Pour Over Guide with Kone & Chemex

With the popularity of pour over coffee at 3rd wave coffee shops ever increasing, I thought it'd be a good idea to write up a guide for anyone wanted to try it themselves.  For this guide, I'll be using the Chemex and Kone filter.  I will writeup a guide later using a paper filter.  While the general idea of pour over is similar to you automatic coffee machines, pour over provide much greater control over flow of water, brew time and temperature, and it allows a preinfusion stage. Join my after the jump to get started!

Materials needed

• Chemex
•  Kone
• Coffee Beans (preferably fresh)
• Grinder (preferably burr)
• Scale
• Kettle for pouring - recommend Hario kettle
• Way to boil water
• Mug or cup
• Timer

Step 1: Measure out your coffee beans (freshly ground coffee is important!) - for my morning cup, i use 24g of beans

Step 2: Heat up water.  I use an electric kettle, but stove top works equally well.

Step 3: Pour some hot water into emtpy Chemex with kone to warm up both components.  Be sure to dry Kone afterwards and dump the water.

Step 4: Grind you coffee - for me, Rancilio rocky on number 30.  Pour grind into the filter and shake until level.  Use finger or knuckle to create an indentation in the middle.

Indentation help with water flow during bloom

Step 5: Take boiling water and let it settle for a few seconds (this allows water to cool to around 200 deg).  Pour in a kettle - I suggest the Hario kettle which give great control over pouring of the water - of around 400g of water.  The ratio of ~24g coffee to 400g water is suggested by the makers of Kone.

400g of water in Hario kettle

Step 6: Now we get to pour! set the Chemex on your scale and zero out.  We'll first pour 100g of water in the Kone at a steady flow in the center and start timer.

bloom!

Step 7: Let water flow until the 1 minute mark.  Then pour in center at steady flow the rest of water.  The pour should last until roughly the 2 minute mark.

pour pour!

Step 8: After pouring is done and water is still flowing, heat up your cup or mug with hot water.  This is so we don't pour hot coffee into a cold cup.

hot water

Step 9: The coffee should finish (no more water flow) at around the 2:45 mark.  Now we empty the Kone and clean it.  Empty the cup/mug and dry it.  Pour your coffee! Be careful to watch for the bottom of the Chemex as there may be some sediments.

all finished!

Side Note: The main difference between using the Kone and paper filters is the oil in the finished coffee.  Kone filter will allow much more oils to go through, resulting in a more full bodied cup while paper filter is a brighter cup.  Personally, I think there's no clear better way to do it.  However, for each specific coffee, there's always been a clear winner between Kone and paper so it really boils down to what coffee you're drinking at the moment.

OILY