Same Recipe, Two Different Cups

Hey,

I ran a little experiment that messed with my head a bit. Same coffee, same grind, same ratio, same everything. The only thing I changed was when I poured the water. And the two cups tasted different.

Here's the setup. Two pour overs on my Hario V60, 20 grams of coffee, aiming for a 1 to 15 ratio. After the bloom, the first cup got about 70 percent of its water up front, then the last 30 percent. The second cup got that flipped. Only 30 percent first, then the big 70 percent later.

If you just look at the numbers, they came out nearly identical. The TDS readings were basically the same, around 1.07 and 1.10. On paper, these are the same cup.

But they didn't taste the same. The front loaded cup was more neutral, more balanced, calmer. A little one note, but easy. The back loaded cup was more acidic up front, then sweeter, with a bitterness that lingered on the finish. More going on, more intense. I went back and forth on it, and I landed on preferring the front loaded one for its balance, though honestly it's close.

Here's what I take from it. The recipe on paper is not the whole story. Two brews can match on paper, same ratio, same grind, same reading, and still land in different places in your mouth, just because of how you sequenced the water. The meter tells you one story. The cup tells you another. And the cup is the one you're actually drinking.

If your pour routine is giving you cups you love, don't overthink this. You're not doing it wrong.

But if you've ever nailed the numbers and still felt like something was off, this might be why. Try front loading your water one day and back loading it the next. Same recipe, just a different rhythm, and see which one your palate likes. Watch the full test here.

Then hit reply and tell me how you pour. I read every one.

Oaks, the Coffee Guy