That one Tuesday my pour-over came out perfect and I almost cried

I've been doing pour-over for about 2 years now. Most days it's just okay. But last Tuesday everything lined up. Water temp was exactly 205. Grind size hit that sweet spot. The bloom bubbled up like a science experiment. I poured in circles without messing up once. Cup came out sweet and clean with zero bitterness. Tasted like berries and honey. Then the next day I tried the exact same beans and technique and it came out sour and sad. Makes me wonder if it's really skill or just luck. Any of you have that one day where your coffee just clicked and then it vanished?

3 comments

3 Comments

graydavis25d ago

That exact thing happened to me with a Guatemalan bean last spring. One morning it was like the coffee gods smiled on me. Every detail was just right and the cup tasted like a blueberry muffin. I literally texted my buddy a photo of the brew bed like a weirdo. Then I chased that high for two weeks straight and got maybe one decent cup out of it. Makes me wonder if great coffee is more like catching a wave than building a thing. You do all the same steps but some days it just works and some days it doesn't.

the_hayden24d ago

Dude the wave analogy is spot on. I had a similar thing with an Ethiopian natural last fall. Ended up writing down every single variable I could think of: water temp, grind setting, pour time, even the humidity that day. The only thing that consistently helped was preheating my mug and carafe way more than I thought I needed to. Once I dialed that in, the good cups became way more reliable. Still not every time, but closer to 3 or 4 out of 5.

bennett.mason12d ago

Respect that you actually tracked all those variables man. That takes real dedication. I did something similar with a Kenyan about six months back and the mug temp thing was huge for me too. You think you're preheating enough but you're really not until you're almost burning your fingers on the ceramic. Sounds ridiculous but it made the biggest difference for me out of everything. I still get those random bad cups though and it drives me crazy. Like I did everything the same why is this one flat.