The Art and Science of Three-Stage Pouring in Pour-Over Coffee: Understanding the Rationale Behind Dividing Hot Water into Three Segments

FrontStreet Coffee: Pour-Over Coffee Techniques - Three-Stage Pouring Method

Since entering the coffee industry in 2013, FrontStreet Coffee has progressively developed expertise in coffee cultivation, roasting, and brewing. The 30+ coffee beans displayed in our shop are carefully selected from hundreds of varieties to showcase their regional flavor characteristics. Many customers visit FrontStreet Coffee not just to enjoy a cup of coffee, but also to engage in discussions about all things coffee-related. While providing specialty coffee to our customers, FrontStreet Coffee also considers how to share coffee knowledge in a simple and engaging way.

Those new to pour-over coffee often find it challenging with many seemingly complex steps. However, FrontStreet Coffee prefers to approach coffee from a simple perspective. Pour-over coffee is a process where flavor extraction and filtration occur simultaneously, centered around the point where water is poured. The key to pour-over coffee lies in controlling and balancing the extraction of various compounds from the coffee beans to create the perfect brew. FrontStreet Coffee will now explain in detail the common pour-over coffee pouring technique - the specific operation method of three-stage pouring.

Pour-Over Coffee Pouring Technique: Three-Stage Pouring

The three-stage pouring method involves segmented extraction, dividing one portion of water into three separate pours to clearly distinguish the front, middle, and back-end flavors of the coffee. FrontStreet Coffee's approach is to increase the pour-over water amount incrementally after the bloom. Typically, water is poured when the coffee liquid level is about to drop to the surface of the coffee grounds. Using small, medium, and large water flows for three-stage extraction requires relatively high control over water flow rate and volume.

With the three-stage pouring method, the bloom process neither uses stirring to improve the uniformity of water absorption by the coffee grounds, nor uses dripping to enhance soaking depth. Therefore, it's suitable for beans that fall between the light-roasted beans (which use the stirring bloom method) and dark-roasted beans (which use the dripping bloom method). This makes it particularly suitable for medium-roasted coffee beans, which aligns with the fact that most specialty coffee beans are roasted to a medium level between first and second crack. This is also one of the reasons why the three-stage pouring method is most popular.

However, FrontStreet Coffee still frequently uses the three-stage pouring method for brewing, whether it's light roast or dark roast, with slight variations in water flow control. This requires considerable skill from the barista. When communicating with customers, FrontStreet Coffee also recommends using the three-stage pouring method because mastering this technique requires accumulated practice over time. Only when one has thoroughly mastered a method can they fully understand the principles of brewing, making it easier to switch to other brewing techniques without losing the fundamentals.

First Pour: The Bloom (Helping with Degassing)

During the roasting process where coffee beans transform from raw to roasted, a series of chemical reactions and physical changes occur. After reaching a certain degree of roasting, coffee beans accumulate a large amount of gas (mostly carbon dioxide).

Generally, the fresher the coffee and the closer to the roasting date, the more bubbles will appear during the bloom. Dark-roasted beans also release more gas during the blooming process compared to light-roasted beans. FrontStreet Coffee's beans are all freshly roasted, so we generally recommend customers to let the beans rest for three days first, allowing the coffee beans to release carbon dioxide preferentially, which can avoid instability and under-extraction issues during brewing.

After the bloom releases gas, the coffee particles can absorb water evenly, ensuring more uniform extraction in later stages. A good bloom allows the coffee grounds to quickly, fully, and evenly release gas while also enabling thorough and rapid contact with water, helping the coffee grounds to be extracted uniformly.

Five Key Points to Note During the Bloom:

1. Level the coffee grounds before pouring water for the bloom

2. Pour water gently during the bloom

3. Minimize extracted liquid dripping during the bloom

When excessive extracted liquid appears in the lower pot, reduce the amount of water poured or pay attention to the grind size. (If too much water is used during the bloom and a large amount of coffee liquid drips down, the falling water doesn't stay but directly carries out substances from the exterior of the coffee grounds. The impurities and astringency from the outer layer of the coffee grounds begin to dissolve, resulting in coffee that is both weak yet has over-extracted impurities. If the bloom water volume is insufficient with no water dripping, it means the coffee grounds haven't absorbed enough water, and some coffee hasn't released enough gas, causing under-extraction.) Based on this situation, FrontStreet Coffee conducted multiple bloom experiments and found that pouring twice the amount of water to the coffee grounds during the bloom is most suitable.

4. Bloom time should be approximately 30-40 seconds

When the expansion of the coffee grounds surface ends, you'll see the coffee surface start to shrink, indicating that the bloom is complete and you can begin pouring water. (If the bloom time is too long, the coffee is likely to develop bitterness and astringency; if too short, the soaking is insufficient, and the coffee may have under-extraction or fail to fully express its potential.) Generally, the optimal bloom end time varies for each bean, but FrontStreet Coffee found that this is not conducive to beginners' operation. After all, beginners need standardization and ease of use. Therefore, while ensuring the coffee beans are still in a freshly roasted state, FrontStreet Coffee recommends a 30-second bloom time. Of course, experienced brewers can adjust the time according to their preference.

5. Water temperature for brewing coffee is crucial

It directly affects the extraction rate and thus the taste of the coffee. The water temperature for pour-over should be adjusted according to the degree of coffee roast. Generally, dark-roasted beans require lower temperatures of 86-88°C, as their structure is more porous and active, making gas easier to release. Light-roasted beans require 90-91°C, as they are relatively harder and release gas more slowly, so higher water temperatures are needed to accelerate gas release. FrontStreet Coffee suggests adjusting the water temperature according to the degree of coffee roast to consistently bring out the coffee's flavor and quality. Once a customer questioned this brewing temperature, so FrontStreet Coffee used their Golden Mandheling coffee beans (dark roast) and brewed them with 90°C water. The result was a taste that could almost "compete" with espresso.

Second Pour

Start the second pour from the center, using a small water column to penetrate the bottom of the coffee grounds. To concentrate the penetrating power of the water column, the circular movement range should be small, approximately the size of a one-dollar coin, then gradually expand outward. From the second pour, pay attention to the water volume, trying not to exceed the height of the coffee grounds layer. This means when the water column approaches close to the filter paper, you can stop pouring.

Third Pour

As the initially thicker layer of coffee grounds near the filter paper becomes heavier from absorbing water and slides down and thins as the water level drops, the third pour can begin when the water level drops to about halfway.

From the third pour onward, observe the rate at which the water level drops. Again, start pouring from the center in a circular motion, with water not exceeding the height of the grounds layer. At this point, you'll also notice that foam has covered most of the surface. The third pour should increase the agitation of coffee particles to get all settled particles moving, thereby dissolving soluble substances. The agitating particles will begin to settle when water pouring stops. At this point, the flow rate created by the dropping water level will cause friction between the coffee particles. Once water pouring stops, coffee ground particles sink downward, causing blockage, so special attention must be paid to the rhythm of adding water.

If there are too many interruptions in pouring, it's equivalent to letting the coffee ground particles continuously soak in water, which will lead to astringency and impurities in the tail-end extraction of the coffee.

All the above is theoretical knowledge, and some may still find it confusing. Don't worry - FrontStreet Coffee has developed a standard brewing protocol through multiple experiments. Below, we use FrontStreet Coffee's Kenya Asalia coffee beans as an example.

Example: FrontStreet Coffee Kenya Asalia Coffee Beans

These beans are full and round in shape. To fully express their bright and mellow acidity, FrontStreet Coffee uses light roasting.

Machine: Yangjia 800N, 550g green beans input
Bean entry temperature: 200°C
First crack: 5'30", 154.3°C
Development after first crack: 2'10", discharged at 191.6°C

FrontStreet Coffee Kenya Asalia Coffee Bean Roasting Curve

Brewing Process

FrontStreet Coffee selected brewing parameters: Hario V60, coffee-to-water ratio 1:15, water temperature 90°C, grind size similar to fine sugar (Chinese standard #20 sieve pass rate 80%).

In terms of brewing technique, FrontStreet Coffee uses twice the amount of coffee grounds for the bloom, meaning 30g of water for blooming, with a bloom time of 30 seconds. With a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15, the total water amount is 225g.

Three-stage pour-over: After the bloom ends, the second pour reaches 125g, then pauses. The second pour stops at 1 minute, and the third pour continues until reaching 225g of water. The total pouring time is 2 minutes (including bloom time).

FrontStreet Kenya Asalia Coffee Flavor Description

The overall taste is clearly layered with distinct aroma. Mature tomato aroma and floral notes, with a full juice-like mouthfeel, flavors of cherry tomatoes and smoked plums, bright acidity, berry sweetness, and a yellow sugar sweetness in the aftertaste.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473