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Roastery in Portland had zero extraction data on their pour-over menu
Visited a new specialty spot on Division Street last Saturday. 7 different single origins listed. Not a single brew ratio or TDS number anywhere. Barista said they "go by feel." This is a place charging $8 for a pour-over. Felt like walking into a bike shop that doesn't check tire pressure. Anyone else think this trend is hurting quality control?
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shane_fisher373mo ago
Going by feel is fine for dialing in at home, but for an $8 pour-over I'd expect at least a TDS number or recipe card so you know what you're paying for. A lot of shops don't realize that "feel" can shift from barista to barista, which makes quality control kind of a crapshoot. I'd rather see a simple ratio like 1:16 on the menu than just guessing.
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jesse_williams623mo ago
And honestly this whole "going by feel" thing is just another example of how we romanticize inconsistency in a lot of things, not just coffee. Like, imagine if a mechanic just "felt" how tight your lug nuts should be instead of using a torque wrench, you'd be pissed. Same logic applies here, if you're charging premium prices you gotta have some kind of standard so people aren't just rolling the dice on their morning cup.
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jake6383mo ago
...and honestly my own pour-overs at home usually taste like someone yelled "coffee" from across the room while I poured hot water over the grounds, so maybe I shouldn't be judging. But yeah, no brew ratio on an $8 menu item feels like a cop out. I get that going by feel sounds romantic and artisanal, but feel changes depending on how tired the barista is or how busy the shop gets. A simple 1:15 or 1:16 written somewhere would at least give customers a baseline to know if they're getting a consistent product. I've had pour-overs at shops like that where one visit tastes like fruit juice and the next tastes like burnt tires, and it's almost always because they're just winging it.
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