Pour-over lovers rejoice! Finding a good cup of pour-over coffee can be difficult for some coffee lovers unless you regularly visit your local coffee shop. But paying for pour-overs, no matter how delicious, can be somewhat taxing on the wallet after a while.
That’s why learning how to create the perfect pour-over with the Barista Warrior will do some good for your tastebuds and your bank account.
We got the chance to review the pour-over filter and gooseneck kettle from Barista Warrior, and we were pleasantly surprised at how succulent and rich our pour-over brew turned out!
Welcome to Barista Warrior
One of the higher-quality coffee equipment companies that we’ve reviewed, Barista Warrior’s products have left us feeling refreshed, caffeinated, and enthused about the coffee brewing experience.
In fact, that’s EXACTLY Barista Warrior’s aim: to educate, excite, and encourage coffee lovers to learn about the art of making coffee while unlocking their inner barista. With these goals in mind, Barista Warrior also equips you with everything you need to brew delicious coffee to the best of your ability.
To Pour Or Not To Pour?
It’s important to consider if pour-over brewing works best for you and your lifestyle before you put your money where your taste buds are.
Pour-overs are perfect for coffee lovers who enjoy the art and balance that comes with brewing coffee manually. The pour-over process can be slightly time-consuming, so it’s ideal for those committed to spending a few minutes boiling water in the gooseneck kettle and carefully pouring that water over the coffee grounds at timed intervals. The result? A rich, robust cup of black coffee.
However, if you’re an espresso fan and enjoy thick, creamy lattes, you may want to consider purchasing a low-cost espresso machine for your kitchen to make your lavish lattes at home. Likewise, if you’re strapped for time and would rather not have to pay attention to the brewing process, then you may want to consider sticking to a classic drip coffee machine.
Our full Brew & Review
Our boxes from Barista Warrior arrived blemish-free with the gooseneck kettle and the pour-over filter perfectly packaged and intact. Inside the boxes were instructions on how to use each tool effectively, which we found extremely helpful, especially to the home barista who may be new to the pour-over process.
For our review, we chose to brew with Julian coffee. We made sure to grind it to a medium-coarse grind size, which we recommend for the pour-over method. If you’re interested in how the grind size of your coffee can impact the flavor-extraction process, you can view our coffee grind size chart here!
The Gooseneck Kettle
The gooseneck kettle is key to thoroughly distributing water over the grounds to saturate them. This aids in the full extraction of flavors from the coffee itself and will impact the flavor of your brew.
This kettle differs drastically from regular tea kettles. Regular tea kettles don’t pour the water as efficiently or effectively, and you may have a more difficult time pouring from them. If you don’t have control over the water flow over the coffee grounds, evenly distributing the water can prove to be a difficult task.
For example, some areas may be too dry or overly soaked, and the resulting coffee may be weak and bitter or strong and sour.
That’s why a gooseneck kettle is your best bet for pour-over brewing. Here are a few characteristics of Barista Warrior’s gooseneck kettle that we enjoy.
- Integrated thermometer to maintain the optimal temperature (195-205°F)
- 1.2 liters at full capacity
- Easy pour spout for precise water flow
- Easy to hold ergonomic handle
Controlled Pouring
We enjoy the gooseneck kettle and the control it gives you when pouring. Having and maintaining control over the water flow is SO important for pour-over brewing, and the kettle’s long, narrow spout and ergonomic handle will give you a smooth pour every time.
The Thermometer
Regarding details, Barista Warrior goes the extra mile to make the details included on the gooseneck kettle matter. The thermometer present on the lid of the kettle makes it fast and easy to keep track of the temperature of the water, removing one last thing you need to worry about during the somewhat extensive pour-over brewing process.
The Durability
Made out of copper, Barista Warrior’s gooseneck kettle is durable enough to last a long time and won’t break easily due to the sturdy metal material. It’s also easy to clean, though it’ll need to be cleaned primarily through handwashing. The gooseneck kettle is also made of durable surgical-grade stainless steel construction. It can also withstand induction, halogen, gas, or electric ranges.
gooseneck kettle: things to remember
However, some things are important to keep in mind regarding Barista Warrior’s gooseneck kettle. Though these things don’t take away from the quality of the kettle per se, they are important to consider before purchasing it.
Not dishwasher safe
We get it; you can probably wash your kettle in the dishwasher once or twice to clean it, but repetitively washing it in the dishwasher is NOT recommended. Over time, cleaning it this way can accelerate the breakdown of the copper. That’s why Barista Warrior recommends handwashing the kettle to protect the material’s quality.
Easily overflows
There are two different sizes of kettles to choose from: a 1.0-liter and a 1.2-liter option, and the risk of overflowing the water while boiling applies to both.
If there’s a lot of water inside, make sure not to overfill it or heat it on the stove for too long. This is because there’s a risk of boiling the water out of the kettle through the spout itself (which we accidentally made the mistake of doing). The best way to prevent this is to keep the heat to a medium-high level and make sure not to fill it with too much water.
The Pour-Over Filter
The reusable pour-over filters come in three different colors: silver, copper, and gold (we received the gold filter for our review).
These filters are made of titanium coated with stainless steel and made out of high-quality fine mesh to keep the coffee grounds out of your finished brew. In fact, the mesh is actually designed with laser-cut dual filter technology, so it’ll REALLY filter your coffee completely and thoroughly.
These are a few things that we enjoy about Barista Warrior’s pour-over filter.
The metal coffee filter has dual filtration, with a stainless steel mesh inside and a laser-cut filter on the outside. Our customers rave that this cone coffee filter makes much better coffee than traditional paper filters.
Barista Warrior Stainless Steel Pour Over Filter
The metal coffee filter has dual filtration, with a stainless steel mesh on the inside, and a laser-cut filter on the inside. Our customers rave that this cone coffee filter makes much better coffee than traditional paper filters.
Pour-Over Filter: Things We Like
Eco-friendly and Dishwasher Safe
Unlike temporary paper coffee filters, Barista Warrior’s filters are extremely eco-friendly! Using a permanent filter is a great option to utilize instead of throwing money away by continuously buying paper filters.
And unlike temporary paper coffee filters, which are used once and then thrown away just to end up in a landfill somewhere, Barista Warrior’s filters are extremely eco-friendly!
In addition to the environmentally-friendly benefits, the pour-over filter is dishwasher friendly as well! It’s best to scoop out the used coffee grounds and rinse out the filter in your sink with hot water after each brew.
Once you’ve been brewing for about two weeks, you can descale your filter by soaking it in distilled vinegar and warm water solution. However, if you’re short on time and need a quick fix, you can wash your filter in the dishwasher, though we DON’T recommend doing it after every brew.
Innovative design
We also enjoy the pour-over filter because of the thoughtful design that Barista Warrior used when creating it! The mesh filter was extremely impressive in keeping all of the grounds out of the completed brew. In fact, the filter has pores large enough to let water through but so small you can’t even see them when you look at the filter itself.
Furthermore, the silicone rim along the outside of the filter helps to keep it in place during the brewing process. This is one of our favorite features because it will keep the filter secure even with the combined weight of the coffee grounds and water flow.
Compatibility
Another great characteristic of Barista Warrior’s pour-over filter is its flexible compatibility when paired with other brewing tools. The filter is designed to fit with brewing equipment like the Chemex or the Hario V60, two of the most popular pour-over brewers on the market. With its nice medium size, it can also be used with other pour-over cups/brewing tools as well.
The metal coffee filter has dual filtration, with a stainless steel mesh inside and a laser-cut filter on the outside. Our customers rave that this cone coffee filter makes much better coffee than traditional paper filters.
Pour Over Filter: Things to improve
Actually, we really don’t have any super strong critiques of the pour-over filter! Overall, we were very pleased with its quality and design. This is a durable, sleek, efficient, and easy-to-operate tool that will add value to any pour-over lover’s coffee experience–and will help save a couple of dollars along the way.
Just In: Pour Over Kit
Barista Warrior just designed and released a glass carafe pour-over brewer that they now include in their Pour Over Kit. We got the chance to try the whole kit out and wanted to include it in our review.
The kit comes in one box, packaged securely. Inside, you’ll find the glass carafe, the Barista Warrior classic silver reusable filter, and an acacia coffee scoop. They include care instructions, brewing instructions, and a QR code that will lead you directly to their website tutorial on how to brew with the kit, pictures, and all!
I found this very helpful as I personally will skip over any paper instructions, but a QR code? You got me there. I followed those instructions to a T.
Pour-Over Kit: What We Liked
The metal coffee filter was the silver version of the one in our review. The coffee scoop was an added bonus as it helped me weigh my coffee and get a consistent amount. With a wooden handle, this scoop is easy to maneuver, it feels comfortable, and with a level scoop, it pretty consistently will get you a 17-gram scoop (3 tablespoons).
This makes it easy for mornings when you might be short on time and don’t want to pull out your food scale. Two scoops, done.
We really love how you get almost all the brewing elements in this kit. Although it doesn’t include the gooseneck kettle, the kit as a whole is incredibly affordable, and with the metal filter, you won’t need to continue to buy paper filters. We love how accessible this makes pour-overs to the vast majority of coffee consumers without breaking the bank.
The Brewer: The Things We Love
With the same shapely hourglass look as the Classic Chemex, this brewer has a few differences. Made with high-temperature-resistant BPA-free borosilicate glass, this brewer has a heat-resistant glass handle and is large enough to brew up to seven cups.
I really enjoyed the feel of the glass handle as it allows for a comfortable and non-slip grip. And it never heated during brewing, making it safe to hold. The handle also makes cleaning simple as there’s no collar to remove, unlike the Chemex.
Another fantastic aspect of this brewer is that it is dishwasher safe, just like the metal filter. This makes cleaning incredibly easy and quick. I could also reach my hand down into the bottom half of the brewer, making it easy to clean by hand (although my hands are relatively small, so this may not be possible for all users).
The carafe itself has a slightly broader bottom compared to the Chemex, which rounds in at the bottom. This made the brewer fog up and create condensation during the brewing process, making it harder to see the coffee inside. However, I did not find this changed the taste of the brew at all.
The glass is marked with serving measurements, which help during the brewing process if you’re feeling lazy and don’t want to measure your water exactly. You can use the markers to eyeball the water amount.
With a pointed spout, this brewer allows for a smooth pour at the end without dripping all over your counter.
Overall, I found the whole brewing process very similar to a Chemex and the end result was a delicious, full-bodied brew that was very enjoyable.
Things That Could Be Improved
I am a Chemex snob through and through, but I really enjoyed trying this new brewer and found very little lacking.
One very noticeable difference was the weight of the brewer. Barista Warrior’s brewer is noticeably lighter than a Chemex, and the glass does not feel as thick. I’m no glass expert, but this makes me feel like Barista Warrior’s product is more prone to breaking. This is really something only time will tell, and being lighter is definitely a plus if it does not break easily.
Another aspect I personally don’t like about Barista Warrior’s brewer is how the bottom of the carafe fogs up during the brewing process. Although I did not note any effect on the taste of the coffee because of this, it does take away some of the aesthetic appeals that you get brewing from a Chemex.
Regarding aesthetic appeal, this brewer does tend to have water marks when left to air dry, and oil build-up happens much quicker. Compared to my Chemex, which I deep clean maybe only once a year, this brewer needs more than just a quick rinse after each use to eliminate the build-up. After each use, I put it directly in the dishwasher, which has been the most effective way to clean it.
The Verdict
We were thoroughly pleased with the coffee we made with Barista Warrior’s pour-over brewing equipment. We’ve made pour-over coffee with various brands and equipment, but Barista Warrior has some of the most well-designed, thoughtfully crafted items we’ve seen so far.
With Barista Warrior, you’ll definitely be getting all of the bangs for your buck. Not only that, but you can rest assured that your equipment will last for many brews. There are so many things to enjoy about Barista Warrior’s brewing tools, and we hope you enjoy them as much as we did!
Happy Caffeinating!
