Making pour-over coffee is a very ritualistic thing, from grinding beans, weighing, putting filters, filling water, and so on a series of actions, to the final lingering by the rich aroma of the coffee, a sense of satisfaction is born.
So, making hand-brewed coffee is not just making a drink, but a conversation between people and coffee, a leisure time that can slow down, and a sense of accomplishment of handcraft. Its greatest reward is that when you are intoxicated by the pungent coffee aroma, smooth texture, and rich and distinct flavor, you will sincerely exclaim, "Well, life is not so bad"!
What is a Good Pour Over Coffee?
Before we learn how to brew coffee and how to evaluate it, do we need to learn to identify good and bad coffee?
1. 1 It is important to know both what is good coffee and what is bad coffee
Good coffee is somewhat subjective. Some people like high mellowness, some like unique flavors, some like sweet and sour fruit tones, some prefer strong aftertaste, and some prefer a smooth touch. Good coffee does not necessarily have only one of the above advantages. In short, each has its preferences, and preferences vary from person to person.
The reason for a bad coffee is generally fairly fixed: very astringent/bitter/burnt/sharp acidity. The so-called " brushing water " is probably this type.
1.2 Coffee in a cafe may not be good
There is nothing wrong with disliking a cup of coffee or a cafe and being able to say why, while making sure your palate is normal and your preferences are not tricky.
It's not necessarily the case that a café's output is highly consistent. It is not uncommon for one barista to be great today and another barista to be bad.
Many cafes pay for reviews, so you have to visit the café yourself to judge how a café is.
1.3 Do name why coffee tastes good/not good
Taste is the knowledge that is accumulated through experience.
If you like a cup of coffee, you must write down what makes it taste good (flavor, touch, etc.); if you don't like a cup of coffee, you must write down what makes it taste bad (burnt taste/acidity, etc.). These accumulations will make you more and more "good" at drinking coffee, and analyzing a cup of coffee from different dimensions.
What Equipment Do You Need
If you want to try to make your coffee, the following items can be used as a reference.
- Non-consumables: brewing pot (fine spout), bean grinder, electronic scale (preferably with timer), filter cup, thermometer, sharing pot, boiling water kettle
- Consumables: coffee beans, filter paper, water
- Unnecessary, but very practical things: fine bristle brush, air blow, small spoon
Buying tips:
1. Beginners are recommended to buy a fine-mouth brewing pot, preferably the kind with a maximum water flow that is not very large. This is helpful for you to exercise the flow control technique.
2. bean grinder has two kinds of hand and electric grinding, it is recommended to buy electric grinding if you want to save energy and if you enjoy the grinding process it is recommended to buy hand grinding. Do not buy the kind of "bean chopper" with only two blades, that machine is completely unable to grind the coffee beans into a more uniform coarse and fine coffee powder.
3. To choose a scale that can be accurate to 0.0035oz, while bringing the timing function, otherwise you have to watch the scale while using your phone/watch timing.
4. The playability of the filter cup is quite high, different filter cups have different extraction styles and different flow rates. There are mainly conical (V60), fan-shaped, cakes these three major types. For beginners, it is generally recommended to use a cake cup because the extraction is relatively even.
5. Coffee beans need to be consumed within one month of the roasting date, coffee beans that have been left for a long time will lose flavor. Generally speaking, the bags (one-way exhaust/sealed jars) provided by large cooked bean vendors are more conducive to the preservation of coffee beans, or you can buy several storage jars for yourself. It is especially not recommended to buy coffee powder, the rate of flavor loss of coffee after grinding into powder will rise sharply.
6. Filter paper has two kinds of original pulp and bleached, the original pulp filter paper would be best to pass through the water first when using, to reduce the paper taste.
How to Brew Pour Over Coffee and Detailed Tutorial
The seemingly simple pour-over coffee also has six common brewing methods, but all have one goal: to get a great cup of coffee.
Method #1: One-stage brewing method
Brewing parameters suggested:
- Water temperature: 194 °F
- Grind degree: 3~4
- Powder to water ratio: 1:14~15
- Brewing time: 1.5~3min
Features: highlight clean, clear, stable flavor, suitable for people who like clean flavor
One-stage is also known as "one-step flow", which means that after steeping, water is injected uninterruptedly at one time.
This feature is to extract the front, middle, and back of the coffee continuously by steeping and filtering the coffee powder in the filter cup so that the flavor and taste are balanced.
Notes:
In this technique, the main control is the amount of water injection and the speed of the water. Because of the one-time water injection, the amount of water should be preset, otherwise, it will lead to too thin a coffee taste or watery feeling.
Method #2: 3-stage method
Brewing parameters suggested:
- Water temperature: 194 °F
- Grind degree: 3~4
- Powder to water ratio: 1:14~15
- Brewing time: 1.5~3min
Features: enhanced coffee flavor, strong compatibility
The 3-stage water injection method is a segmented extraction, a section of water is divided into three injections, and the middle will experience two "water breaks" to adjust the proportion of the three sections of flavor before, during, and after the distinctive sense of hierarchy, compared to a one-stage type has a higher degree of adjustability.
Notes:
After smothering, water is injected in three stages, typically when the coffee liquid is about to drop to the surface of the stratification, with a small, medium and large water flow to do the three-stage extraction, with high requirements for the flow rate and flow of water.
Method #3: Stirring method
Brewing parameters suggested:
- Water temperature: 203°F
- Grind degree: 1~2
- Powder-to-water ratio: 1:16
- Brewing time: about 2min20s
Features: effectively enhance the release of aromatic substances in coffee, amplify the flavor advantages of coffee beans and enhance the taste of coffee.
The stirring method is a cross-stirring method with a "stirring stick" during the steaming stage, and is a branch of the three-stage method, which was developed after Matt Perger, the 2012 WBC World Brewing Champion, developed the hand-brewing technique. It allows the water to fully touch the coffee powder and increases the release of aromatic substances.
Notes:
The stirring method requires a high quality of coffee, usually using finer ground coffee powder, which can increase the water soaking area of the coffee powder and improve the extraction rate. However, if you do not grasp the degree of stirring, it is also easy to over-extraction.
Method #4: Drip method
Brewing parameters suggested:
- Water temperature: 190.4°F
- Grind degree: 3~4
- Powder-to-water ratio: 1:10
- Brewing time: 5~10min
Features: highlight the sweetness of coffee, avoiding sourness and bitterness
The drip method, as its name implies, involves brewing in the form of dripping water. It tests the patience and skill of the brewer. First, use the drip method to pre-wet the coffee powder little by little, and when it is almost 1/3 wet, you can start filling it with water. When the water level of the coffee powder reaches the top, you can pause, and when the water level drops to half, fill the water again.
Notes:
The drip water injection replaces the original smothering steam, the process of water drops to a very low stirring way to wet the coffee powder, at the same time will bring out the middle and later part of the flavor material, the coffee atmosphere full and thick, the key point of the technique is the stability of the drip and the timing of the water injection method judgment.
Method #5: Kanazawa style
Brewing parameters suggested:
- Water temperature: 190.4 °F
- Grind degree: 3~4
- Powder to water ratio: 3:10 i.e. 0.85oz powder, extracting 2.71 fl oz of highly concentrated coffee liquid (drinking thousand adding 5.64oz hot water)
- Brewing time: 2~5min
Features: Kanazawa style was created by Mr. Masayuki Kanazawa, and his book "コーノ式かなざわ珈琲" also introduces very plainly how to use the Kanazawa style to brew a good coffee. (If you are interested, please read it).
Kanazawa style is also a very Japanese style of hand brewing, characterized by the gentle, slow, and that slapdash water injection. The idea mentioned in the book is that when extracting coffee, the second 2/3 of the liquid is full of all kinds of bitter negative flavors, while the first 1/3 of the liquid is the most delicious and essential part of the coffee.
Therefore, the Kanazawa style only extracts the first 1/3 of the coffee with high strength and then reduces it to the right strength by adding 2/3 of water.
This 1/3 refers to the powder-to-liquid ratio of 1:10 as the base, i.e. if you take 0.85oz of powder as the base, you will extract 2.71 fl oz of high high-strength liquid, and then mix it with 5.41 fl oz of water to get a cup of 8.12 fl oz of Kanazawa style coffee.
Notes:
The key points of the hand brewing technique are similar to the drip type, as well as the need to stabilize the water injection technique and change the timing judgment of water injection.
Method #6: Four-six method
Brewing parameters suggested:
- Water temperature: 197.6 °F
- Grind degree: 3~4
- Powder-to-water ratio: 1:15
- Brewing time: about 2min30s
Features: highlight the sweetness of coffee, mild acidity and lower bitterness, high controllability, suitable for beginners.
The four-six method is a 40% vs. 60% flavor brew. It was used by Tetsu Kasuya at the 2016 WBrC and won the championship. The first two injections adjust the sweet and sour ratio of the first 40% of the coffee bean flavor, and the last three injections adjust the intensity of the second 60%. No need for much high-end water flow control, just a stable condition at each brew, and a simple electronic scale with time control can be operated.
Notes:
For the first 40% flavor adjustment, increase the first water injection and decrease the second water injection if you want to be sourer, and vice versa if you want to be sweeter. After 60% of the taste adjustment, hope to thin a little can be changed from three injections of water to two injections of water, want to thick change to four injections of water.
Conclusion
What seems to be an easy and similar operation, in fact, also contains a variety of taste possibilities. Even the coffee brewed by the same person each time does not have the same flavor. However, it is this mysterious uncertainty that makes people look forward to this upcoming coffee event, and those dedicated, rigorous, and rational steps have a more romantic quality.
If your days are repeated in the overly regular rhythm of going to and coming from work, and even begin to be a bit as boring as instant coffee, then it's time to try your hand-brewed coffee. At least, a really strong cup of good coffee, makes the whole room instantly fragrant, and life in the gloom will be awakened because of the kind of "a person's exquisite", and become less depressing.
