A Beginner's Guide to Pour-Over Ethiopian Coffee
Pour-over is the clearest way to taste Grade 1 Ethiopian coffee. The method is simple: hot water, a cone, a paper filter, and freshly ground beans. What matters is consistency — weight, grind, temperature, and pour pattern.
LIYYU ships whole bean so you grind for your dripper, not for a warehouse shelf. Below is a reliable starting recipe for Yirgacheffe, Sidamo, or Guji medium roast.
Gear you need
A V60, Kalita Wave, or Chemex; paper filters that match the dripper; a gooseneck kettle; a scale that reads to 0.1 g; a burr grinder; and a timer. Blade grinders create uneven particles and muddy the cup — a basic burr grinder is the single best upgrade for Ethiopian coffee at home.
The baseline recipe (1:16)
Dose: 20 g coffee. Water: 320 g at 94–96°C (201–205°F). Grind: medium — like table salt for a V60, slightly coarser for Chemex. Total brew time: 2:45–3:30.
Rinse the filter with hot water and discard the rinse. Add coffee, tare the scale, and bloom with 40–50 g of water for 30–45 seconds. Then pour in slow spirals to 320 g by about 2:00, keeping the bed even. Let the drip finish; swirl gently if your dripper allows.
Tuning for Ethiopian origins
Yirgacheffe likes slightly hotter water and a medium grind so florals and citrus stay bright without sour under-extraction. Sidamo is forgiving — hold the 1:16 ratio and adjust grind if the cup tastes thin (finer) or bitter (coarser). Guji’s fruit sweetness pops with a clean medium grind and a steady spiral pour; avoid grinding too fine or you will mute the jasmine and jam the bed.
If the cup is sour and thin, grind finer or raise temperature a degree. If it is bitter or drying, grind coarser or cool the water slightly. Change one variable at a time.
Storage and freshness
Keep beans in the original one-way-valve bag, sealed, cool, and away from light. Do not refrigerate. Grind only what you brew. Roast date is on every LIYYU bag — brew when the aromatics still jump when you open the pouch.
Ready to practice? Order a 250 g bag of Yirgacheffe Medium Roast and run this recipe three mornings in a row. Small grind tweaks will teach you more than any gadget.