The preparation of pour-over coffee can be a little more complicated than other coffee brewing methods, such as the French press pot. They are two very extreme ways of brewing coffee.
I think those who know and love coffee well can only appreciate the charm of pour-over coffee.
Some say pouring over coffee is too troublesome, time-consuming, and not as convenient as instant coffee. So, many people consume instant coffee because of its convenience. However, the cost of convenience is you will not taste the original unique flavor of the coffee.
Let's continue to learn about pour-over coffee, read more, you will get more, and maybe you will start to love pour-over coffee.
What is a Pour Over
The most important feature of pour-over coffee is that it retains the original quality flavor of coffee, bringing you a sense of pleasure and satisfaction while also being able to be one of the most important ways for people to improve their quality of life.
Pour-over coffee is made by injecting hot water and letting the coffee powder dissolve in the water, the extracted liquid passes through a filter paper or strainer at a free speed, and then drips into a container to get the coffee liquid, which is pour-over coffee.
With hot water and coffee beans, you can extract the wonderful flavor in coffee, this flavor is infinitely close to the flavor of the coffee beans themselves, different varieties, different production areas, different processing methods, different pouring methods, and even different water quality can get a unique flavor, infinite variables make the flavor unknown, which is what makes people fascinated.
Pour Over Coffee Ratio
The powder-to-water ratio refers to the ratio of coffee powder and brewing water, it affects the coffee strength, after sca gold cup extraction theory test results, generally recommended 1:10, 1:13, 1:15, 1:16.
I commonly use the powder-to-water ratio of 1:15, this ratio in the concentration or taste, is more moderate, if the pursuit of a different taste of coffee, then in the extraction, according to what you want If you are looking for a different taste, you can adjust the powder to water ratio according to your desired strength and taste when extracting.
According to the sca gold cup extraction theory derived from the water-to-powder ratio extraction parameters difference.
- Heavy taste: 1:10-1:11, that is, 1:12.5-1:13.5 of the Golden Cup guidelines.
- Moderate taste: 1:12-1:13, that is, 1:14.5-1:15.5 of the Gold Cup guidelines
- Light taste: 1:14-1:16, that is, 1:16.5-1:18.5 of the Gold Cup guidelines
From the information given in the extraction ratio parameters above, it can be seen that
(1) the larger the powder-to-water ratio, the lighter the coffee flavor, the smaller the powder-to-water ratio, the stronger the coffee flavor
(2) Increase the water injection to increase the powder-to-water ratio, more substances affect the taste but the taste is lighter; reduce the water injection to reduce the powder-to-water ratio, and fewer substances affect the taste but the taste is more intense. , and
(3) Increase the amount of powder to lower the powder-to-water ratio, less extraction of large molecules at the end of the coffee, while the flavor is more intense, reduce the amount of powder to raise the powder-to-water ratio, before reaching the limit of the situation, will extract more complete flavor substances, at the same time, the flavor is less intense.
How Does a Pour Over Work?
If you put aside a lot of complicated parameters, you will find that pour-over coffee is not as complicated as you might think.
Generally speaking, coffee beans with a medium roast level or less are suitable for pour-over coffee.
Before making a pour-over coffee, you will need these tools.
Electronic scale, bean grinder, thermometer, hand brew kettle (gooseneck pot), filter cup, sharing pot
Of course, the essentials must be coffee beans and water.
How to make it?
First of all, the coffee beans must be fresh and freshly ground.
I think 80% of whether a cup of hand-brewed coffee tastes good depends on the kind of beans used. Freshly ground coffee beans still have plenty of carbon dioxide left in them, so when they come in contact with water, they puff up, we call it a "hill". This process of initial contact and expansion of the coffee powder with water is called "steaming".
Secondly, since only water is involved in the extraction process, the quality of water is particularly important. We need to choose filtered water or mineral water.
Here we start brewing a cup of pour-over coffee.
Prepare hot water: Heat the water, the water temperature is generally controlled at 185 °F~203 °F, there is no very strict water temperature, but the temperature difference is recommended to be within that value.
Tips: lower the water temperature if the coffee taste is too strong, and raise the water temperature if it is too acidic
Weighing the coffee beans: The weight of the coffee beans depends on the water-to-powder ratio chosen and the number of servings needed. I generally recommend using a water-to-powder ratio of 15:1. It is not recommended to use more than 18:1, otherwise the coffee may taste bland.
So if you make 1 serving of 300ml coffee, weigh 20 grams of coffee beans.
Ground coffee beans: The degree of grind is a variable that is very difficult to control precisely. The digital scale displayed on the machine represents a different granularity on different grinders. Therefore, I prefer to judge the grind by touch.
So what does the granularity of hand-brewed coffee powder feel like to the touch?
Rub the coffee powder with your thumb and index finger, and your fingertips will feel a little soft and gritty, similar to the feel of fine granulated sugar.
The first time we brew we can go with our intuition and find our favorite grind by changing or trying different scales.
Tips: if it's too thick, adjust it coarsely, if it's too acidic, adjust fine
Preheating the sharing pot: Since the coffee liquid is very sensitive to temperature, a sudden drop in temperature will result in a pronounced acrid taste. Therefore, before extracting the coffee, the sharing pot will be preheated with hot water.
To increase efficiency, people usually wash the filter paper while putting it in the filter cup, and use the sharing pot to catch the hot water flowing down for preheating.
However, some people do not like the filter paper to be wet in advance, so they do not wash the filter paper and just pour hot water into the sharing pot to preheat it.
Smothering with water: Pour the ground coffee powder into the filter paper and tap the filter cup to distribute the powder evenly and flatly. Then start to fill with water, here I recommend you use the most versatile spinning method.
Generally speaking, the first time you put water in, to make the water penetrating and stable, the water column needs to present 90° with the spout as much as possible. Such an angle allows the weight of all the water to be concentrated at the bottom of the pot when the hand-brew pot is tilted, making it easy to pour the water out of the pot in a stable manner.
Water injection extraction: After the smothering is over, water is still slowly injected from the right in the middle in the form of drawing circles, circulating from the inside to the outside and from the outside to the inside.
The speed of water injection is approximately equal to the speed of water flowing out. In other words, it means that the liquid level in the filter cup neither rises nor falls as more water is added. Of course, if there is no way to achieve such water control ability at the beginning, slowly inject can be, do not have to be too entangled.
After the total amount of water is injected 300ml, you can stop the water injection. After the water has completely penetrated the filter cup into the sharing pot, you will have a cup of pour-over coffee.
Final Thought
There are a lot of variables in hand-brewed coffee, which is why I find pour-over coffee so fascinating.
The weight of the beans, the grind, the temperature of the water, the way the water is injected - all of these little details can affect the flavor of the coffee.
In a sense, your mood will also have a direct impact on the flavor of a cup of coffee.
So, with happy expectations, feel free to brew a cup of hand-brewed coffee.
