Brewing Light Roasts on Pour Over

I generally reach for light to medium roasts when I make my morning pour over. Those bright, complex flavours dancing through the V60 - that's what got me hooked on speciality coffee in the first place.

Let's look at the nuances while extracting the best out of coffee in this post.

Anatomy of Light Roasts

Light roasted beans are dense little things. They haven't been pushed to their breaking point by heat, so their cellular structure is still tight and compact.

This is what makes them special. You get bright acidity, floral notes that remind you of jasmine or black tea, fruit flavors that can range from citrus to stone fruits to berries. Sometimes you even get this wine-like complexity that makes you stop mid-sip and think "wait, this is coffee?"

Most importantly, this is what specialty coffee is all about - you can taste where the coffee came from. That Coorg estate's monsoon-kissed sweetness, that Araku Valley organic earthiness, that Chikmagalur chocolate note. It's all there, waiting to be extracted.

The challenge? These dense beans don't give up their goods easily. They need convincing.

Convincing Brewing Light Roasts

Let's get to the pour over terms now.

Temperature is Your Friend

With light roasts, I push the temperature high - 94-96°C. Sometimes I even go to 98°C (which is just off boiling) for particularly stubborn beans.

These dense beans need that extra heat to open up and release their solubles. Think of it like trying to dissolve sugar in cold water versus hot water. The heat speeds everything up and helps break down those tight cellular walls.

Grind Finer, But Not Too Fine

On my Timemore C2, I'm usually around 16-19 clicks for light roasts. That's definitely finer than the 20-21 I use for mediums.

The finer grind increases surface area, giving the water more coffee to work with. But here's the catch - go too fine and you'll clog the filter, leading to an over-extracted mess that tastes bitter and astringent.

I have been there too.

I know I've gone too fine when the water takes forever to drain and leaves a muddy bed at the bottom. Back off a click or two if this happens.

Recipe 1: The Extended Bloom

This one changed my light roast game completely.

Start with 15g of coffee ground at 18 clicks (or your grinder's equivalent of medium-fine).

Pour 45g of 96°C water for the bloom. But here's the key - grab a spoon and give it a good stir. Really get in there. Make sure every ground is saturated. I do figure-8 motions for about 5 seconds.

Wait 45 seconds to a minute. Yes, a minute. Lance Hendrik, a popular coffee youtuber, even likes to wait the bloom for 2 minutes. Linking the whole video below as it’s a great reciepe for light roasts as well.

Now pour to 120g in slow circles, keeping that water level consistent. Wait for it to drain until the coffee bed is just exposed.

Final pour to 250g, same slow circles. Total brew time should be around 2:45-3:00.

The extended, agitated bloom ensures even extraction from the start. No dry pockets, no channeling.

Recipe 2: Fantastic Five

Sometimes I want to maintain maximum heat throughout the brew and have a good body. That's where this method shines.

Same dose - 15g of coffee, 250g total water at 96°C.

But instead of 3 pours, we're doing 5 smaller ones of 50g each. When I am teaching someone to brew for the first time, I go with this recipe as it's easy to remember. 50x5.

Each pour keeps the slurry temperature high. The water never gets a chance to cool down. It's like keeping constant pressure on those dense beans.

The multiple pours also create more agitation, which helps with extraction. Total time ends up around 3:15-3:30.

Some Hacks I picked up along the way

The Bypass Method If your cup is too acidic even after trying everything, brew a concentrated 1:13 ratio coffee, then add 40g of hot water directly to the cup. This "bypasses" the coffee bed and dilutes the acidity while maintaining body. On another note, I also enjoy a mokapot with light roasts along with this bypass.

Temperature Compensation Can't grind fine enough? Bump your water temperature by 2-3 degrees. If your grinder only goes so fine, let temperature do the extra extraction work.

Reading the Bloom A good bloom on light roasts should dome up like a mushroom. If it craters immediately, your water might be too hot or your coffee might be older than you think. If it barely moves, grind finer or increase agitation.

The Two-Temperature Trick Start with 96°C water for the bloom to really open things up, then drop to ~80°C for the second half of the pours. You get aggressive extraction at the start when you need it most, then gentle extraction to avoid bitterness. I guess Tetsu talks about this in some recipe video.

These are all the things I wanted to share on my favourite way to drink coffee.

What do think? Do you have any inputs or feedback?

That’s all I have. Have a caffeinated weekend.

See you.

Keep on brewing!