Are Flattened Wide-Spout Kettles and Pointed Gooseneck Kettles Good to Use?

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FrontStreet Coffee: The Difference Between Flattened Wide-Mouth Kettles and Pointed Crane-Mouth Kettles in Japanese-Style Drip Brewing

The drip method, as the name suggests, uses water drops for brewing, much like an hourglass, dripping drop by drop onto the coffee grounds. It's very time-consuming, but visually stunning and has a strong sense of rhythm. First, use concentrated water points to pre-wet the coffee grounds. When about 1/3 has dripped through, you can begin pouring water. Stop when the water level reaches the top of the coffee grounds, and when the water level drops to halfway, pour again.

Because the pour-over kettle needs to maintain a drop-by-drop state, it's suitable to choose either flattened wide-mouth kettles or wide-mouth crane-neck kettles. The advantage of these types of pour-over kettles is their high controllability over water flow thickness, making them more adaptable to the drip brewing method.

We often see these two types of kettles used in French and Japanese-style drip brewing: the flattened wide-mouth kettle and the pointed crane-mouth kettle. So what are the differences between them?

Flattened Wide-Mouth Kettle

It allows better control over water flow thickness, with a larger water column. It can be difficult to control when trying to use a thin water stream, which might result in a thick water column being poured out. This is a kettle type that requires practice. After getting used to it, you can vary the water flow size as needed, and it's not too difficult to brew multiple portions simultaneously in daily use. (Difficult to control)

Pointed Crane-Mouth Kettle

The advantage is that both large and small water column flows are gentle and stable. Combined with water temperature and variations in pouring height, it can create richer and more delicate coffee layers. The difficulty lies in the fact that controlling small water flows during operation is extremely challenging. Although experts can use this type of kettle for drop-by-drop brewing, it's indeed difficult for most users to control.

When paired with a conical filter cup whose ribs stop at less than half the cup's height, this design allows the filter paper to fully adhere to the cup wall after absorbing water, greatly limiting the exhaust space. This method is more suitable for medium-dark or darker roasted coffee beans.