Do I Need a Gooseneck Kettle for Pour Overs?

When I started learning and making home brewed coffee 3 months ago, I bought all the necessary products except the gooseneck kettle. For some reason it was way too expensive in the stores, and I thought I could get away with using an old tea kettle.

Using the old tea kettle, I got various results when making my coffee. Most of the time though, the coffee tasted pretty good. So in my inexperienced mind, the old tea kettle was doing the job pretty well.

Fast forward three months, and I was able to buy a Hario Buono kettle at a discounted price. And with my “the-old-tea-kettle-is-good-enough” mindset, I went ahead and gave the Hario Buono a try.

I was immediately astounded by the difference in performance of the two kettles!

First off, I tested the drip flow of the water from the spout. Using the old tea kettle, the water will tend to drip on the side of the spout and down the bottom of the kettle when you reach a slower flow rate.

The gooseneck kettle, on the other hand, gave a pretty steady flow rate. The thin neck of the kettle could produce drops of water, should you ever need that kind of accuracy.

I also found out that using the gooseneck kettle is most important when making coffee using the pour-over method. There is a term which experts call coffee agitation. To keep things simple, this means your coffee grounds are getting shuffled around the container (be it wedge-type or cylinder-type drip brewer).

There are different schools of thought with agitation. Some brewers like it, while others don’t. If you are one of those who want as less agitation as possible, using a gooseneck kettle will help you our tremendously. It has a more steady and less aggressive flow rate than normal types of kettle.

Testing the Gooseneck Kettle on Different Pour Over Brewers

For  brewer types, I found that the gooseneck kettle is not as necessary when using wedge-type brewers like the Kalita 102, but still make a better cup when you use it.

As for cylindrical brewers like the Hario V60, a gooseneck kettle really shines. You need a more precise and accurate pour when using the V60 (and Chemex) because of its huge bottom. You can really control the water flow when using a gooseneck kettle as opposed to a regular kettle.

So Do I Need a Gooseneck Kettle for My Pour Overs?

Now that I have a gooseneck kettle, I’d say that it’s really a good tool to have around. It is important, but like me, you could buy one a few months after you start your coffee brewing journey.

Why is that? I can compare my coffee pouring technique experience to the time I learned playing badminton. I used to learn playing badminton using those heavy old rackets with that metallic T-holder between the handle and the racket head. When I switched to a carbon fiber racket, my game play suddenly levelled up like a pro player. Well, maybe not a pro player, but I experienced a lot more ease and much faster speed when I played with the carbon fiber racket.

This also happened to me when I switched over from an old kettle to a gooseneck kettle. My pouring technique became so much better that I’m willing to wager that I might not have been able to pour as well if I started with the gooseneck kettle from the get go.

I use a Hario Buono kettle. Coffee geeks say that it still doesn’t get the job done. I agree with them to some extent, but as a starter gooseneck kettle, it rocks!

Do you have any experience with the gooseneck kettle, or any other type of coffee equipment? Tell me about it in the comments section!