# Pour Over a Very Different Way to What I've Seen Before.



## Pompeyexile (Dec 2, 2013)

Was having a rummage round YouTube and came across this from the 2016 World Championship first place chap Berg Wu, regarding using the Clever Dripper. Now, everything I've seen regarding pour over has always said to bloom, then steep for however many minutes, maybe give it a stir then put it on your cup and drain. Berg however does it completely different. The coffee I was using was a Hailmariam Demissie single farm micro lot Yirgacheffe. The tasting notes were Bergamot, lemonade and peach. Now I tried it his way and I must admit it made a difference....and in a good way, those flavours really came through.

I'd be interested to hear what some of you think of his method.


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## fluffles (Sep 4, 2012)

Well, who knows, perhaps this is the best way of brewing a clever. On the other hand it could be a load of over complicated codswallop


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

I'm a big fan of codswallop


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## Pompeyexile (Dec 2, 2013)

You could well be right fluffles and maybe I was just eperiencing a sort of placebo effect where because I wanted to believe what he was saying I thought I tasted a difference. Just thought it was interesting as it seems on websites like this and with coffee officionados in general, there are people chasing the perfect cup and will spend thousands on machinery or gadgets from simply trying different waters and brew temps in order to achieve it.

I guess if you're not chasing perfection then yes it probably is codswallop but I can't speak for the science behind the temp of water and its affect on taste, so who knows?


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

If you're chasing perfection, you will be very miserable for a very long time.

Achieving a high strike rate of tasty cups is much more feasible, if that recipe does it for you great (though it seems a little low on detail).

The science of heat v extraction is simple, cooler water means lower (for a given method & time).

So if you like it stick with it, if you fill in the blanks (grind size, weights) someone else might give it a go too.


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## Pompeyexile (Dec 2, 2013)

MWJB what I mean by the word 'perfection'. When a novice like me, can actually detect the flavours given by the tasting notes to any particular bean on a consistantly regular basis, then that to me is perfection. When I read comments from those on here with far far more experience, probably more refined palates and definately much more expensive equipment than me trying to achieve the same thing I assume that is their idea of perfection too.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Pompeyexile said:


> MWJB what I mean by the word 'perfection'. When a novice like me, can actually detect the flavours given by the tasting notes to any particular bean on a consistantly regular basis, then that to me is perfection. When I read comments from those on here with far far more experience, probably more refined palates and definately much more expensive equipment than me trying to achieve the same thing I assume that is their idea of perfection too.


OK, forget the expensive equipment, it's not necessary unless you are making espresso.

What you seem to be describing is what I would call 'normal' coffee brewing. You make a cup with

Sure, the strawberries you taste might taste just like strawberry & not "wild mountain strawberries", the berry flavour might be a bit vague and you might not differentiate between sweetened rhubarb/hibiscus/redcurrant, but it should be a cup that is likeable, e.g. you're not forcing yourself to drink it, or searching hard for something to like. If it's, "not sure if I like it or not", then that's not good. Your palate just needs to be refined enough to keep you happy.

Buying more stuff is unlikely to make this magically happen. Controlling what you do with the stuff you already have is much more likely.


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## Pompeyexile (Dec 2, 2013)

Thanks MWJB I understand what you are saying. I was only trying to point out to Fluffles that changing the temp of the water a couple of times over the pour time as prescribed in the video in order to possibly get a better brew, is trying to do what you have suggested i.e controll the stuff (Clever Dripper) you already have. I guess if he sees that as possible codswallop then I assume he is perfectly happy with the results he gets from a much simpler approach, which is fine.


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## ashcroc (Oct 28, 2016)

Pompeyexile said:


> Thanks MWJB I understand what you are saying. I was only trying to point out to Fluffles that changing the temp of the water a couple of times over the pour time as prescribed in the video in order to possibly get a better brew, is trying to do what you have suggested i.e controll the stuff (Clever Dripper) you already have. I guess if he sees that as possible codswallop then I assume he is perfectly happy with the results he gets from a much simpler approach, which is fine.


It's not dissimilar to boiling the kettle at the start then not reboiling it between pours. They only real difference is he's hitting an exact temp to drop to each time.

Laissez les bons temps rouler


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Pompeyexile said:


> Thanks MWJB I understand what you are saying. I was only trying to point out to Fluffles that changing the temp of the water a couple of times over the pour time as prescribed in the video in order to possibly get a better brew, is trying to do what you have suggested i.e controll the stuff (Clever Dripper) you already have. I guess if he sees that as possible codswallop then I assume he is perfectly happy with the results he gets from a much simpler approach, which is fine.


I think it's the references to temp & sweetness, temp & aromatics that are pushing the bounds of believability. At the end of the day, why Berg thinks it works makes no difference, it does what it does. My problem, having watched the video twice, is I have no idea of how to do what is shown - there is no grind size indicated (to be fair this is quite common), the pours aren't stated by weight, just the last 40g and total 240g. Adding "a little" then "a bit more" cold water is too vague. It's a concept, not a recipe.

This doesn't indicate tight control. If 5 of us followed the recipe it's possible our brews may not overlap.


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## fluffles (Sep 4, 2012)

Apologies if I came across a little dismissive but I've heard a lot of this sort of stuff, e.g. the 4:6 method, etc where people focus too much (imo) on the minute detail of the method. Everything is a means to an end, I personally think it's unlikely there's anything special about his method. There's nothing wrong with it either. You can brew a tasty cup any which way you like, best in my view to keep it simple


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## Power Freak (Dec 14, 2018)

I'm not sure I buy the a temp vs fragrance, aftertaste etc. argument. I think some of these WBC contestants need to come up with routines to differentiate themselves so they come up with these "crazy" methods, remember a lot of the contestants are trying to build careers too - Berg will probably be known as the "cold water guy" now for a while which raises his profile (I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that, however.)

In the "real" world I feel this would be a fiddly method to use, there seems a few ways this could go wrong (amount of cold water added, stopping/starting filtering etc.) I'd rather something simple with as few "moving parts" as possible so I'm less likely to vary cup to cup.


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