Pour-over coffee looks simple - water, grounds, gravity - but behind the ritual lies a complex web of variables. Grind size, water temperature, brewing time, and pouring style interact in ways that make guesswork unreliable. While most brewing tweaks are done one factor at a time, this approach overlooks the deeper interplay between variables. Borrowing from industrial research, Design of Experiments (DOE) offers a way to map these relationships systematically, moving coffee experimentation from intuition toward insight. The result is not a “perfect recipe,” but a framework for understanding how different choices shape the cup - and how data can enrich the artistry of brewing.

Pour-over coffee looks simple - water, grounds, gravity - but behind the ritual lies a complex web of variables. Grind size, water temperature, brewing time, and pouring style interact in ways that make guesswork unreliable. While most brewing tweaks are done one factor at a time, this approach overlooks the deeper interplay between variables. Borrowing from industrial research, Design of Experiments (DOE) offers a way to map these relationships systematically, moving coffee experimentation from intuition toward insight. The result is not a “perfect recipe,” but a framework for understanding how different choices shape the cup - and how data can enrich the artistry of brewing.