VIDEO STRATEGY Topic: Troubleshooting sour pour-over coffee by adjusting one brewing variable at a time Audience: Beginner home brewers whose pour-over tastes sharply sour or thin, who know the basic brewing steps but aren't sure which variable to change Viewer intent: Search and Education Core promise: Learn a repeatable way to troubleshoot sour pour-over coffee by changing grind size, water temperature, brew time, and coffee-to-water ratio one variable at a time. Supported authority: Creator has brewed pour-over coffee at home for four years; the video also includes an approved three-cup grind-size demonstration using the same beans and 20 g coffee to 320 g water. No professional coffee credential is supplied. Target runtime: 6–7 minutes Manual review: Not specifically indicated CLAIM AND SOURCE LEDGER Approved facts and claims: The creator's starting recipe for the demonstration is 20 g coffee to 320 g water; this is a personal starting recipe, not an industry standard. Troubleshooting will cover grind size, water temperature, brew time, and coffee-to-water ratio. The approved demonstration uses three cups made with the same beans and 20 g coffee/320 g water while changing only grind size. In that filmed test, the creator perceived the coarsest cup as sharply sour, the middle setting as more balanced, and the finest setting as bitter and drying. These are subjective tasting observations. The creator has brewed pour-over coffee at home for four years and has no supplied professional coffee credential. Approved sources or demonstrations: Original three-cup grind-size demonstration described in the brief. No external sources, studies, quotations, expert endorsements, or reviewed links were supplied. Excluded or qualified claims: No universal recipe; no universal water temperature; no guaranteed solution for sour coffee; no claim that the demonstration establishes laboratory or scientific findings; no health claims; no expert endorsement; no sponsorship; no invented source citations; no claim that a particular grind setting will produce the same result for every viewer. TITLE OPTIONS Why Your Pour-Over Coffee Tastes Sour — direct search/problem angle Sour Pour-Over? Change One Thing at a Time — troubleshooting-method angle How to Troubleshoot Sour Pour-Over Coffee — straightforward education angle Stop Guessing at Your Pour-Over Recipe — process and clarity angle Sour, Balanced, Bitter: A Pour-Over Test — demonstration-led angle Recommended pairing hypothesis: Title 2 fits the Search/Education intent particularly well because it names the symptom and immediately introduces the video's distinguishing troubleshooting method rather than implying a universal fix. THUMBNAIL CONCEPTS Three finished cups arranged left to right, with simple labels beneath them: coarse, middle, fine. Optional text: “SOUR → BITTER”. Strong visual contrast comes from the three-cup progression. Asset requirement: original brew footage/still. Close overhead shot of coffee grounds at visibly different grind settings beside the brewer. Optional text: “CHANGE ONE THING”. Asset requirement: original footage plus simple labelled graphic. Single cup beside a simple four-item graphic reading Grind / Temp / Time / Ratio, with Grind visually isolated as the first test. Optional text: “START HERE”. Asset requirement: original cup footage and illustrative labelled graphic. Recommended pairing hypothesis: Thumbnail 2 with Title 2 creates a useful information gap: the title establishes the troubleshooting rule, while the thumbnail visually reinforces the discipline of changing one variable without simply repeating “sour pour-over.” OPENING — EST. 0:00–0:35 SCRIPT: Your pour-over tastes sharply sour. Maybe thin, too. So what do you change? The grind? Hotter water? A longer brew? More coffee? The problem with changing all of them is that even if the next cup tastes better, you don't really know why. So in this video, we're going to troubleshoot differently: change one variable, taste, take a note, and then decide what to test next. I'll also show you three cups I brewed with the same beans and the same 20 grams of coffee to 320 grams of water. The only variable I changed was grind size. And the differences I tasted gave me a much clearer next step. VISUALS: Open on sour-looking reaction conveyed without a face: cup placed down beside four rapidly appearing labels—GRIND, TEMPERATURE, TIME, RATIO. Cut to three identical brewing setups or three finished cups. On-screen graphic: “20 g coffee / 320 g water — creator's starting recipe.” Add smaller label: “Not a universal recipe.” PROMISE TO RESOLVE: Show viewers how to isolate variables rather than guessing, with the three-cup grind demonstration resolved in Section 2 and the complete troubleshooting sequence resolved in Section 4. BODY — ESTIMATED TIMESTAMPS SECTION 1 — THE ONE-VARIABLE RULE — EST. 0:35–1:35 Purpose: Establish the repeatable troubleshooting method before discussing individual variables. SCRIPT: Here's the rule I'll use throughout this video: change one thing at a time. Let's say today's cup tastes sharply sour to you. If the next brew uses a different grind, a different water temperature, a different ratio, and a different brew time, you've created a completely different brew. You might prefer it—but you've made it much harder to identify which change mattered to you. Instead, keep the things you're not testing as consistent as you reasonably can. For this demonstration, my starting point is 20 grams of coffee and 320 grams of water. That's my starting recipe for this test. I'm not presenting it as a standard that everyone needs to use. Then I choose one variable. I brew. I taste. And I write down what I noticed. That last part matters because we're trying to build a repeatable troubleshooting process, not chase a perfect cup by memory. VISUALS: Simple four-step graphic: “CHANGE → BREW → TASTE → NOTE.” Show scale with 20 g coffee, then 320 g water. Show creator entering one line into the brew log. Keep graphics minimal and labelled. TRANSITION: So if my cup tastes sour, which variable would I test first? For this demonstration, I started with grind size. SECTION 2 — THE THREE-GRIND TEST — EST. 1:35–3:00 Purpose: Demonstrate the one-variable method using only the approved filmed observations. SCRIPT: I brewed three cups. Same beans. Same 20 grams of coffee. Same 320 grams of water. For this test, the variable I deliberately changed was grind size. Cup one used my coarsest test setting. When I tasted it, I found it sharply sour. That's a subjective tasting note—not a laboratory result, and not a prediction of what you'll taste with your coffee. For cup two, I changed the grind to my middle test setting. To me, this cup tasted more balanced. Then I brewed cup three using my finest test setting. This time, I found the cup bitter and drying. So my tasting notes went from sharply sour, to more balanced, to bitter and drying across those three grind settings. The useful part isn't that the middle setting is somehow the “correct” grind for every pour-over. It isn't. The useful part is that changing one variable gave me a comparison I could actually interpret. If I'd changed several things between those cups, I couldn't make that same clean comparison. VISUALS: Show each original brew in sequence. Label only the changing variable: “COARSEST TEST,” “MIDDLE TEST,” “FINEST TEST.” Then show three cups together with creator's subjective notes beneath each: “sharply sour,” “more balanced,” “bitter + drying.” Add small persistent qualifier: “Creator's tasting observations.” TRANSITION: But grind size isn't the only variable available to you. And this is where troubleshooting can become messy unless we keep using the same rule. SECTION 3 — TEMPERATURE, TIME AND RATIO — EST. 3:00–4:45 Purpose: Introduce the other required troubleshooting variables without inventing universal settings or cause-and-effect claims. SCRIPT: There are three other variables we're considering here: water temperature, brew time, and coffee-to-water ratio. And I'm deliberately not going to give you one magic number for any of them, because no universal recipe or universal temperature has been supplied for this video. Instead, treat each one as a separate experiment. If you want to investigate water temperature, keep your other variables as consistent as you can and change the temperature you're testing. Record what you used and what you tasted. If you want to investigate brew time, record the time alongside the rest of the brew. Then make your controlled adjustment without simultaneously redesigning everything else. And the same principle applies to coffee-to-water ratio. My demonstration starts at 20 grams to 320 grams. If ratio is the variable you're deliberately testing, make that clear in your notes and avoid casually changing grind, temperature, and other variables at the same time. This isn't about pretending coffee can be reduced to one perfect formula. It's about making your next cup informative. Instead of asking, “What random combination should I try now?” you're asking a much narrower question: “What happens when I change this?” VISUALS: Four labelled cards appear individually: GRIND / TEMPERATURE / TIME / RATIO. Show thermometer or temperature readout only if available in original footage; otherwise use a simple illustrative temperature label rather than inventing a value. Show timer. Show scale. For ratio, display “20 g : 320 g — starting example only.” TRANSITION: And that gives us a simple troubleshooting sequence you can use the next time a cup tastes wrong to you. SECTION 4 — THE REPEATABLE TROUBLESHOOTING LOOP — EST. 4:45–5:55 Purpose: Convert the demonstration into a practical process viewers can repeat. SCRIPT: Here's the whole process. Start by describing the problem in your own words. For example: “This tastes sharply sour and thin to me.” Then write down the brew you just made. Choose one variable to investigate. Grind size, water temperature, brew time, or coffee-to-water ratio. Change only that variable for your next test as far as your setup allows. Brew again. Taste the cups comparatively if that's practical, and write down what you notice. Then make a decision based on that comparison. You might continue adjusting the same variable. You might decide you've learned enough from it and test another one. The important thing is that you know what changed. In my three-grind demonstration, that gave me three clear subjective observations: sharply sour at my coarsest test setting, more balanced at the middle setting, and bitter and drying at the finest. That's much more useful to me than simply knowing that cup number three was “different.” VISUALS: Full-screen troubleshooting flow: DESCRIBE RECORD CHOOSE ONE VARIABLE CHANGE BREW TASTE NOTE DECIDE Return briefly to the three-cup visual when the demonstration is summarized. TRANSITION: And once you start keeping those comparisons, troubleshooting stops being a pile of disconnected guesses. SECTION 5 — WHAT YOUR BREW LOG SHOULD CAPTURE — EST. 5:55–6:25 Purpose: Connect the troubleshooting method naturally to the primary CTA. SCRIPT: You don't need complicated tasting language for this. Record what you changed and describe what you actually noticed. “Sour.” “Thin.” “More balanced.” “Bitter.” “Drying.” Those words are useful because they're your observations of your brew. Over repeated tests, the log gives you somewhere to keep those comparisons instead of trying to remember what you did three cups ago. VISUALS: Close-up of the one-variable brew log being completed. Highlight variable changed and tasting-note fields. Do not show unsupported measurements or results. TRANSITION: So the next time your pour-over tastes sour, you have a much simpler place to begin. ENDING — EST. 6:25–6:55 SCRIPT: Don't change everything. Describe what you're tasting, record your starting brew, choose one variable, make one controlled adjustment, and compare. Grind size, water temperature, brew time, and coffee-to-water ratio can each become their own test instead of four things you're guessing at simultaneously. If you'd like to use this process for your own brews, download the one-variable brew log linked in the description. And in the next video, we'll look at how to build a pour-over recipe from scratch. VISUALS: Return to three cups, then clean graphic: “ONE VARIABLE AT A TIME.” Show brew-log visual with “Link in description.” End card: “NEXT: Build a Pour-Over Recipe From Scratch.” DESCRIPTION DRAFT Does your pour-over coffee taste sharply sour or thin, leaving you unsure what to adjust? This video walks through a simple pour-over troubleshooting process: change one variable at a time, brew again, taste, record what you notice, and use that comparison to decide what to test next. We cover grind size, water temperature, brew time, and coffee-to-water ratio without treating any single recipe as universal. The filmed grind-size demonstration uses the same beans and a starting recipe of 20 g coffee to 320 g water while changing grind size. In this specific test, the creator perceived the coarsest cup as sharply sour, the middle setting as more balanced, and the finest setting as bitter and drying. These are subjective tasting observations, not laboratory findings or guaranteed outcomes. Download the one-variable brew log: [DESTINATION LINK NEEDED] Next video: How to build a pour-over recipe from scratch. No external source links were supplied for this video. CHAPTER DRAFT — ESTIMATES 0:00 — Why Your Pour-Over Tastes Sour 0:35 — Change One Variable 1:35 — Three Grind Sizes Tested 3:00 — Temperature, Time and Ratio 4:45 — The Troubleshooting Loop 5:55 — Using a Brew Log 6:25 — Your Next Brew KEYWORD AND METADATA CANDIDATES Primary phrase: sour pour-over coffee Related phrases: adjust coffee grind size; pour-over troubleshooting Hashtags: Omit PRODUCTION AND RETENTION REVIEW Likely comprehension or pacing risk: Section 3 could become abstract because three variables are introduced without unsupported prescriptive numbers. Remedy: demonstrate each with a physical object or simple labelled graphic and keep each explanation short. Visual variation plan: Alternate original brewing close-ups, scale shots, three-cup comparisons, individual variable labels, timer/log footage, and the troubleshooting-loop graphic. Every change should clarify the narration rather than function as decorative B-roll. Open-loop resolution check: The opening asks what to change when a pour-over tastes sour. Section 2 resolves the promised grind experiment; Section 4 resolves the larger question with a repeatable one-variable troubleshooting process; the ending restates the method. Runtime note: Estimated at approximately 6–7 minutes with a calm, practical voiceover, natural demonstration pauses, and short visual transitions. Timestamps should be adjusted after the final voiceover and edit. A/B TEST HYPOTHESES Test Title 1, “Why Your Pour-Over Coffee Tastes Sour,” against Title 2, “Sour Pour-Over? Change One Thing at a Time.” Audience hypothesis: the first emphasizes the viewer's immediate question, while the second emphasizes the video's troubleshooting method. Test the three-cup “SOUR → BITTER” thumbnail against the grind-focused “CHANGE ONE THING” thumbnail. Audience hypothesis: one foregrounds the filmed comparison while the other foregrounds the repeatable process. Test opening with the four rapid questions—grind, temperature, time, ratio—against opening immediately on the three finished test cups. Audience hypothesis: the first foregrounds the viewer's confusion; the second foregrounds the video's concrete demonstration. Measurement note: Test one variable at a time using the creator's established analytics, comparison window, and success criteria. Do not predict results. EVIDENCE AND ASSETS NEEDED Actual destination URL for the one-variable brew log before publishing. Exact next-video URL if that video is already published and intended to be linked. Original footage of the three approved grind-size brews and resulting cups. Original supporting footage for weighing coffee/water, timing, recording observations, and other demonstrated actions. Any external factual claims added during production would require an exact reviewed source before inclusion. No reviewed external source links, studies, quotations, professional credentials, sponsorship details, or pronunciation notes were supplied. FINAL CONSISTENCY NOTES Keep 20 g coffee to 320 g water explicitly framed as the creator's starting recipe for the demonstration, never an industry standard or universal recommendation. Keep “sharply sour,” “more balanced,” and “bitter and drying” explicitly framed as the creator's subjective observations from the filmed three-grind test. Do not introduce a universal temperature, ideal brew time, ideal ratio, guaranteed adjustment, scientific conclusion, or professional authority during recording or editing. Use only original brew footage and simple labelled graphics as specified. Keep the primary CTA focused on downloading the one-variable brew log; use the supplied next-video bridge only at the end. Verify the final timestamps against the completed edit before publishing.