You can make multiple cups of pour over coffee at once by increasing the grind size and pouring more slowly. The coarser grind will extract more slowly but allow water to pass more quickly through the funnel. Some experimentation will allow you to brew multiple cups at once.
This article shares a brew guide for making multiple cups of pour over coffee in a single batch.
How to make multiple cups of pour over coffee at once
Pour over cones are not designed to brew more than one cup of coffee. A V60, Melitta, Kalita and most other popular pour overs have design limitations that make large batch coffee more difficult.
However, we have experimented and discovered a fairly consistent method for brewing a couple cups of great tasting pour over coffee. Here’s what we learned:
Use a 1:17 coffee ratio
We normally recommend a 1:15 ratio for single-serve pour over coffee. We have found that this is the optimal coffee ratio for achieving a fantastic tasting pour over brew with a great extraction yield.
But with multi-cup pour overs we recommend a 1:17 coffee-to-water ratio.
This ratio will help reduce the brew duration so your coffee doesn’t over-extract. A 1:17 ratio is on the low end of what most coffee drinkers suggest for pour over brews. However, the increased total coffee volume for a large batch pour over will naturally slow down the total brew duration.
So we need to adjust the coffee ratio to accommodate for this.
Use a coarser grind
A coarser-than-normal grind size will help a large batch pour over filter through the coffee bed more quickly than a standard pour over grind. As mentioned above, a multi-coffee pour over will have nearly twice as much coffee, which will take more time for water to filter through.
A coarse grind will not be as compact and will allow water to flow more easily through the coffee bed. We found this was the most important aspect of making this coffee taste as good as it can.
We recommend increasing your grind size by 2-4 steps on your burr grinder. A little experimentation will help you work towards an optimal grind size for your prefered batch size.
Pour your water more slowly
You will be required to pour more slowly than normal because there is less available volume in the pour over cone to accommodate water.
It’s important for the coffee bed to remain fully immersed in water throughout the brew. And because the coffee level is higher in the cone than with a single batch, you will have a shorter wait time between top-up pours before the water recedes below the coffee line again.
Therefore, you must practice a slower pouring technique to make sure the coffee is submerged while also not overflowing the cone.
Pour into a large carafe
Don’t forget to brew your multi-batch pour over into a carafe or container large enough to hold the total liquid volume. You will have a difficult time trying to move your pour over cone from one single-serve to another halfway through the brew.
Also, you will achieve the best tasting coffee if the entire coffee is brewed and mixed together so the extraction yield is consistent across both coffees.
If you separate the brew into two batches then the first coffee will likely taste under extracted and sour.
Start with 205°F (96°C) water
199-205°F (93-96°C) is the optimal brew temperature for pour over coffee. Brewing multiple cups at once will likely cause the water to drop below the minimum 199°F (93°C) if you don’t start with a hot enough temperature.
So starting with water on the high end of this range will ensure your brew temperature is high enough throughout the entire brew.
Brew 275-300ml pour overs instead of 330-350ml
You can make your large batch brew a little easier if you choose to brew a slightly smaller serving size than normal. For example, brewing two 275ml servings is 550ml total for two cups.
If you want to keep a nice round coffee ratio, you might consider brewing 32g of coffee with 544ml of water. This is a 1:17 ratio and produces two cups of coffee that are 272ml each, which is only slightly smaller than a standard coffee mug.
We usually brew 330ml when making a single cup of pour over because 22g of coffee is an even whole number 1:15 coffee ratio. But a V60 and other pour over cones will be able to easily brew 350ml coffees, which is a pretty standard beverage size.
What is the problem with brewing multiple pour overs at once?
Pour over cones don’t have enough volume to hold the water
The most challenging aspect when preparing a large batch pour over brew is that there is not a lot of room for the extra coffee and water that is required. A normal pour over usually ends with only 0.5-1 inches of extra space at the top of the cone.
Doubling your brew size would cause you to overflow your cone with water. This is why you need to make adjustments to your grind size and pouring speed to prevent overflow from happening.
A larger batch will have a longer extraction duration
A larger volume of coffee will take water longer to filter through. This compounds the issue of there not being a lot of room in the cone for extra coffee or water to begin with.
Alternatives to brewing multiple pour overs at once
French press
A French Press coffee maker is a wonderful coffee making method that allows coffee enthusiasts to brew an incredibly tasty and full-bodied coffee experience.
The great thing is that most French Press coffee makers can easily brew 500-700ml of coffee at once. You can buy even larger versions as well that allow you to brew much larger batches than that.
This makes French Press a great alternative to coffee lovers who value time and batch size but still want to appreciate great coffee.
Drip machine
Besides the French Press, there are few specialty coffee making methods that allow you to easily brew large batch coffee. So if brewing multiple cupps at once is important to you then you might consider investing in a high quality drip coffee maker, which is capable of brewing large batches.
Some third wave coffee enthusiasts might argue that drip machines brew inferior coffee but that’s not necessasrily true. There are many high-quality drip machines that brew excellent tasting specialty coffee.