Although espresso has a special place in the hearts of many coffee professionals and drinkers, filter coffee is often their go-to choice. Appreciating the simplicity of a well-prepared pour over or batch brew is an experience shared around the world, especially in North America, Scandinavia, and Japan, where filter coffee has long remained the most popular brewing method.
The craft and skill of preparing filter coffee have prevailed since the rise of the third wave movement in the late 1990s and early 2000s. But over the last decade, as automation has increasingly infiltrated the coffee landscape, the push for consistency and efficiency has reshaped filter brewing. Automated single-serve pour over systems have become standard in specialty coffee shops, moving the industry away from the artisanal elements of hand brewing.
It will undoubtedly play a key role in the future of filter coffee, but innovation won’t stop at automation – especially with price rises set to drive at-home consumption up this year. Simultaneously, we can expect to see inventive brewing gadgets, premium brewer materials and eye-catching designs, and more research-backed recipe development influence the ways we prepare and drink filter coffee.
I spoke to Yu Yue (Fish), the co-founder and head of product design at Timemore, Dr Samo Smrke, Deputy Head of the Coffee Excellence Center, and Martin Wölfl, the 2024 World Brewers Cup Champion and managing director at Wildkaffee Austria and 25grams Coffee, to gain their insight.
You may also likeour article on why customers won’t wait forever for pour overs.
Precision as standard
Filter brewing methods have long played an integral role in different coffee-drinking cultures around the world. In many Latin American countries, customary wooden chorreador brewers and cloth bolsitafilters are still prevalent today, while traditional drinks like Touba coffee are popular in different parts of Africa.
Pour over coffee as we know it today can be traced back to early 20th-century Germany when Melitta Bentz fashioned a brewer out of a brass pot and paper filter. Her invention sparked a new wave of filter coffee brewers and machines, including the iconic Chemex and Hario V60 – both ubiquitous with third wave and specialty coffee culture.
As consumption of higher-quality coffee increased throughout the 2000s, baristas and home brewers focused more of their attention on precisely controlling different extraction variables – dose, yield, grind size, brew time, and level of agitation, among others – to manipulate coffee flavour. By doing so, they could highlight specific attributes to enhance the overall drinking experience.
“Fundamentally, the way we brew coffee has not changed in the last decade,” explains Dr Samo Smrke, Head of Coffee Transformation at the ZHAW Coffee Excellence Center. “Dose in, water-to-coffee ratio, TDS (total dissolved solids), yield, brew control chart – all terminology used ten years ago.”
What has changed, Samo says, is that the number of people who factor in these variables has massively increased. Brewing without a scale is no longer an option, and some coffee shops and home baristas regularly use TDS meters to analyse extraction data.
He adds that the tools and techniques we leverage to achieve exceptional results have also evolved. Grinder technology has dramatically improved, and more advanced brewers, accessories, and methods are available, such as zero bypass brewers, different paper filters, and post-extraction chilling.
Consistency is the goal
Through this hyper-focus on precision, baristas aim to extract the best results from each coffee in every cup. Simultaneously, they can create repeatable recipes that ensure consumers experience the same flavour profile, mouthfeel, and level of quality, leading to consistent customer experiences.
But with manual brewing, invariable conditions like human error and varying levels of barista experience have their own impact on the results in the cup. To avoid these issues, coffee shops have increasingly automated their operations, including filter coffee brewing, to prioritise consistency and efficiency.
While automation has undoubtedly benefited specialty coffee, especially at a time when staff turnover rates remain high post-pandemic, it inevitably pits automated single-serve brewers against the craft of manual brewing. Once considered a staple of third wave coffee culture, it has become increasingly common to see coffee shops move away from hand-brewed pour overs in a bid to improve operational efficiency, arguably pushing the industry further away from its core values.
“From manual pour over in the early 20th century to being replaced by machines, then back to manual brewing with the rise of specialty coffee, and now to automated devices that replicate set brewing parameters – it’s cyclical,” says Yu Yue (Fish), the co-founder and head of product design at premium coffee equipment manufacturer Timemore.
“The underlying logic relates to two aspects that coffee professionals and enthusiasts desire: Playfulness and control. A good automated brewer must balance the two.”
Manual vs automated: The ongoing debate
Since its inception, the specialty coffee industry has exemplified a conflict between an appreciation for artisanal craftsmanship and the pursuit of scientific excellence. The barista often takes centre stage in cafés, showcasing their skills and talent for brewing exceptional filter coffee.
However, there is still an emphasis on precision and consistency, often at the expense of human touch. In some cases, the barista is relegated to operating a machine that carries the majority of the extraction process out for them – fundamentally changing their role in the industry.
“Automated brewing has greatly increased coffee quality in recent years. I believe that today, the best automated brewers can match the quality of a hand brew but with better consistency,” Samo says. “Of course, there is the craft and personal touch of the hand brew that a machine can’t deliver; however, purely objectively, the quality is there.”
The juxtaposition of craft and automation has led some to believe that the industry is at a crossroads – and the only way forward is to choose between the two. But with specialty coffee consumers demanding both convenience and authenticity, it raises the question of how the two can co-exist.
Manual brewing becomes premium
Even with the proliferation of automated brewing systems, manual filter coffee brewing methods have still prevailed in cafés around the world. The familiar sight of a hand-brewed pour over set up on bar is a comfort for many industry professionals and consumers who seek to hold onto the craft element of specialty coffee.
Perhaps in a bid to compete in the increasingly automated world of filter coffee brewing, manual brewers are becoming more premium in their design and materials. Following the pandemic, at-home coffee preparation and consumption increased, and consumers are more interested in elevating the experience with high-quality equipment.
“Manual brewing equipment should not only function well but also look beautiful. It should feel premium and be made from premium materials,” says Martin Wölfl, the 2024 World Brewers Cup Champion and managing director at Wildkaffee Austria roastery and cold brew manufacturer 25grams Coffee.
“This is becoming especially important because more people are sharing coffee-related posts on social media.”
Brewers like the Origami, AeroPress Premium, Graycano, and Hario Suiren combine functionality with form, serving as “Instagrammable” coffee equipment that also produces high-quality results.
Are brewing gadgets the future of filter coffee?
As demand for hand-brewed pour over persists, even in the wake of the ever-growing need to streamline operations, it brings with it a wave of new technologies and accessories that prioritise precision and control more than ever.
“We see innovation driven by differentiation in design, advanced technology, and completely new brewing techniques,” Samo says. “The segment where the most prominent change has occurred in the last decade is hand grinders. We have evolved from basically no sufficiently good hand grinders to manual grinders that can perform better than many electric models.
“I believe this trend isn’t over, and we will continue to see new advancements, particularly in home brewing.”
When the vast majority of coffee shops closed during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, consumers were forced to brew at home. Investing in premium equipment and online educational courses made the process easier, giving rise to a new era of “prosumers” committed to replicating a café-style experience at home.
“To achieve better precision and consistency, grinder technology needs to produce more uniform results. People used to say some five years ago that a uniform grind size would make the coffee taste overly clean, but the general trend toward more uniform grinding has been widely recognised,” Fish tells me. “For example, the Sculptor 078 has a high uniformity with a low number of fines, improving cleanliness and offering more control.
“We’ve also seen the coffee scale market grow significantly. Even for beginners, scales are no longer optional, helping them achieve the basic level of control needed for brewing filter coffee,” he adds. “Similarly, gooseneck kettles improve the ability to control water flow and temperature. Timemore’s products can maintain stable temperatures within ±0.5°C, for instance.”
New ways of preparing coffee
As with espresso, specialty coffee is constantly pursuing excellence in filter coffee extraction – and it won’t stop anytime soon.
Competitions such as the World Brewers Cup continue to lead innovation and serve as a springboard for future trends in the industry, showcasing the potential of pour over brewing.
“You can experiment with newly developed products like drippers at competitions; it’s like a beta test for new equipment,” Martin says. “The more we learn about the science of brewing and what happens during extraction, the more we can develop new brewer possibilities.”
Adopting more data-backed and research-driven approaches will fuel this learning curve and equip baristas and home brewers with the knowledge to exert more control over the extraction process.
“There is less of a focus on the fundamentals of brewing filter coffee compared to espresso extraction,” Samo tells me. “The industry needs to invest in more research on filter coffee brewing to understand the fundamentals behind the brewing process better.”
Automation will play a pivotal role in the future of filter coffee. But specialty coffee professionals and home brewers will still hold on to the craft of manual brewing – creating a dynamic interplay of efficiency, consistency, and skill that can lead baristas down different paths.
Whether coffee businesses prefer to go fully automated, retain a focus on hand brewing, or embrace both, ongoing innovation is set to reshape filter coffee preparation and consumption.
Enjoyed this? Then readour article on where filter coffee is most popular.
Photo credits: World Coffee Events, Michele Illuzzi, Timemore
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