Illustrated Guide to Coffee Powder Brewing Methods - Which Coffee Beans Brew Best for Pour-Over and How Long Can Coffee Powder Last

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Recently, more and more friends have been getting into coffee. As beginners, you must have questions about key coffee aspects. This article from FrontStreet Coffee serves as a coffee introduction guide for everyone!

Coffee Grounds vs. Coffee Beans

The first issue you'll face is coffee grounds versus coffee beans. Coffee beans become coffee grounds after grinding. This leads to a question: can you save money on a grinder and just buy coffee grounds for brewing? Of course you can, but it's not recommended.

FrontStreet Coffee can provide coffee grinding services and will even ask about your brewing equipment to grind the most suitable coarseness. So why should we grind our own?

In reality, grinding coffee increases the surface area of coffee beans by 1000 times, making extraction (the process of water passing through coffee grounds and carrying away water-soluble substances, professionally called "extraction") more effective. Different brewing methods have different extraction methods and efficiencies. To brew the best-tasting coffee, you'll need coffee grounds of different coarseness. If you only use one type of equipment to brew coffee and are just starting to try drinking coffee, you can let the store help grind it first. Once you've developed the habit of drinking coffee, you can learn about the coarseness that suits your equipment and gradually get into grinding your own.

Additionally, even with the same equipment, everyone's taste preferences will vary somewhat. At this point, if the pre-ground coffee from the store doesn't suit your taste, there's no way to change it. However, if you grind your own, you can adjust the coarseness based on the equipment you use each time and experiment with different coarseness levels to find what suits you best. Even when I only use pour-over, I had to try several slight adjustments to coarseness before getting it right.

Another reason for grinding your own coffee, which could also be considered a benefit, is the issue of "freshness." Everyone knows that coffee beans shouldn't be stored for too long, but more accurately, it's roasted beans that shouldn't be stored for too long. Roasted coffee beans are generally stored in bags with one-way exhaust valves, which prevents outside air from entering and affecting the coffee's flavor while allowing carbon dioxide produced by the beans to escape. Even so, once ground into powder, the increased surface area causes coffee flavor to dissipate much faster than whole beans. Therefore, freshly ground coffee has absolute flavor advantages over pre-ground coffee. This is why FrontStreet Coffee suggests that beginners should equip themselves with a grinder to enjoy the full, rich flavors that fresh coffee provides.

So what's the coffee brewing process like? FrontStreet Coffee will cut to the chase and demonstrate immediately. Before the demonstration, FrontStreet Coffee still needs to explain some important parameters that affect brewing.

Coffee Grind Size

Good coffee needs to be paired with the appropriate grind size to bring out its maximum flavor. The most common reference for grind size is comparing it to sugar, which indeed has some comparability. Generally, pour-over coffee grind size has a particle value of 600-800 microns, similar to sugar coarseness.

The finer the grind, the larger the surface area of coffee contact with water, resulting in higher extraction efficiency; the coarser the grind, the smaller the surface area of coffee contact with water, resulting in lower extraction efficiency. FrontStreet Coffee uses an 850mm sieve as a standard, with an 80% pass-through rate for pour-over coffee grind size.

Water Temperature

Water temperature directly affects coffee extraction efficiency. The higher the temperature, the higher the extraction efficiency, and vice versa. According to observations, people use water temperatures ranging from 80°C to 96°C. Therefore, understanding the extraction principle is more meaningful than rote memorization. Water temperature will vary accordingly for beans with different roast levels.

For light to medium roast beans, the coffee beans have a denser texture and are harder to extract, so higher temperatures (90°C-93°C) can be used for extraction; for medium to dark roast beans, their structure is looser and prone to over-extraction, so lower water temperatures (86°C-89°C) can be used.

Coffee-to-Water Ratio

The ratio of coffee grounds to water directly affects coffee concentration. FrontStreet Coffee currently generally uses a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio. This is not absolute, just a reference. Personal tastes vary widely, so you can adjust it appropriately to suit your preferences. For those who like rich flavors, you can choose 1:13; for those who prefer lighter flavors, you can adjust to 1:16.

Time

Brewing time involves many influencing factors, such as grind size, amount of coffee, coffee-to-water ratio, filter cup characteristics, pouring technique, etc., so it's impossible to give an exact time. However, brewing a cup of pour-over coffee (15-20g of grounds) typically takes about 1 minute 30 seconds to 3 minutes (excluding special brewing methods like Japanese-style brewing).

FrontStreet Coffee's Pour-Over Brewing Process

① Weigh beans - FrontStreet Coffee generally uses 15g of coffee beans for one pour-over coffee.

② Prepare the filter cup and server, fold the filter paper, preheat the filter cup and server, prepare hot water, and the final step is grinding the coffee beans. All of these are preparation steps before brewing.

③ Pour in the coffee grounds, gently shake and tap the filter cup to level the coffee grounds. If the coffee surface is level, the hot water won't easily concentrate in one area when poured.

④ Begin pouring water, pour 30ml of hot water, inject hot water from the center of the coffee grounds, then slowly expand the range, evenly pouring hot water over the coffee grounds. Bloom for 30 seconds.

⑤ Second pour: inject hot water from the center of the coffee grounds, then slowly expand the range, pouring 100ml of hot water, with movements slightly faster than the first pour.

⑥ Third pour: when you're about to see the coffee bed, start pouring 95ml in a concentric circle pattern.

⑦ After all the coffee liquid has flowed into the server, immediately remove the filter cup. End extraction, time is 2 minutes.

Isn't it very simple? If you're new to pour-over coffee, why not pick up your pour-over kettle and brew it yourself right now!

For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee on private WeChat, WeChat ID: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473