Pour over kettle alternatives
While it is not necessary to have a pour over kettle to make great tasting pour over coffee, there are some who loves the control that these long sprout kettles offer . However, pour over kettle do have some disadvantages. For example, I have not seen any pour over kettle with whistle so that is a already a turn off for some. If you are one of those looking for alternatives to pour over kettle, here are some suggestions that you might want to take note of.
#1: Tea kettle with whistle
Since having no whistle is a major complaint for pour over kettles, you can easily reuse one of the current tea kettles that have such a function. The downside is of course the lose of control over the water distribution. However, in the grand scheme of things, the quality of the grinds and the filters are far more important than absolute water control. Yes, if you are a grand master of pour over coffee, then this might matters but for the rest of us normal folks, a tea kettle can be a fine alternative as long as you are not too particular.
#2: Use a funnel
If you really must have the control without buying an actual best of the best pour over kettle, then here is a neat little trick. Use a short funnel and pour the water through it. This will keep you the control in the same way that the pour over kettle’s sprout does, only in a more inconvenience way. Just remember to keep the funnel titled for best effect.
#3: Milk steaming pitcher
Another alternative you can consider is a milk steaming pitcher. It does have a sprout although not as long as a pour over kettle. When using it, exercising your control is critical. If you can’t control the water flow efficiently, the taste of the pour over coffee will be affected. This applies to the tea kettle as well.
#4: DIY pour over kettle
If you are good with your hands, you can try this DIY route. All you need is a stopper and a pour sprout. Use the stopper on any normal kettle’s sprout and then insert the pour sprout on it. The image below hows the final product of how a DIY pour over kettle can look like.
This is very cheap to make. A stopper should cost no more than $1 to $2 and a pour sprout should be similar or slightly higher by a buck or so.
Conclusion
Having a pour over kettle is not necessary to brew a batch of nice pour over coffee but it does the job easier. If you have good control over the pour, then any kind of kettle will be fine. However, if you don’t possess such control, a pour over kettle will make your pour more consistent and your efforts easier.
