Circular pour-over

Two weeks ago, James Hoffman posted "A better 1 cup V60 Technique", an update to his "Ultimate V60 technique" adjusted to smaller servings. I was pleasantly surprised that the 1 cup technique is more simialr (very similar, in fact) to the technique I've been using for a long time; that is, the drip recipe from The Barn. Have we gone full circle?

The Barn was pretty much my gateway into speciality coffee, back during my university years (around 2015, probably). I believe the recipe from the link above is the same at the moment of writing as it was back then. Anyway, the recipe from The Barn goes as follows:

• 16 g coffee to 250 ml water
• bloom: 30-40 grams, 30 seconds
• second pour: fill up to 100 grams
• three subsequent pours: 50 grams each, not letting the water level go too high or drop entirely
• target time of 2:30

James' 1 cup recipe differs in the following:

• dose ever so slightly smaller, 15 g (and finer ground suggested)
• bigger bloom: 50 grams, 45 seconds, with a solid but gentle swirl
• smaller second pour (but same total at this stage): fill up to 100 ml
• same three subsequent pours: 50 grams each; more emphasis on pace – 10 seconds pour (5 ml/s) and 10 seconds pause; very light swirl after last pour
• target time of around 3:00

So basically the same procedure, except for the larger, longer bloom, and swirling.

In contrast, James' ultimate V60 technique had two pours, almost back to back with each other, after the bloom: a faster one to reach 60 % of target weight (pretty much topping the filter), and a slower one for the remaining 40 %. The base proportion was 30 g coffee to 500 ml water. Alternatives are, of course, countless. Coincidentally, almost in parallel to James' 1 cup technique, Lance Hendrick posted his "ultimate recipe". Interestingly, he uses a coarser grind, does a much longer blooom (1-2 minutes, with triple the coffee weight in water), and pours the remaining water in one continuous pour.

In the end, the recipe from The Barn sits very well with me. The process is easy to remember, and it's easy to pace the pulses just by looking at the water level. And most importantly, I like the pours I get.