A Better 1 Cup V60 Technique

A few quick bits: Firstly - it appears I've ended up in a similar place to Matt Winton's Five Pour Technique. I was aware of Matt's work, but hadn't watched this video recently, and I think we've just worked our way to similar techniques independently. Shout out to Matt for getting there first!
Secondly - excuse the error at 10:13 where I say "Don't be afraid of going a bit coarse" when I meant "finer. Apologies!
Third - regarding preheating with the hot water tap: There's clearly a lot of variation out there on this front, and I could well have made a mistake here. It might be better to use a kettle. I'd recommend transferring the V60 to the sink before adding the water, to slow its exit from the cone, which helps do more heating up with less water.

1 Cup V60 Technique
15g Ground Coffee, 250g Water

Try to use best possible quality of water
Try to use water as hot as possible after boiling
Use swirling motion, aim for 5g/sec Pour rate
Try to keep spout close to surface

1. Preheat and Rinse (Plastic) Brewer and Filter with Hot tap water (Hot to Touch)
2. Dig a mound in the middle of the Ground Coffee
3. Zero/Reset Scale with Brewer and Ground Coffee
4. Boil Water

0:00 : Approx. ~50g Bloom Pour
0:10 - 0:15 : Gentle Swirl
0:00 - 0:45 : Bloom
0:45 - 1:00 : Pour to ~100g Total
1:00 - 1:10 : Pause
1:10 - 1:20 : Pour to ~150g Total
1:20 - 1:30 : Pause
1:30 - 1:40 : Pour to ~200g Total
1:40 - 1:50 : Pause
1:50 - 2:00 : Pour to ~250g Total
2:00 : Gentle Swirl, Wait for drawdown to Complete

Total Brew Time: Approx. ~3:00, YMMV; Adjust Grind if necessary for Taste/Time
Too Fast/Acidic = Finer
Too Slow/Bitter = Coarser

Loving this new POV style of brewing with the time stamps on screen along with James’ commentary. Very helpful for visual and auditory learners. It also helps reduce a lot confusion that comes with new coffee tutorials. Thank you!

“Don’t obsess over…” 😂

For those on spectrum a bit more clean version of the description:

0:00 Pour 50g of water to bloom
0:10 - 0:15: Gently Swirl
0:45 - 1:00: Pour up to 100g total (40% total weight)
1:10 - 1:20: Pour up to 150g total (60% total weight)
1:30 - 1:40: Pour up to 200g total (80% total weight)
1:50 - 2:00: Pour up to 250g total (100% total weight)
2:00 - 2:05: Gently swirl
Drawdown should finish around 3:00

I've never clicked so fast

Today was a Big Day. My first ever grinder, and my first go at a V60. Followed these instructions to the best of my ability, and oh my golly gosh, I had nectar to drink. Thank you so much for letting me learn at the University of James.

I have a ceramic V60 and came up with a simple way to preheat it. Rinse filter in the V60, then put it in the microwave for 15-20 secs. It works a charm. I try to avoid plastics whenever possible. Great video, James. Cheers!

Your attention to affordability, energy efficiency, and simplicity is why I love this channel. Great coffee and great awareness. Keep up the great work

Just made my first cup with this technique, James, and the results were fantastic! I'm excited to test the consistency of this technique as that's what I've always struggled with when making small brews using the varying V60 recipes out there: I'll make a great cup, then a not-great cup, then a great cup, then a confusing cup, and so on.

Wow! I had no idea 🤷🏻‍♀️. I usually drink instant coffee, but yesterday I was at a store called Daiso and saw these interesting pour over coffee brewers for your mug. I thought it looked easy enough, and purchased a cute one that matched a mug I had at home. I just went on YouTube to see how it’s used. And wow, more than meets the eye 😅

For preheating my ceramic V60, I do similar to what Flair suggests for preheating their brew heads, which is sticking it on the top of the kettle while you boil the water and pop the kettle lid on top of the V60. This lets the steam do the work, with no extraneous wasted water.

I am indeed one of those people that have struggled with the 1-cup V60 for a while. Not just your recipe either. Ever since you made that first technique video, my 2-cup brews were always great tasting, but the 1-cup ones never quite felt right. Definitely gonna try this.

This makes me SO happy. This is almost exactly how I modified your original V60 recipe for my daily pour-over! *Only difference is that I wasn’t doing the pauses. I just pour slowly enough to hit literally those exact times/weights through the pour. 😍

It genuinely makes me happy that we have a long play through like this again!

I didn't even get the grind right for the first try and it was still a better cup than I've been making lately. Thank you so much for this!

I’ve been doing the original technique every single day since the original video came out. Very excited to give the new technique a try tomorrow morning. Thanks for breaking brewing down methodically!

I’d love to hear more about blooming vs no bloom. I’ve been using the “single pour” technique and have been really enjoying the cups produced

I have been playing with this method for a few months and I agree with James that this is a very forgiving method. I love it.

I love your attitude towards testing and all those tiny details that can affect brewing <3 truly enjoyed the video