A well made pour over will be every bit as “good” as a well made espresso. It’s also way less demanding in terms of equipment and technique.
Making an espresso on par with the best coffee shops requires a great deal of skill/experience and thousands of dollars in equipment. If you don’t have the skill or equipment, straight espresso is usually pretty disgusting.
You can make a phenomenal pour over with a YouTube video and $150 in gear.
However, they’re different styles of drinks. A pour over is much less concentrated and doesn’t have the crema/body of espresso.
Another point in pour over vs espresso is flavor profile. You get totally different notes and zero bitterness from pour over.
The key with pour over is controlling how much water and how long it “brews” to prevent over extraction.
If you have a grinder I’d recommend getting a basic pour over and a gooseneck kettle. Electric ones are fantastic for tea, pour over coffee, moka pot coffee, french press and more.
Over extraction might not be “real” at least from an aero press standpoint. Don’t see why it would be different for other methods.
There was a lot of talk about leaving the coffee to extract for up to 15minutea even. James Hoffman spoke about it, after having been told by another coffee guru that they don’t worry about the time anymore and it tastes even better. Clearer and more complex.
How does the coffee compare to espresso though?
I’m not a connoisseur so genuinely asking.
I don’t have a pod machine. I grind coffee by hand and use an espresso machine.
My understanding, rightly or wrongly, is that you need the pressure to “crack” the ground coffee and get the good stuff out.
Edit: it’s ok people I get it.
You don’t need pressure to make good coffee. You do need pressure to make espresso.
A well made pour over will be every bit as “good” as a well made espresso. It’s also way less demanding in terms of equipment and technique.
Making an espresso on par with the best coffee shops requires a great deal of skill/experience and thousands of dollars in equipment. If you don’t have the skill or equipment, straight espresso is usually pretty disgusting.
You can make a phenomenal pour over with a YouTube video and $150 in gear.
However, they’re different styles of drinks. A pour over is much less concentrated and doesn’t have the crema/body of espresso.
Another point in pour over vs espresso is flavor profile. You get totally different notes and zero bitterness from pour over.
The key with pour over is controlling how much water and how long it “brews” to prevent over extraction.
If you have a grinder I’d recommend getting a basic pour over and a gooseneck kettle. Electric ones are fantastic for tea, pour over coffee, moka pot coffee, french press and more.
Over extraction might not be “real” at least from an aero press standpoint. Don’t see why it would be different for other methods.
There was a lot of talk about leaving the coffee to extract for up to 15minutea even. James Hoffman spoke about it, after having been told by another coffee guru that they don’t worry about the time anymore and it tastes even better. Clearer and more complex.
Here’s an article I could find quickly discussing it too. https://coffeeadastra.com/2021/09/07/reaching-fuller-flavor-profiles-with-the-aeropress/
Not true at all. You just grind it at the right level.
They’re referring to how espressos uses pressure to extract the flavor from the grounds vs pour over which relies on a good grind and a proper bloom.
Ah I see