What's the Difference Between Drip and Pour-Over Coffee? How to Make High-Quality Drip Coffee?

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Understanding Drip Coffee vs. Pour-Over Coffee

Currently, the most common drip coffee brewing method is pour-over coffee. Of course, besides pour-over coffee, coffee made using American-style coffee machines (drip coffee makers) can also be called drip coffee. What's the difference between drip and pour-over coffee? In one sentence: Drip coffee includes but is not limited to pour-over coffee—pour-over coffee is just one brewing method within drip coffee.

Drip coffee makers are electric, use ground coffee powder filled in filter cups, filtered with paper filters or metal mesh screens. The water temperature remains almost constant. If serving more people, use more coffee powder; conversely, use less. Turn on the power, and drip by drip, coffee falls into glass pots or thermal carafes...

For brewing with drip coffee machines, with fixed water temperature and fixed flow rate, FrontStreet Coffee believes there are opportunities for optimization:

Optimal Water-to-Coffee Ratio: 1:18.18

As SCAA repeatedly emphasizes, we still recommend using the 1:18.18 ratio, meaning one gram of coffee beans paired with 18.18 milliliters (cc, cubic centimeters) of water. However, here, since drip coffee makers recommend using cold water for filling, we suggest first measuring the correct volume in a measuring cup before adding it to the coffee maker! This ratio will brew coffee that most easily falls within the Golden Cup range! Concentration between 1.15%-1.35%, extraction rate between 18%-22%.

Of course, if you don't have a measuring cup at home, I recommend using a scale. Here I directly suggest using this ratio: single-serving coffee powder at 15 grams, paired with 225 grams of cold water (or 265.4 milliliters by volume). This is the ratio used at FrontStreet Coffee shop, and we suggest everyone try it~ We've already converted the density of hot water at 93-96°C between volume and mass, under one atmosphere pressure and room temperature of 25°C, directly recommending the grams of coffee and water to use.

The right water-to-coffee ratio won't waste coffee powder, allowing coffee to extract during the process, hoping to directly obtain acidity, sweetness, and slight bitterness from the extraction of sour, sweet, bitter, and astringent notes, while completely avoiding over-extraction of the remaining bitter and astringent flavors! Correctly extracting the flavor compounds from coffee will further enhance your coffee with the right flavors.

To avoid having to pull out a bunch of equipment every time you use a measuring cylinder or scale, we suggest placing a piece of tape on the water level viewing window of your drip coffee maker. Use the 225 grams or 265.4 milliliters of water as the basic unit per cup, measure out one cup, two cups, three cups... pour into the coffee maker, and mark sections on the viewing window to facilitate quickly adding the correct amount of water according to the number of people when making coffee next time.

Stirring Technique

Generally, when brewing drip coffee, after scooping the powder into the filter cup and patting it level and smooth, you immediately turn on the power. However, if your beans are too fresh? Or if your powder is ground too finely? Or if you need to brew three to four times the usual number of cups? Today's brewing subject is light-roasted beans? Then stirring comes into play!

The purpose of stirring is to help extraction! The result of stirring will show many CO2 bubbles emerging, helping the coffee powder become immersed in water, allowing hot water to drip onto the coffee powder to facilitate perfect extraction of the entire coffee.

Therefore, if the coffee powder is too fresh, or if you choose medium-dark roasted coffee powder, or if you find that hot water seems to only drip to the lower pot; or if you find coffee powder seeping out of the filter cup; or if it's ground too finely but you still want to finish brewing it without waste!? If you encounter any of the above situations, we recommend starting to stir when hot water begins dripping onto the coffee powder (recommended when water volume equals coffee powder volume), ensuring all coffee powder and water are evenly adhered together, then immediately stop stirring. The stirring time should be 5-10 seconds! (Because if you continue stirring, the coffee powder will become too bitter and astringent due to your stirring!)

Therefore, the above problems could actually be avoided from the beginning, because you might be grinding too finely, so we suggest grinding a bit coarser!

But when should stirring be recommended? I suggest for light-roasted beans, if the brewed flavor lacks sufficient 'sweetness', then add this step—stir a bit! Help the coffee machine increase extraction slightly, making the entire flavor more outstanding. Of course, if you over-stir... the 'astringent' flavor will emerge... Believe me, after practicing a few times, you'll become very skilled!

Pre-infusion Technique

Generally speaking, drip coffee machines don't have pre-infusion! What is pre-infusion?

The purpose of pre-infusion is to allow a waiting period before the coffee powder is fully moistened by water. During this time, hot water is poured onto the coffee powder, and during the moistening process, the coffee powder heats up and continuously releases CO2 gas, after which it can accept the baptism of hot water and fully extract flavor compounds.

When pour-over brewing, you first pour some hot water onto the coffee powder, wait for a period of time, then start pouring water! Different schools have different approaches—some wait 30 seconds, some wait until the surface of the coffee powder loses its shine! Or when the surface falls, immediately add water, while others use the single-pour method, but with slower water flow at the beginning... All these methods demonstrate the necessity of pre-infusion!

Drip coffee machines have the advantage of being electric! When to start pouring water, stop water, and pour water again can all be controlled through the power switch. Therefore, if you want to maximize the efficiency of your drip coffee maker, we suggest starting to use the pre-infusion technique! Two-stage water pouring: turn on the machine, start the first water pour with volume roughly equal to the coffee powder volume, turn off the machine, wait patiently for 30 seconds, turn on the machine until brewing is complete, then turn off the machine.

Grind Size

In pour-over brewing, grind size affects flavor changes, but in drip coffee makers, there's another factor: flow rate speed.

During the coffee extraction process, the ease with which flavor compounds are washed out follows the order of sour, sweet, bitter, and astringent (meaning the order of coffee flavor release). Therefore, grind size is a means of extracting flavors. The finer the grind, the larger the contact area of the coffee powder (as we learned in middle school about factors affecting the speed of material changes, one of which is surface area), so the faster the flavor compounds will be released, and conversely, the slower! Among all flavor compounds in black coffee, the one we least want to encounter is 'astringency.' How to achieve 'correct' extraction? Well~ this depends on your taste! If the brewed coffee tastes 'astringent' to you, it means the coffee powder is ground too finely—you should adjust it coarser. Conversely, if your brewed coffee doesn't taste sweet enough to you?! This means you can make the coffee a bit finer!

The extraction rate mentioned above is recommended by SCAA to be between 18%-22%. The method used in SCAA Golden Cup courses involves using VST, an optical refractometer for concentration measurement, to first determine the concentration of the coffee solution, then combined with SCAA's 'Coffee Brewing Control Chart,' you can find the current extraction rate of the coffee. However, this is the method for finding Golden Cup brewing, and everyone's definition and taste preferences for good coffee vary. Therefore, here we suggest determining your required grind size based on your personal taste! Therefore, is the extraction correct!? Using such instruments for measurement here seems like 'making a mountain out of a molehill'! Of course, if you're a candidate taking the Golden Cup exam, you must take it seriously!! Additionally, the purpose of this article is not to explain or calculate concentration and extraction rates, so let's just briefly mention this!

Next is flow rate: coffee powder that's too fine will prevent hot water from passing smoothly through the coffee layer into the lower coffee pot. Therefore, an appropriate grind size that allows water to pass through smoothly and extract at a proper flow rate is also a research topic!

In fact, you can still find a balance point between flow rate and flavor, depending on the observation and taste preferences of the person brewing the coffee!

Interrupted Extraction

Want to enhance flavor? This technique must not be skipped!

If you're a heavy user of pour-over brewing, you must know the importance of pre-infusion. Pre-infusion is a necessary means to help extraction; the use of the interruption method is another technique for enhancing flavor. Generally speaking, the two-interruption method and three-interruption method are approaches more people are trying!

You can also apply this method to drip coffee makers! What is interruption? Turning off the power! Want to interrupt several times? Turn it off several times! Of course, not for fun, but to enhance flavor!

So how long should you wait before turning it back on? If possible, we suggest observing the water in your drip coffee maker's filter cup. When all the water has seeped down, that's the time to add water again! If you can't see it?! Use the counting method, approximately 10-15 seconds should be sufficient. Why only 10-15 seconds? Because we're afraid the coffee powder will cool down, which would be detrimental to extraction. Therefore, 10-15 seconds will suffice!

We suggest this method can be used for relatively 'fresh' beans, such as beans roasted within one to three days, or beans with a 'light roast' level!

Of course, interruption is to increase 'good' flavors. If you find that flavor doesn't increase after using interruption, you can certainly skip it! Generally speaking: sweetness will increase! However, if astringency increases, it means: too many interruptions! Or simply no interruption is needed at all!

Cold Brewing Method

Young folks, you probably haven't tried this one, have you!?

Can drip coffee makers make iced coffee!? But how do you make it?! Please note! Remember the water-to-coffee ratio rule to succeed easily!

Generally speaking, if your coffee follows SCAA brewing principles at 1:18.18, it's easiest to brew Golden Cup coffee! One gram of coffee powder paired with 18.18 milliliters of water... volume or grams? This often gives many enthusiasts a headache, but actually, any tool that you find convenient to use is a good method!

FrontStreet Coffee recommends using a mass-to-mass approach for water-to-coffee ratio. Assuming: 15 grams of coffee powder paired with 225 grams of water (this involves the density conversion of hot water at 91-96°C under one atmosphere pressure, which won't be elaborated here, focusing only on the derived numbers), place 110g of ice cubes in the lower pot first, put 110g of water in the drip coffee maker, and what about the 15g of coffee? Of course, it still goes in the powder compartment! But!!!!!! Please remember, because half of your water hasn't extracted coffee powder, meaning only half of your water can extract coffee, which also means you must make this hot water extract more efficiently. How? Of course, by grinding the coffee powder... finer than usual!

But how fine should it be? Well~ you'll need to try a few times, but generally, adjusting one 'notch' finer should be more than enough! However, still judge based on your results after trying!

By Pass Method

The 'cold brewing method' mentioned above is actually a type of By Pass. Its definition is to reduce a certain amount of water that should have passed through a certain water-to-coffee ratio to shorten extraction time, and after extraction is complete, add the water that hasn't passed through coffee powder back into the already extracted coffee liquid.

It seems to be brewing stronger coffee, then adding water to make it thinner, achieving a lighter concentration! And this concentration is still our predetermined concentration.

In the United States, this method has been widely used, especially by larger enterprises as a time-saving brewing method. Therefore, to extract a more concentrated coffee liquid, in drip coffee maker brewing methods, you need to grind the original coffee powder finer, or use the interruption method more frequently, or even add stirring techniques! The goal is to obtain a more concentrated coffee liquid! Therefore, the advantage of this By Pass method is saving time and quickly serving cups!

After obtaining a slightly more concentrated coffee liquid, the next step is adding water! Of course, the amount of water added must also comply with the Golden Cup ratio provided by SCAA! For example, the 1:18.18 mentioned above. Therefore, if the coffee extraction method reduces water, plus the originally deducted water, tastes good when tried! Then you've found the right brewing method! Of course,所谓 'right' still depends on your personal taste! If there's astringency, adjust the grind setting coarser; if not sweet enough, adjust the setting finer! In summary, without tools for measuring concentration and extraction rate, it's all about your personal taste!

(Cupping-like) Tasting

Cupping is an extremely professional topic that ordinary people, besides enjoying coffee, rarely encounter.

Cupping is an extremely important technique for evaluating coffee. Farmers need to cup to understand how their grown coffee tastes; bean selectors need to cup to understand the value of this bean and whether they should acquire the entire batch; roasters need to cup to understand how this roasted bean tastes and whether it's the same as last time; green bean judges need to cup to understand which bean is most appreciated and truly deserving of being the champion; coffee brewers also need to cup to understand whether they brewed this bean well and how to further enhance its characteristics; consumers also need to cup to understand their beans—whether they truly love them and whether they really have the 'magical' flavors claimed by the shop!

Cupping uses a 1:18.18 ratio, clean, odorless hot water at 200°F, grind settings... grind calibration... water TDS... cupping spoon... four minutes... breaking the crust... slurping... eight minutes... dry aroma... wet aroma... with seemingly very strict, meticulous regulations and scoring!

Drip coffee makers are actually very convenient and simple cupping tools. Although the coffee powder isn't continuously steeped in hot water, for ordinary consumers, without such strict requirements, they're already more than sufficient! Suppose every time you buy new beans, without further ado, grind coffee powder at a 'fixed' grind setting, brew coffee at a 'fixed' water-to-coffee ratio, then brew coffee in a 'fixed' manner without stirring or interruption, then taste the coffee within a 'fixed' time... Then, using this method to judge and taste, if you 'like this bean,' you can slowly add new brewing variables like stirring, interruption, cold brewing, By Pass... Then 'liking this bean' will likely become even stronger. Conversely, if you 'don't like this bean,' there's probably no need to add any variables, because if you don't like it originally, no matter how you process it, you probably won't add much to it...

Introduction to Enthusiast-style Bean Blending

Single-origin beans, single estate, specialty beans! These are the spiritual indicators of the third wave of coffee!

Blending beans? What's that...

The purpose of blending beans is to compensate for weaknesses and combine the strengths of coffees you like! I hope it's not too acidic but very sweet, with rich floral notes, and if possible, add chocolate flavors for even better results; but... to present all these characteristics in the same coffee, unless using roasting techniques, it's difficult to find them all in regular coffee!

In fact, if you have too many beans at home, you can also do this—according to your preferences, add beans in different proportions, readjust, and create your own unique flavors!

You can do this: First, brew all the pre-mixed beans separately using the same water-to-coffee ratio, then prepare several cups, pour different coffees into the cups according to different proportions, mix thoroughly, taste, record, and then based on your records, blend different types of beans by weight to create your exclusive 'blended coffee beans.' Next time you want to drink, just grind and brew!

You can also do this: Directly mix different varieties of coffee beans according to 'intuition,' grind them immediately, then use American-style coffee brewing, taste, record; and from your records, find your exclusive personal blending recipe!

Coffee is inherently alive, and how to define it often comes down to human interpretation. Especially the specialty beans emphasized by the third wave are meant to highlight the original origin flavors of the beans! But because of this, we can seize this opportunity to create more possibilities! In previous World Barista Championships, some competitors didn't mix beans from different estates but boldly used single beans from a single estate, mixed using different roast levels. The results were also highly praised by the judges!

Although we don't participate in competitions, we can use simple brewing equipment to experience the beauty of different estates creating symphonies together! The beauty of the United Nations! The beauty of world harmony!

Come~ it's your turn to try...!!

FrontStreet Coffee: A roastery in Guangzhou with a small shop but diverse bean varieties, where you can find both famous and lesser-known beans, also providing online shop services. https://shop104210103.taobao.com

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473