7 Key Differences Between Pour Over vs. Drip Coffee

Pour over: The brewing method for pour over coffee offers potential for the most variations to your drinking experience, as well as potential for a higher-quality coffee. That’s because pour over is entirely a “manual process” and allows you to customize every aspect to create a perfect cup. To get that precise pour, most coffee lovers prefer a Chemex and gooseneck kettle. This method does require skill, attention, patience and time. Even with the best of intentions, you have to use the tools properly—or yes, you might just end up with a terrible cup of coffee.

Drip coffee: Depending on the quality of your drip coffee maker, you can ensure a flavorful cup of coffee will come out the same each time. This is a quick and reliable brewing option that is accomplished with the flip of a switch or the push of a button every morning. And in recent years, smart, new design features on drip coffee makers have led to higher-quality results.

So with good quality beans and the proper grind size, each method is a viable option. 

Pour over:  This brewing method gives you complete control over your pouring style: grind size, saturation of grounds, water flow and temperature, frequency of pours and essentially how long the brewing process takes. All of these variables make a distinct difference in the type, taste and texture of the coffee. For example, for a fuller flavor, use more grounds, or for a lighter flavor, use fewer grounds—you decide. Adjusting the amount of water and pouring water slowly and evenly comes a lot easier with the kettle in your hand. This method, however, allows more room for error because of all these variables. Unless you're really careful with measurements and ratios, it will be difficult to produce the same result twice. Even the slightest differences can change the drinking experience.

• Pro tip: We recommend a sequence of four pours. Each pour targets a specific volume of water in a specified time frame. The most important, perhaps, is the first pour, nicknamed “the bloom,” for the way the grounds swell up as carbon dioxide releases (a by-product from roasting). By pausing at the bloom and getting the timing right for the three subsequent pours, you’re extracting the coffee’s best flavors and none of the off-putting bitter ones. This is just one of the ways the brewing technique can enhance the final cup.

Drip coffee: Drip coffee machines control all of the variables like pour speed, water temperature or brew time for you. It may appear the power of making the coffee is taken from you, but the drip coffee maker leaves little room for human error and gives you consistency every time. 

Pour over: The pour over brewing process takes nearly the same amount of time as opposed to the drip method, but an easy and skillful pour over does require more preparation and care to detail. Bottom line—it just takes a little practice (and probably a few sub-par cups of coffee) before you’ll get it just right. You must heat the water, add the filter and grounds and pour water consistently for several minutes. For pour over fanatics, the technique becomes a ritual. But you have to be on the ball, which is why if you’re pinched for time, it tends to be the less popular option.

Drip coffee: For most people, you just have to flip a switch to start brewing the coffee. Even more convenient, many machines have a preset option to get the coffee ready the night before and it automatically starts brewing at the given time. So other than pouring the water into the reservoir and adding the coffee grounds inside the filter, the job is done. It’s all about ease and speed.

The disposable filters also make the drip coffee process easier and more efficient. Coffee drinkers can brew coffee more often and not feel bad about dumping the biodegradable filters in the trash. Add that to fast and easy to use—it’s obvious why drip coffee is a very popular brewing process option.

5. Equipment and Durability. 

Pour over: Pour over’s recent spike in popularity has pushed companies to roll out different devices for using this method. Single-serve, which creates one serving, sits on top and pours directly into the cup, and multi-serve makes several servings and collects the coffee in the bottom of a device. If you’re looking for something bigger and a bit more sturdy, then a Chemex and gooseneck kettle are easy ways to brew a pour over. Regardless of the device, very few tools are needed to make pour over coffee—a dripper, a filter and kettle. That keeps it very simple.

Most pour overs are made of glass, stainless steel, metal, ceramic or plastic. Even though coffee might stain the materials over time, if you take good care of your pour over, it will probably outlast you. Just don’t drop it—that will likely require a replacement. Pour over methods run anywhere from $20-$65, which make them a relatively cheap path to an all-star morning pick-me-up. 

Drip coffee: This is the best feature of the drip coffee makers. Since the machine does all the work for you, you will only need a machine that is available in a price range related to the brand and quality level you’re interested in, typically anywhere from $25-$200+.

The durability of the drip coffee maker really depends on the model quality you purchase. If you purchase a low-quality model, for example, you can expect to get a few years out of it before needing to replace it. And, of course, since they’re electric, the chances are greater that something may go wrong internally. Sometimes the circuit shorts, water tubes clog or the heating element decides to quit. Most of the drip machines are made of plastic, so breakages are likely over time as well.

6. Cleanliness.