Pour Over vs. Drip Coffee | How are they different?

How exactly are pour overs different from drip coffee? This is a question I often get asked at our cafes, and I thought I would help explain it today! It’s a little more nuanced than you may think. While some baristas and coffee enthusiasts swear by the pour over, others say you can’t beat the consistency of the batch brew.
There are many things to consider whether you are brewing the coffee at home, or if you are in a coffee shop, and we will see what is best for you!
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[@braxtonjens7839]

I’ve got a coffee maker at home and the office, and I have (lots) of pour over/manual devices. There’s merit to both, but I typically do pour over at home for myself. If I’m making coffee for friends and family, I go for an auto drip maker.

[@rickdelaney2125]

Thanks for all your great videos. I love to rewatch them while I sip my brew.

[@NicoleShizzle]

This video needs more attention! I learned so much, thank you 😃

[@shivanigulia5857]

Great video! And your set-up's aesthetic is so on-point! 👌

[@DarrellGrainger]

Good explanation. There is no better method. There is just what is better for ME. I enjoy the processes of brewing coffee. It is part of my morning routine. Having the actual coffee is nice but working on my technique with pour over brewing helps start up day off right. So, for me, it is less about the coffee and more about the experience. 😊

[@CoffeeTimeJR]

Absolutely. It's such a personal thing. So far I still do pour overs every morning because I also love the experience, but these days as I get busy with work I start to consider a drip machine.. one day I want to get a really fancy one at home

[@dunk8157]

Turns out I've been making pour over coffee since the 80s and didn't even realise. The standard coffee filters in the UK are the Melitta ones. I thought it was called filter coffee. I'm glad it's considered a good technique watever its called!

[@Westgirl277]

Thanks for this breakdown

[@monkeyfinger7949]

I wish you would have discussed grind size. That is what I was looking for.

[@CoffeeTimeJR]

What kind of info were you looking for? Generally, grind difference between these methods is pretty straight forward. Drip is usually more coarse than pour over, simply because you do a smaller size on pour over. It depends on the "bed depth" which is a reference to the thickness of the coffee bed sitting in the filter. With more depth you need to help the water flow a bit better by going coarser, and with less depth you can get away with going finer

[@donk026]

Some mornings I just don't have time to do a pour over and that's when the auto drip comes into play. Thanks for the video ☕

[@CoffeeTimeJR]

Definitely. Even for myself when I visit our cafes, if i want a coffee and i cant be bothered to wait for a pour over, drip is the best option for speed. Time is money ! Haha

[@chinchilla505]

I do pourovers and french press on weekends. I do drip during the week hustle. Fir drip, u just gotta get one with a real dispersing shower head

[@nerodia]

I think the vid's right, but I still think that drip and pourover coffee are closer to eachother in drinking experience than either is to other brewing methods. Always saw doing pourover (especially in larger batches, 1L in my case) as a cheaper but more hands-on way of making drip coffee that you can add a little technique to improve the outcome.

[@baristajs]

Thank you for such a detailed and interesting explanation of the difference. It's hard for me to decide which brewing method is better. I love experimenting and trying different ways of brewing coffee. I recently brewed coffee in an ORIGAMI dripper.

[@CoffeeTimeJR]

Thanks for watching! Origami is a really pretty device :)

[@jaimep3432]

Flavor wise there's no comparison a pour over is way better.

[@CoffeeTimeJR]

@@jaimep3432 Maybe. I tend to agree with Scott Rao on this - a great pour over can be really great, but it has a much higher risk for something to go wrong and turn into a lower quality cup than a drip coffee.

[@HotdogSosage]

I think the pour over is barista dependant. If I made you a pourover it'd put you off for life 😂 but if a professional Japanese coffee god made it, maybe you'd be able to taste every facet of their skill

[@yuriythebest]

thanks for the video! I don't quite believe the "convenience" of drip coffee machines - after all, the whole thing now involves a "machine" that may break, require maintenance, etc - is it that inconvenient to pour a liquid for like a minute or so? I find it quite relaxing. QUESTION: I'm new to pourovers, and am using around 20 grams of ground coffee for around 500ml of water. However, I'm getting a slight salty aftertaste (I use the same kettle for boiling tea and there there is no aftertaste). When googling, the solution seems to be to not let the water cool too much before cooling, and indeed if I pour right after boiling it lessens, but doesn't go away- any advice?

[@yukinakamura4765]

Thank you for your amazing video. It was interesting topic. How about the Americano? If use same coffee beans for these 3 methods, what is the difference between them ?

[@_ainyy]

americanos are in the realm of espresso, I wouldn't really say they are comparable.

[@alexandraengland3274]

Americano is diluted espresso. Espresso is metal filtered and typically extracted much faster than pour-over coffee. Americanos diluted to the strength of a pour-over should have a little less caffeine, and a bit more texture at the very least. Probably more differences. Those are the ones I can think of though.

[@HotdogSosage]

Commenting for the algorithm

[@stewdun2426]

Interesting you never touched on 1) Water temp 2) grind size. I own the Breville Precision Bewer - which is the only SCAA “drip coffee maker” (from what I read). Here you can set water temp, and bloom time. In addition there is a option for changing the water head (shower) to use a Hario pour over which uses the V60 filter. SO you can make a pot or a pour over for a cup (so to speak). IT DROVE ME NUTS to try the same coffee, and then change grind size and water temp and try to get the flavor/taste I LIKE. It took some time to finalize my preference. I WISH there was a grind size - such that we had the same designation - like a screen size (used in coffee grading) something we could validate my ground coffee with yours. I see the digital coffee color device to validate roast by color. Boy if we had something for gind. I just varried that and left water temp alone - and that was difficult. THANK for your video. HOPE YOU CAN TALK sometime about water temp v. Extraction as well as grind size.

[@CoffeeTimeJR]

Ah yes, well this video was more focused on the differences between the two final products of drip vs espresso. I probably should do a video though on the many variables of drip and how to optimize it! You are correct there are many things to consider, but it sounds like you've got a good set up. We actually have the Breville at our Roastery as well. We also use the Technivorm Mocchamaster. Both produce great results.

[@Westgirl277]

I believe there are many more SCAA certified drip coffee makers.

[@samconnecticut1485]

On your quick answer segment, it's not really comparing pour over to a typical home drip maker. Your drip basket is for a huge commercial type drip machine, wow does that make a 100 cups? Not a fair comparison to what looks like a 8 cup pour over. Another thing I don't get, you state a drip will make a more full body and bold cup of coffee and is suited for a more dark roast coffee; and a pour over will make a more bright cup of coffee and is suited for a more light roast coffee. Shouldn't that be the other way around, use a light roast for a drip that makes coffee bolder, and use a dark roast for pour over that makes coffee brighter. Maybe this way you get more of a closer comparable of the two.

[@isbestlizard]

What a stupid distinction. Both methods have water that 'pours over' the coffee which 'drips' out. Why even bother calling them two different things? One is just a machine doing it.

[@isbestlizard]

"That machine makes drip coffee. I make drip coffee". See? Same word works. It's the same thing,.

[@CoffeeTimeJR]

Are you really suggesting that a cafe does not distinguish between these brewing methods? Lol. There are differences. Why would you lump two things together when they're not the same. You would mislead a customer into believing they are having a made to order, freshly ground, and expertly poured coffee by calling it a pour over, even though it's a 3 hour old drip made by a machine that sprays out water without much care or attention? Ridiculous