Siphon vs Direct Hot Water Brewing: What's the Difference Between Pour-Over and Siphon Coffee

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What are the Differences Between Coffee Brewed by Pour-over and Syphon Methods?

When we buy coffee beans at a café, the owner will thoughtfully ask: "Would you like them ground?" The next question is, "How fine should they be ground?" or "What brewing device do you use?" This shows that brewing equipment and coffee grind size are directly related. Also, when you're preparing to make coffee at home, which brewing device should you choose? Let's compare pour-over kettles and syphon pots here.

Before discussing their differences, it's worth asking yourself what kind of coffee you like to drink? Very aromatic? Very strong? Refreshing? Rich? If you're used to drinking hotter coffee, you can choose syphon. In terms of temperature, the water temperature for pour-over before brewing is not as high as syphon, plus the waiting time for coffee to drip down, making the coffee cool down easily. That's why some people prefer pour-over in summer and syphon in winter. "Pour-over enthusiasts" have their own methods to deal with cooling, which is why sometimes when you visit a café, you might see an additional red-lit warming plate under the coffee pot to prevent the coffee from losing temperature.

If you prefer a cleaner taste, you can choose pour-over. Pour-over leaves the coffee oils on the filter paper rather than in the coffee, creating a clean taste with rich layers, while syphon retains more coffee oils, resulting in a richer texture and more intense aroma—just like other foods, oil makes things more fragrant.

Nowadays, besides espresso, cafés seem to offer more pour-over than syphon, mostly because pour-over brewing is quick and convenient, while glass syphons break easily, have higher损耗 rates, and take longer to clean.

So what's the relationship between coffee grind size and equipment? According to the "Gold Cup" theory, achieving the golden ratio of coffee concentration and extraction rate creates a good-flavored coffee. Generally, the shorter the extraction time, the smaller the coffee particles; the longer the extraction time, the larger the particles. Pour-over time is very short—coffee grounds are in contact with water for no more than five seconds, so the particles are smaller. In syphon brewing, water and coffee grounds are in contact for nearly a minute, so the particles are larger.

To drink a good cup of coffee, coffee beans (ingredients) account for 50%, roasting for 20%, extraction method for 20%, and drinker preference for 10%—and that 20% influence from extraction is still significant. Pour-over and syphon can reveal different aspects of coffee.

There are many schools of syphon brewing—some add coffee grounds first, then wait for water to rise to the upper pot; others wait for water to rise before adding coffee grounds, plus cross-stirring methods, vortex stirring methods, etc. A common belief is that if the remaining coffee grounds can form a small hill after brewing, it represents skilled coffee making, but it's actually just a small trick with no direct correlation to flavor.

Don't think that pour-over coffee is just like watering plants. Through a dedicated pour-over kettle, hot water is slowly injected in a circular pattern into a filter cup containing coffee grounds to extract a complete cup of coffee. Besides the quality of the coffee beans themselves, the thickness of the water stream, the stability of holding the kettle, the distance between the kettle spout and coffee grounds, the speed of circling, and the number and size of circles all affect the flavor.

As for the best coffee-to-water ratio, it's "1:15-1:18," meaning 15 grams of coffee beans use about 225cc of water. Whether for pour-over or syphon, the amount is the same. In other words, when purchasing a pour-over kettle or syphon, don't worry about which one will use more beans.

FrontStreet Coffee's Pour-over Parameter Recommendations

FrontStreet Coffee recommends V60 filter cup, grind setting on small Fuji 3.5, water temperature 90°, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, using 15 grams of grounds to brew 225 grams of water, total brewing time 2 minutes.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473