Pour Over Coffee Brew Time Calculator

Pour Over Coffee Brew Time

Total brew time depends on dripper geometry, grind size, and total water mass. The classic specialty-coffee target:

Total brew time ≈ 2:30 to 3:30 minutes for a 250-300 g brew on a V60.

Standard pour over recipe (1:16 ratio):

• Coffee dose: 15-20 g
• Water: 240-320 g
• Bloom: 2× dose in water for 30-45 sec
• Main pours: 2-3 stages of equal volume
• Total time: 2:30 to 3:30

Pour stages by dripper:

The Clever is in that table for completeness but not in the dropdown, because a stage-by-stage pour schedule does not describe an immersion brewer. With a Clever you pour once, wait, and open the valve.

Stage timing (typical 250 g recipe):

That is the schedule for a standard 18 g V60. Bigger doses stretch the pours and the drawdown, which is what the calculator adjusts for.

Adjustments by grind size:

• Coarser grind means water passes faster and the brew finishes early. If the cup tastes thin and sour, grind finer.
• Finer grind means more resistance and a longer brew. If you run past four minutes, coarsen.

Adjustments by total dose. The calculator scales the whole brew by 1.2 seconds per gram away from an 18 g reference, then multiplies by a dripper factor (V60 and Origami 1.0, Kalita 1.05, Chemex 1.15). So:

• 25 g on a V60: 8 seconds longer than the 18 g schedule, landing at 2:53
• 30 g on a V60: 14 seconds longer, 2:59
• 12 g on a V60: 7 seconds shorter, 2:38
• 18 g on a Chemex: 25 seconds longer than the same dose on a V60, 3:10

Those are smaller adjustments than most brew guides suggest, and deliberately so. A model that stretched a 30 g brew by a full minute would push it past four minutes and into bitterness, which is not what actually happens on a large flat-bottom brewer. Treat the number as a starting timer, then trust your palate over it.

Why timing matters:

• Under 2 minutes: under-extracted, sour and weak
• 2:30 to 3:30 is the sweet spot, where extraction lands balanced
• Over 4 minutes: over-extracted, bitter and astringent

Pro tips:

• Rinse the paper filter through with hot water and pour the rinse away. It washes out the papery taste and warms the dripper at the same time
• Pre-heat the carafe and dripper
• Use a goose-neck kettle for slow controlled pours
• Stir or swirl the bloom to fully wet all grounds
• Stop pouring water about 15 seconds before target time: drawdown finishes the brew