TIL why my morning pour-over was always inconsistent at the cafe

I've been doing pour-overs at Blue Bottle in SoHo for about a year now. Last Tuesday, one of the baristas asked me how I was stirring the bloom phase and I showed her. She said I was only stirring one direction. Turns out, stirring just clockwise was creating a channel in the grounds every single time. So the water was bypassing half the coffee bed and pulling unevenly. Now I alternate directions with each pour and my drawdown time dropped from 4 minutes to 3 minutes flat. Has anyone else found that their brew improved after changing just one little habit like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_ryan3d ago

Took me six months to realize I was pushing down on my scale with my elbow the whole time, so every single measurement was off by like 5 grams. Little embarrassing to figure out I was basically sabotaging myself with my own arm. Glad you caught your stir habit before you hit the year mark like me.

nathanbennett3d ago

Huh, I always thought that kind of thing was just in people's heads or overthinking it, but hearing you actually messed with your own numbers for six months makes me realize it's way more common than I figured. Kinda changes how I look at my own process now.