Broke my old French press last month and switched to pour-over

I used to just dump grounds in my French press and press down after 4 minutes (no timer, no scale, just vibes). My sister gave me a cheap Melitta pour-over cone for my birthday after I complained about sludge in my cup, and now I'm weighing beans and timing pours like a whole different person. Anyone else feel like you had to unlearn everything when you switched methods?

2 comments

2 Comments

riley_bell9d ago

Oh man, that sister of yours did you a solid without even knowing it! My buddy Ryan went through the exact same thing last year - he broke his French press while camping (dropped it on a rock, classic move) and his girlfriend grabbed him a cheap Hario dripper from the thrift store. He told me he spent his first weekend just staring at his kitchen scale like it was some kind of alien device, trying to figure out if 15 grams of beans looked right. The funny part is he used to brag about his "perfect" French press technique, but after a week with pour-over he admitted he was basically making mud water before. Now he's the guy who texts me pour-over ratios at 6am like it's urgent news, and I swear he's happier about it than he lets on.

parker_patel849d ago

Man, SAME thing happened to me. I thought I was a coffee expert with my old French press just eyeballing everything and hoping for the best. Switched to a simple V60 and suddenly I'm Googling water temperature and bloom times like a madman. It was a HUGE wake up call realizing how much bitterness I was just accepting as normal. Now I can actually taste the difference between beans from different regions and I can't believe I ever drank that gritty, over-extracted sludge. My first week with pour-over was humbling though, I definitely poured too fast and flooded the filter like three times.