Agitation profiling: My secret hack for amazing pour overs 

I work as an engineer - and I've spent a good chunk of time working as a process engineer. Myself and a friend at work have been keeping pour-over logs for over a year now, and we were pretty close to the same conclusions as you were. Pour over gets affected by quite a number of seemingly small effects and it's very difficult to disentangle them all. Lightbulb moment in this video: "declining agitation profile will (typically) result in a cleaner cup". Bingo! - it explains some of the best cups that we've ever managed to brew, without being able to identify why some these were better than others using nominally the same recipe. As a little throwaway - we've been using a rinsed aeropress filter on top of our coffee beds, after carrying out a 2 min bloom, to achieve low agitation profiles. Great stuff! Great video :D

I have a lot of coffee gadgets but not a melodrip and I wanted to test out the principles from this! So, I used an Aeropress with the cap on to mimic, it was a little awkward, but hey, it worked well! Enjoying the clarity of this cup! Thanks!

This has been talked about before. But formalized like you did… not yet. Great work. This is definitely helpful for people starting out

Excellent explanation, and very good practical ideas about how to apply agitation profile theory to pour overs in order to get the best tasting cup. Thanks!

Graphing really helps to understand how agitation works in different Pour over recipes . Ive been using your Kalita wave recipe Gabi B ( for years now ) I recently added the Sibarist booster 45 It seems to help with a more even / bit faster extraction . Sometimes I add a stir in the 2dn part immersion phase sometimes not .Thanks for the great video !

I've been brewing pour overs each day for several years now and this tip improved my brews instantly - declining agitation profile. Thanks a bunch!

Thank you for your helpful advice. I ordered a MeloDrip. In the meantime I found that an IKAPE puck screen in my naked portafilter works pretty well. The drawback is that you can't lower it like the MeloDrip. Thanks again, you have helped me at least twice before.

Very cool. I got a Melodrip about a month ago, and after having some good cups and some under extracted ones, i started to mess around with agitation up front using your same logic. Would have kept at it, but then your switch video dropped and I had such good results I haven't messed with the melo as much. Doesn't help I switched to SSP MP 3 weeks ago (grabbed them used for $150 to hold me over until i order the V1's you suggested). All these sudden coffee changes and variables I've introduced have begun to really affect my personal life 😅

I love the way you explained this. Thanks for the video🎉

Great video, super simple and makes sense. Thanks Asser!

The coffee-as-filter theory is interesting! I wonder what effect it would have to split the coffee into "grind batch" of different sizes and layer them in the bed from coarse at the top to fine at the bottom.

Fantastic video! Ive always enjoyed your content but this video is just a breath of fresh air agaisnt all the usual coffe comtent out there right now. Its also valubake and provides a lot of information! Thank you Asser

This is very similar to how I approach pour over coffee. I’ve got varying levels of agitation from none (drip assist) to medium (direct pouring into the bed) to high (any added agitation). I will say I generally prefer the least amount of ag possible as it yields the clearest brews as you noted. So many forum posts complain about lack of flavors coming through and it turns out people are using the Hoffman method or some other high agitation recipe.

Interesting little observation about roast level. One of the most popular coffees sold in my area happens to be very light roast, and has been for decades. Apparently, people fell in love with the floral notes of light roasted coffee once WW2 was over and international commerce was back to normal. Since the early naughts, more and more dark roasted coffee has appeared in the market, and people started appreciating that as well. Some time around 2010s, light roasted specialty coffee became available as well and is currently gaining popularity. It's just funny to observe, that that the boring coffee everyone's grandma still continues to drink today is, in fact, very light roasted and floral, just like many specialty coffees.

You can pourover profile with a few scales out there and the corespondent apps. In my two decades of brewing traditional pourover there is a very simple technique I use that will get you a great cup most of the time. I call it the “More to less” technique. It’s simple, more agitation in the beginning and as the oils are stripped off the coffee particles you become more and more gentle. Is not the end all be all…. but it usually has good results.

A hario swith makes it all so easy

Conviently timed video for me! thanks!

Have you looked at the single pour technique? Slow beginnings to 20 sec first drip and high swirl agitation after the pour for a quick 1:30 timed pour.

I do enjoy occasionally low agitation, slow stream single pours which can produce great cups as well. Excellent and exciting content as usual CC 👏

Does declining agitation profiles apply to switch recipes as well? I'm a big fan of your switch recipe, would you recommend reducing agitation during the immersion phase of the brew (when you close the switch and fill it).

I love your work! Thanks for the quality content you're uploading... Can you share the recipe you've shown on the video? 😊 Additionally, I would love to have a video or series of videos showing your "decision tree" on how to adjust the pourover recipe from a brand new coffee bag ☕ I'd probably join your exclusive content for that ✨

Great video - again! I almost gave up Pour over! The agitation and recipes i used were too agressive and I ended up overpowering most of my cups. My cups did not deliver the beans characteristic - it was ok coffee but not fruity, not floral not... Currently i experiment a lot with agitation which helps me to achieve what I am looking for. Not perfect but far better. I am so excited to test out your methods!!

total agree and coincidentally did the same

I love how you pronounce coffee. But why I actually commented is, I just tried this with some beans I have been struggling to get to a consistent flavour out of and by applying some of the theories shared in this video, as well as using the bed as a filter, I just had an amazing cup of coffee. Love the work, and thanks for sharing.

As a former design engineer and current stroke survivor, I can tell you that your video essays have been valuable to me, in my endeavor to learn new things through learning *new things*. Thank you. *My short term memory issues... Y meant to write: "the enjoyment of brewing coffee"

Great video and insights! I've been thinking along similar lines, and I'm experimenting with a recipe that changes between two different pour styles to dial in the agitation. My recipe uses aspects of Lance and Hoffman's V60 recipes, and specifically, trades off between the different pours they use to adjust sweetness vs acidity. Adjusting the recipe instead of grind size is also inspired by the 4:6 recipe. Recipe details: Coarse grind size. 15g dose 250g water 212F (for light roasts). 50g bloom for one minute, excavate with a spoon during the bloom. Pour the rest in one more pour. Initially use a laminar flow pour (Hoffman - low height, 5g/s, spiral pour), then switch to a turbulent center pour (Lance Hedrick - high pour just below the breakup point, 6 - 8g/s, a small coin-sized circle around the center). Keep it all in one pour and change over between the pour styles without stopping. Swirl gently at the end to level the bed. To dial in the recipe, adjust the change-over point between the pour types, e.g. by shifting the change point in 50g increments. More laminar flow to increase sweetness, more turbulent center pour to increase acidity or reduce astringency. Default settings: laminar flow pour 50g, turbulent center pour for the rest. Try that first, then adjust from there.

Your idea about agitation profiling is really excellent! Thank you for that! I have been doing a lot of swirling, basically after each pour. The reason being is that after bloom I think it helps the coffee grounds wet more evenly. After that my idea has been that swirling is not actually that hard of an agitation as the grounds float in the liquid, and the water is not really brushing against the grounds. Compare it yourself; being in a shower or in the ocean bobbing up and down in waves : waves feel mellow, shower feels aggressive. This of course is a nice story but how to test the story with coffee is difficult. Maybe agitation level could be tested!The reason for added swirls is to prevent another interesting phenomena in coffee; channelling. Ideally I want my water to go through a fresh bed of coffee without any channels in there. The way to do it I think is either courser grind size or swirling every now and then. One last thing; with light roasts I do two blooms and then two regular pours and swirl after each pour but with dark roasts I actually like to do a total of five pours. The reason is that dark roasts I drink with shaked Oatley ikaffe and the end result is somewhat of a pourover latte 😅

I noticed I already use a declinging agitation profile on my V60 which helps me get cleaner more clear cups. I like this idea as a conspet though. it will help us be more consistent across our brews if we keep the agitation profile in mind. The more factors controlled the better.

Great content as always!

Tangentially, when I go lower-agitation and coarser-grind/faster-flow, I generally see a lighter colour and more translucent coffee, and it tastes better - has less of the harsh-bitter notes and muddiness. I find it works pretty well as an indicator of whether I need to reduce extraction. (Of course, some beans have barely any bitterness and are fine even at high agitation and fine grind size - I find Ethiopians often fall in this category.)

I’ve been struggling lately with pulling the level of clarity I want from my pour overs at home, despite dialing it almost every metric. I never once considered agitation profiles for roast degree and ideas in that stream of thought. I’m going to give this a shot!

Asser, another great video. I use a Hario Drip Assist, and your commentary on agitation profiles has me thinking. As you mentioned, drip assist tools offer very low agitation. When I use my Hario's outer circle during the pour phase, I notice that the water rests on top of the coffee bed, rather than combine with the coffee bed to create a slurry the way a kettle pour would. I wonder if this results in good extraction, because I would assume that fresh water from the water layer is passing through the coffee bed with full extraction power (since it's not infused with coffee yet). Isn't this the concept behind the 5-pour method as well (to pour fresh solvent [water] through the bed). Thoughts?

I've always used Hoffmann's v60 method, though I broke the method down into gram goals at every 15 second mark to improve the consistency of the stream. I do think a lot about where I'm pouring, because it seems that pouring in the center creates more extraction than pouring along the outer rim. In the past I've always been recommended to get the fines onto the walls and top of the coffee bed, as that reduces their contact time with the water as it drains.

I do often like to utilize center pours in the last portion of the pour.. might need to finally try the drip assists.

For me , trying to execute a proper pour over EARLY in the morning when I'm NOT awake , has been a disaster to say the least ! Admittedly , I am a newbie , but I'm starting to think maybe I should have only invested in a good french press.

You can use a strainer instead of a spoon!

Agitation profiling has been very central to MCL discourse for a couple of years now, but we never coined a term for it :) Even on the very light or even ultralight profiles we prefer, it's an important aspect.

Appreciate Your videos…but you did not mention temperature…Best Temperature

Just got the Timemore Drip Assist with the B75 and it's been such a banger

Lol. I've been experimenting with the Kruve sifter and gooseneck kettle pour agitation for the last week, haha! I love that your video confirms what I've been doing for fun to be something worth exploring :)! I do use light roast and agitation does seem interesting. I also found my link between muddy sides and flat beds! You confirmed what i finally found out yesterday, haha! Thank you :)! Should point out I'm experimenting with my Clever at the moment rather than my V60-02.

How do you overcome the second type of bed at the end of the video (the muddy going going up the edges? This happens in 90% of my pour overs unless I swirl, which I don't like doing

Good memories of those old sweetmarias vids

Hi, I already bought a Lelit Marax, I am in love with it but I have a problem. I do a correct simple puck prep with a fine ground (I tried multiple settings with a eureka mignon oro sd) but I cant get the pressure of the machine high. It just extracts the coffee the whole time pretty fast and with 3 bars of pressure. I blind tested it and it gets just fine to 9 bars, which is what I am hoping for. Any suggestions?

This guy coffees

totally agree

Thank you. Nice video. A maybe stupid question though. I use V60. Does it mather if you pour clockwise of counterclockwise? I mean the groves in the filter are one way.

I’ve come to the same conclusion as well. I think too much agitation stirs up fines that leech bitterness to the cup. I don’t understand using a Gabi or those other overly complicated devices. Pour over is is supposed to be simple. You might as well invest in a SCAA drip machine since you’re trying to replicate those devices manually.

I never achieve a filter bed without mud on the sides I thought that actually that is the idea of the filter paper to have it o there. can i only solve it with larger grind?

If the horizontal axis is time, the 4:6 method representation is very inaccurate. There's a pretty long bloom of around 45 s the first pour is longer and gentle, the last 2 are pretty fast and agressive. Etc

I know this question isn't related. But do you think I should get a J-Ultra grinder for espresso, even though I have a K-ultra that works well. Is the taste a nice difference or not worth it overall.

A glaring omission: Japanese Pour Over is not profiled. I would think that it would be high agitation due to the pronounced gas release of the freshly dark roasted coffee. However, in this case, the bubbling seems to have a buffering effect - slowing down the extraction to optimally sync it with the medium coarse grind size. BTW this agitation profile concept is genius - thank you very much!

That’s a super helpful concept, thanks for the video Asser! What do you think about progressively reducing agitation during the second pour of a 2 pour recipe (bloom + 1 pour)? Like, start the second pour quite high and fast, at like 7 mL/sec, then gradually lower the kettle and slow down to ~4 mL/s? (The curve would start from like 80% bloom and then 70% start of first pour all the way down to ~20%.) I’m not sure but I think that might reduce the agitation too much because during the second pour, the water column grows taller and taller (especially with slow draining coffees like Ethiopians) so if you lower the pour height and speed, the stream ends up almost not agitating the bed at all? I only brew decafs because I can’t have caffeine and for 90% of them, anything more than 2 pours clogs the filter so that’s why I’m asking about this specifically 😅

0:42 i disagree, I think the sentiment is that pour over is much more complex and impossible to be consistent due to the sheer number of variables that go into making a cup.

100%! How do you think the results of your standard Kalita recipe compares to your recommended B75 recipe?

nah, be ghetto like me and use a steam pitcher or turkey baster to do your pouring with your pourovers...works like a charm

Can you please explain, or somebody what is the difference between this Cone Shape and the Melitta Pour Over Porcelain Brewing Cone. Thank you!

No Melodrip on your link list?

Great video as always, but I have to say... "gaslighting" refers to a form of systematic psychological/emotional abuse. I agree that people generally do not adequately consider agitation as a brewing parameter but that doesn't mean anyone has been "gaslit"... is it not a synonym for being misled.

the premise of “pourover methodology doesn’t matter” is just false, but nice video anyway

Good info ty