The Best Coffee Beans for Pour Over, A Definitive Buying Guide 

August 23, 2020 // 12 minute read // 1 Shares

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Most people argue that coffee is more than a drink, and regardless of what your thoughts are on this, one thing we can all agree on is that a great cup of coffee in the morning will most likely set the pace for the rest of the day.

The pour over method is one of the most commonly used coffee brewing methods. This is because it’s not too difficult to master and brings out the best flavors and scents. One thing you have to get right though is your choice coffee beans though.

While this choice may come down to personal preference, some beans are generally ideal for the process. If you are still trying to find the best or you want to switch from the coffee beans you are currently using and are not sure where to start, this guide lists the best coffee beans for pour over coffee.

Six Reviews for the Best Coffee Beans for Pour Over

Here we have compiled a list of the best coffee beans for pour over on the market based on numerous customer reviews and other criteria. Let’s meet the candidates!

1. Kicking Horse Coffee, Medium Roast

Kicking Horse Coffee, Medium Roast

This is one of the best coffee brands on the market for pour over coffee. Medium roast with a chocolatey taste, you cannot go wrong when you choose to start your day with this coffee.

It’s best prepared using the pour over method, but should work fine with any other method too.

The coffee is sourced from Africa and South America. The brand is fair trade certified, which means that they actively try to make sure everyone in the process, from the farmer to the drinkers, gets a quality product. The coffee is imported raw and roasted in the Rocky Mountains.

It’s very affordable in comparison to other brands on the market.

It is arabica coffee and is farmed organically, which is sustainable for the environment and also in terms of farming practices.

What’s Good

  • Delicious, deep dark flavor
  • Great way to start your morning
  • Fairtrade certified
  • Environment friendly

What’s Bad

  • Not the strongest coffee aroma
Sale
Kicking Horse Coffee, Medium Roast
Medium roast, whole bean. Cheeky, bright, and precocious. A bright, chocolaty concoction for the smart-thinking, deep-drinking, good-at-their-game-in-the-morning crowd.

2. Lavazza Super Crema Espresso Whole Bean

Lavazza Super Crema Espresso Whole Bean

Here is another great way to get your day started: these coffee beans are from one of the biggest names in the coffee market.

These coffee beans are blended 40% Robusta and 60% Arabica to give you the best in terms of flavor and aroma. The coffee is a medium roast with a mild honey and almond flavor.

It’s sourced from Vietnam, Columbia, Indonesia, and then roasted and blended in Italy.

If you have issues with acidity, then you will be glad to know that this coffee brand is lower on acidity, which makes it easier on your stomach. You are not left with a bitter taste in your mouth either.

This coffee, however, is mostly used for espressos, but if you have mastered your pour over coffee making technique, you can make a great coffee cup with these beans.

What’s Good

  • No bitter aftertaste
  • Low on acidity
  • Great taste

What’s Bad

  • A little on the pricey side
Lavazza Super Crema Espresso Whole Bean
  • Whole bean
  • Deliciously frothy cappuccino
  • A Blend of selected Arabica and Robusta coffee beans dairy creamer and sugar

3. Kicking Horse Coffee, Cliff Hanger Espresso, Medium Roast

Kicking Horse Coffee, Cliff Hanger Espresso, Medium Roast

This is another great option from Kicking Horse coffee that is worth a try. The beans are medium roasted, and also give the coffee a delicious and smooth, chocolaty aroma with a note of wild berry and a cocoa finish.

It’s your ultimate cup of coffee to start your day with. The brand is fair deal certified, which means that the company endeavors to give everyone from the farmer to the coffee drinker the best deal without being exploitative at any stage.

The beans are sourced from Africa, Indonesia, and South America. The beans are then blended and roasted at the Rocky Mountains. The coffee is also organically farmed using sustainable farming methods for a healthy environment.

If you have acidity issues, then you will love that these coffee beans have low acidity levels and, therefore, ideal for people with sensitive stomachs.

What’s Good

  • Lower acidity levels
  • Chocolaty aroma
  • Organically farmed
  • Fair deal certified

What’s Bad

  • Very strong for a medium roast
Kicking Horse Coffee, Cliff Hanger Espresso, Medium Roast
Pentax Bright, fruit & cocoa, heavenly. Get a grip on this chocolaty, smooth blend. Don't hang in suspense, this blend reads like the manifesto of delicious coffee.

4. Stumptown Founders Blend Coffee, Organic

Stumptown Founders Blend Coffee, Organic

This is another brand of beans expertly sourced and roasted to give you the ultimate wakeup call in the morning. Stumptown coffee roasters have made a name for themselves in the coffee market by being consistent and always providing coffee enthusiasts with quality they can depend on.

It’s a light-medium roast with a deep chocolaty flavor: just the beans you need for the perfect cup in the morning.

The coffee is sourced from South and Central America and roasted in Portland. The result is delicious, flavorful coffee with praline, raisin, and cocoa notes.

To make sure that the coffee gets to you as fresh as possible, Stumptown uses innovative bags meant to keep the coffee fresh for up to 90 days from the roast date. They also indicate the roasting dates and the expiry dates on the bags, so you know how fresh your coffee beans are before purchasing.

The beans are best used within two weeks of opening.

The coffee is also farmed organically, which is both sustainable for the environment and farming practices.

What’s Good

  • Praline, raisin, and cocoa powder tasting notes
  • Organically farmed
  • Sustainable for the environment

What’s Bad

  • Not a very deep flavor
Sale
Stumptown Founders Blend Coffee, Organic
Founder's Blend combines clean and sweet organic Central and South American beans to create a juicy and approachable cup. Tasting notes of raisin, praline, & cocoa powder

5. Dallmayr Prodomo Beans Coffee

Dallmayr Prodomo Beans Coffee

Start your morning the right way with this German brand of coffee beans. The coffee is carefully selected and processed in a manner that eliminates the bitter aftertaste found in most coffee brands and also has reduced acidity. This makes it suitable for people with acidity issues, but the coffee still retains the right amount of caffeine to give you that extra boost you need to kick start your day.

These coffee beans are 100% arabica coffee, and are medium-roasted to bring out the full flavor of the coffee beans.

If you are shopping for coffee on a budget, however, this may not be the ideal choice as it’s expensive in comparison to other coffee brands in the market.

What’s Good

  • No bitter aftertaste
  • Reduced acidity
  • Medium roasted for the full flavor
  • 100% arabica Coffee

What’s Bad

  • Relatively expensive
Sale
Dallmayr Prodomo Beans Coffee
Whole Beans Coffee. Product of Germany. Medium Roast.

6. 2 Packs Douwe Egberts Whole Beans Coffee

2 Packs Douwe Egberts Whole Beans Coffee

This coffee brand is another ideal brand for pour over coffee brewing. It’s a medium roast, which helps accentuate the coffee’s deep flavor.

Unlike other coffee brands that will go stale way before their expiration date, these coffee beans are vacuum sealed. This helps get the beans to you as fresh as they should be for the ultimate cup of coffee.

The beans are carefully selected to provide only the best quality coffee. If you are brewing yourself a cup using the pour over method, measure seven grams of coffee for every cup.

The coffee is from the Netherlands, and you can keep enjoying it for up to three weeks after you have opened the package.

What’s Good

  • Vacuum sealed to help get it to you as fresh as possible
  • Medium roast
  • Has a rich aroma and a strong flavor

What’s Bad

  • Not very consistent
2 Packs Douwe Egberts Whole Beans Coffee
Medium Roasted whole coffee beans. 17.6oz per pack. 2 packs. Carefully selected to be used in your bean to cup coffee machine. Top quality whole coffee beans from Douwe Egberts Aroma Rood. Imported from the Netherlands. Vacuum packed.

Considerations for the Best Coffee Beans for Pour Over Coffee

There are so many coffee beans brands in the market to choose from. When you are looking for pour over coffee beans for the ultimate cup of coffee, there are a few things you should consider.

The Roast Intensity

Coffee is roasted to different roast levels, from light roast to dark. When you are looking for coffee beans you have to know what roast intensity best suits you.

While lighter roasts have slightly lower levels of caffeine, they also retain the natural coffee aromas and have fruity and floral notes.

Lightly roasted coffee beans also retain most of the coffee’s acidity, and if you have acidity issues, you should probably stay away from light roast coffee beans.

Medium roast coffee beans still retain the natural coffee aromas, but when it comes to the flavor, they have a more caramelized nutty flavor as a result of the higher heat intensity used during their roast. As far as acidity levels are concerned, the medium level roast coffee beans have lower acidity levels and therefore great for people with acidity issues.

Medium level roast beans are a perfect balance as far as aroma and flavor are concerned.

Dark roasted beans are roasted for longer, and as a result, they often lack the bright natural coffee aromas you get with light and medium roasts. They instead have a dark chocolaty note. Due to the high heat applied when roasting, dark roast beans have high acidity levels, perfect for people with sensitive stomachs.

While the roast intensity is a matter of preference most of the time, medium level roasts are the best when you are buying coffee for pour over coffee brewing.

What’s Your Favorite Flavor?

If you are a coffee lover, then you probably already have a favorite coffee flavor that you enjoy. When it comes to coffee flavors, two main factors play a major role, whether the beans are single-origin or blended.

Single-origin coffee beans are sourced from one region, and their flavor will mostly be attributed to that region and the conditions in which the coffee is farmed.

Blended coffee beans, on the other hand, offer a mix of coffee beans sourced from different parts of the globe, blending these beans results in a more balanced flavor. The coffee beans to be blended are carefully selected by professional baristas to achieve the desired taste.

The Freshness of the Beans

Coffee beans are the best and most flavorful when they are freshly roasted. Since it’s almost impossible to get beans fresh from the roaster, the best you can hope for is to get a batch that is well packaged, so that they can get to you as fresh as possible.

Good coffee beans will be best for up to three weeks after you open them (though you can probably still enjoy a cup that’s made with older beans). Most manufacturers will vacuum seal the coffee beans to keep them fresh.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Is Bloom?

When making coffee with freshly ground coffee, you have to wet the coffee by pouring a little amount of hot water and letting it soak for a while before brewing. This is called blooming.

The reason you need to do this is that freshly ground coffee releases a lot of CO2 that can ruin the flavor of your coffee when the boiling water first touches the grounds. If you don’t allow the coffee to ‘bloom’ first, releasing the CO2, the water may only absorb the bitter flavors of your brew. This is why you need to bloom the coffee grounds for at least 30 seconds.

What Are the Best Coffee Beans for Pour Over Coffee?

As I have already explained, there are several factors to consider when you are choosing the best beans. You might have to try a few brands before you settle on the best. The beans on this list are a great place to start though!

In Conclusion

The pour over coffee brewing method may not be the fastest, but when it comes to flavor extraction, it will be worth your time.

While all the beans on this list are great, check out the Kicking Horse coffee. You get great coffee flavors and aroma, low levels of acidity, and freshness you just don’t get with other coffee brands of the same price. Grab your favorite brand from this list, and let’s start brewing!


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