through |
| 02:00–03:00 | Swirl it a bit to settle the grounds and let it draw down until the timer gets to 3 minutes |
And here are some notes/comments/observations on the main things mentioned in the video. (And some general making-a-pour-over notes copied from the other post.)
Grind size
To dial in a new order of beans I usually start it at a 4 on my grinder, going up to 4.5 if it’s bitter, or down to 3.5 if it’s sour.
It doesn’t seem to make much difference if it’s a dark roast or a light roast, although I’m usually buying light roasts.
This is a finer grind setting than I settled on for the Penultimate Technique.
Static electricity?
About grinding the beans—have you noticed that sometimes little bits of ground coffee start flying about or sticking to the container as they come out of the grinder? And when they do, they get all over your bench instead of going in the V60 for your cup of coffee?
Yes? Here’s what you could do.
If you are in the habit of first pouring a bit of hot water in your cup to warm it up, and/or you use some hot water to rinse the filter and warm up the V60, what you could do is dip the handle of a spoon in that hot water very briefly and then swish the handle of the spoon around in your 15g of beans, and then maybe the beans won’t fly/stick when they come out of the grinder. (Although with Starbucks beans this doesn’t work, possibly because their roast is super dark and oily? For me the spoon swish with Starbucks beans causes the coffee to clump up inside the grinder and make an even worse mess.)
Water temperature
97°C works pretty good. (I had been going for 92°C with the Ultimate Technique.)
Pour timing
Same as the recipe, to the millisecond. I think the technical term for this method of pouring is called ‘pulsing’. (As opposed to ‘continuous pour’.)
Pouring the water
It’s a circular pour throughout, keeping the spout close to the grinds instead of letting the water spill from a height.
And, same as the other post, to start the bloom phase I’m pouring water in a small circle in the middle of the grounds until that water pushes some of the coffee grounds out to the sides of the V60. After that I’m pouring spirals in and out from the center ‘to agitate the coffee grounds and extract more taste’.
“Gently swirl” to start the draw down
Swirling it a little makes the coffee grounds settle flat, which means that more water goes through more coffee during the draw down. I do this because Mr Hoffmann says so.
Draw down
I go for a draw down of about 2m 45s to 3 minutes. I do notice a difference when I get distracted and let it draw down for too long, especially if it goes over 4 minutes.
In general
Easier to remember, produces tasty coffee … another instructive video from Mr Hoffmann.
Also
Another similar technique is Matt Winton’s Five-Pour Recipe. Main differences: not-as-hot water, coarser grind, pours are not timed as strictly.
Sponsor-presented message:
This post is brought to you by the little café in the middle of nowhere in the mountains of Yuanyang where I ordered an Americano, accepted an offer of a pour-over instead, got distracted by the cursed titles of the fake books on their bookshelves, and came back to a mega-bitter over-extracted more-expensive-than-the-Americano cup of coffee. Still drank it thoughhhhhh.
