Hand Pour Coffee vs Cup-Brewed Coffee: Flavor and Taste Differences - How to Brew Delicious Coffee?

Introduction

How do you describe making coffee? Do you call it brewing coffee, steeping coffee, or simply making coffee? Obviously, brewing coffee has the longest history, but nowadays, pouring and steeping coffee have become the mainstream methods.

What are "Pouring" and "Steeping"?

What we usually call "brewing coffee" actually refers to two different extraction methods. "Pouring" mostly refers to the pour-over method of coffee extraction, whose biggest characteristic is the continuous action of "pouring water," where coffee is extracted in a drip-filter mode, similar to a continuous stream of living water flowing into a lake (a Picasso-style metaphor).

Steeping coffee, as the name suggests, embodies the concept of "steeping." Steeping coffee refers to soaking coffee grounds in water, where water and coffee grounds remain in a static state for a period of time, relying on the gradual release of substances from the coffee grounds. Therefore, steeping coffee takes longer than pouring coffee. Steeping coffee is very similar to steeping tea, and there are also specialized utensils for steeping coffee, such as French press, Clever dripper, and so on.

The difference between these two coffee extraction methods can be summarized as follows: "Pouring" coffee uses a continuous flow of water to wash over the coffee grounds, and the washed water (coffee liquid) is simultaneously discharged. (It's the college entrance exam season, which reminds me of the math problem about a wealthy swimming pool manager who both fills and drains water simultaneously.)

Meanwhile, "steeping" coffee involves pouring all the water in at once, then relying on the mutual penetration between water and coffee grounds to extract coffee substances (extracting flavor), and finally separating the residue to obtain the liquid.

Which is Better: "Pouring" or "Steeping" Coffee?

For a more direct comparison, we've selected representatives for these two methods: the V60 pour-over represents "pouring," while the Clever dripper represents "steeping." As for why we didn't choose the French press, FrontStreet Coffee considered this question, but given that we're comparing "pouring" and "steeping," we felt it would be more objective to elevate the filtering performance to a higher level.

First, we selected Costa Rica's Giant Rock Estate Blueberry from FrontStreet Coffee. This bean has rich blueberry fruit notes and is extremely recognizable, making it perfect for comparison.

For this comparison, we plan to make three cups of coffee each using the Giant Rock Estate Blueberry beans with pour-over and Clever dripper methods, with consistent parameters as follows:

Pour-over parameters: 15g coffee, 20-mesh sieve with 80% pass rate, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 91°C water temperature, three-stage pouring technique;

Clever dripper parameters: 15g coffee, 20-mesh sieve with 75% pass rate, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, 93°C water temperature, 4-minute steeping time.

Through tasting, all three pour-over cups exhibited rose aroma and blueberry sweetness, showing rich layering. The three Clever dripper cups performed more consistently, with sweetness being more prominent, but lacking the rich complexity of the pour-over cups.

For this purpose, we also invited a coffee-loving customer to make a pour-over coffee and steep a cup of coffee using the Clever dripper according to the parameters we provided.

Through tasting, we could clearly distinguish the differences between this pour-over coffee and the previous three pour-over cups. As for the coffee steeped with the Clever dripper, it was identical to the previous three Clever dripper cups. Of course, in this comparison, the "steeped coffee" flavor was completely victorious.

From this, it's not difficult to see that the advantage of "steeping" coffee lies in its stability. Whether for beginners or experienced baristas, as long as reasonable parameters are used, consistently good-tasting coffee can be produced.

However, the lower limit of "pouring" coffee is somewhat high. To produce consistently good coffee, besides understanding parameters, fundamental skills in water pouring are essential. But the upper limit of "pouring" coffee is also very high. In pour-over coffee, there's a large space for human control, with diverse pouring techniques, creating infinite possibilities. This is also why many people are passionate about pour-over coffee.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473