Chances are you have walked into a coffee shop and have seen “pour over” on the menu. But, what is the difference between a pour over and a drip coffee? Is the pour over worth the three minutes while you stand and eagerly await that sweet smelling coffee? Oh, we like to think so.

Long before espresso machines, coffee was made simply by heating ground coffee in a pot with water. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that the first pour over was introduced, the Melitta. The Chemex, Hario V60 and others came after. These devices changed the way the world drank coffee, especially when specialty coffee entrepreneurs got a hold of them.
The few tools that are needed are a filter, dripper, and kettle. The pour over method simply involves pouring hot water over a bed of coffee grounds in a paper filter. The water then drains through the coffee and into a vessel. As the water passes through and drains through the coffee, it extracts flavor compounds. In a pour over, you are controlling all of the variables that affect extraction which include brew ratio, brew time, water temperature, choreographing the frequency of pours, and material of both your filter and dripper. A pour over accentuates intricate flavors because the water extracts coffee oils and fragrances, resulting in a flavorful, clean cup of coffee. However, since pour overs are manual and rely on pouring technique, they are conducive to channeling, which is when a stream of water finds an easy route around the grinds and some of the coffee doesn’t get extracted. The result is an under extracted or over extracted coffee. Consistency is harder to achieve. For this reason, specialty coffee shops have started to invest their money in automated pour over systems.

To match our espresso machines, we chose the Modbar Pour Over System. Modbar allows us to dial in pour over recipes by adjusting flow rate, control time interval, brew temperature, and saturation. This module sits perfectly underneath the counter, allowing our baristas to better engage with you as your cup brews. What we loved most about the Modbar was that it provided us the opportunity to craft and dial in coffee without having to sacrifice interactions with our guests. The Modbar gives us the ability to brew a delicious single origin coffee with precision. Though manual brewing is special in itself, the Modbar Pour Over System allows us to focus on those who walk through the doors while also providing them a top notch cup of damn good coffee.
So, the next time you find yourself deciding between a pour over or a drip, try the pour over! We switch up our single origin pour overs seasonally. Our current offerings are:
Costa Rica Red Honey
vanilla | brown sugar | black cherry | pineapple
Colombia Geisha
mandarin | starfruit | floral | fragrant
Viva La Noche!
baker’s chocolate | cedar | smoke
Deb’s Favorite: F-Bomb
dark chocolate | dried cherry | blood orange
Colombia Tabi Honey
wildflower honey | orange juice | syrupy