Dialing in a pour-over for winter mornings

The kitchen is colder now, and that changes everything about the brew. The dripper, the cup, even the beans sitting in their jar all start out a few degrees lower than they did in August, and the extraction shows it: thinner body, sharper acidity, a finish that disappears too quickly.

Here is what I changed. First, I grind about two clicks finer. Second, I pre-heat the dripper and the server with boiling water and let them sit for a full minute. Third — and this is the one I resisted — I stopped trusting the kettle display. My kettle reads 94°C on the stove and about 90°C by the time it reaches the cup.

Recipe for now: 15 g coffee, 250 g water, 40 g bloom for 45 seconds, then three slow pours. Total time around 3:10. It is not perfect, but it is sweet, and on a dark morning that is enough.