How to Brew Pour-Over Drip Coffee? Can Premium Drip Coffee Bags Be Reused?

How should you brew drip bag coffee, and are there any specific techniques to follow? Absolutely! As the saying goes, details determine success or failure. By paying attention to the details of preparation, you can make a delicious cup of drip bag coffee. Let me introduce what drip bag coffee is - it's a filter bag with an ear-shaped paper card that contains coffee grounds. The coffee grounds inside are pre-ground from coffee beans, not instant coffee, so they contain residue and don't completely dissolve in water. Therefore, opening a drip bag and pouring it directly into hot water is an unwise choice, as this defeats the purpose of the drip bag and will leave you with a mouthful of coffee grounds.

What Is Drip Bag Coffee?

In principle, drip bag coffee is like a simplified pour-over coffee. Their brewing methods are basically the same, and the flavor extracted from the same coffee beans will be quite similar. The essence of drip bag coffee lies in its convenience - the "ear" design of the coffee filter bag replaces the need for a dripper and filter paper, while the pre-ground coffee saves you the trouble of using a grinder. The only thing you need to do is pour water into the filter bag and wait for it to filter through, producing a clean, clear black coffee.

Brewing Techniques for Drip Bag Coffee

Should you pour water in circles when brewing drip bag coffee? Should you pause? Should you bloom? The requirements for pouring water are not as strict as pour-over coffee. There are mainly two reasons: first, pour-over drippers are cone-shaped, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, so circular pouring is necessary for even extraction. In contrast, drip bag coffee bags have basically the same width from top to bottom and a relatively small opening, making circular pouring less meaningful.

The core principles for making delicious drip bag coffee boil down to two key points: water temperature and water volume.

Water Temperature

What temperature should the water be? Water temperature is a crucial factor when brewing any type of coffee. Many people habitually use water heated by water dispensers when brewing drip bag coffee. However, most water dispensers heat water to temperatures no higher than 75°C, so using water directly from a dispenser will result in a coffee that tastes thin and bland. FrontStreet Coffee recommends brewing drip bag coffee at temperatures between 91-95°C.

Water Volume

How much water should you pour? A standard drip bag coffee contains 10g of coffee, and we only need to pour 120-150ml of water. Of course, if you prefer a simpler approach, you can skip using an electronic scale. Since drip bag coffee is typically for personal consumption, usually brewed by hanging it directly over your own mug, you can remember the water line at 150ml on your mug and remove the drip bag when the coffee reaches approximately 150ml.

Step-by-Step Brewing Guide

① First, tear open the drip bag coffee and hang it over your cup.

② Open your thermos and pour the first portion of hot water into the center of the drip bag filter, filling it to 1/2 full, and wait for 15 seconds.

③ For the second pour, continue adding hot water until the filter bag is 9/10 full, stopping at the small card strip attached to the top of the filter bag.

④ After all the coffee has dripped into the cup, continue with the third pour, adding hot water until the filter bag is 9/10 full again.

⑤ After all the coffee has dripped into the cup, add the fourth pour of hot water until the filter bag is 9/10 full. Once the coffee has dripped into the cup, you can remove the drip bag filter.

⑥ In total, there are four pours: the first pour fills to 1/2, and for the remaining three pours, wait until all the coffee has completely dripped through before refilling to 9/10 full. Through numerous tests, FrontStreet Coffee has found that this pouring method typically results in a total water volume of around 150ml. With these simple steps, you can easily make a delicious cup of drip bag coffee.

Why Does My Drip Bag Coffee Taste Weak?

Although brewing drip bag coffee is very simple, some people find that their homemade drip bag coffee tastes weak and lacks the rich aroma of pour-over coffee. Compared to pour-over, brewing drip bags doesn't require complex tools, and the pouring technique, timing, and ratio don't need to be as strictly controlled. However, because of this more "casual" approach, the flavor profile of drip bag coffee often lacks the complexity and variety of pour-over coffee. Additionally, since drip bags contain pre-ground coffee that's been packaged, the aroma isn't as full-bodied as freshly ground coffee. If stored for too long (several months), it may develop some woody flavors.

To preserve the original flavor of coffee as much as possible, drip bag coffee typically uses coffee grounds ground from freshly roasted beans. The coffee beans shipped by FrontStreet Coffee are all freshly roasted within 5 days. When made into drip bag coffee, they're typically received 4-5 days after roasting, which is the perfect time to start brewing and tasting. FrontStreet Coffee recommends drinking it as soon as possible after receiving it, as prolonged storage can cause the loss of coffee's aromatic compounds. If you want to experience the most full-bodied coffee flavor, FrontStreet Coffee suggests purchasing whole beans and grinding them fresh before brewing for better flavor complexity.

To achieve a black coffee with rich aroma and full body, FrontStreet Coffee recommends mastering the temperature of the hot water and the total water volume. Only with sufficiently high water temperature can more aromatic compounds be released from the coffee grounds. When brewing pour-over coffee, FrontStreet Coffee recommends using water at 90-93°C. If the temperature is only around 80°C, the resulting coffee tends to be weak and flavorless, while boiling water can extract bitter and burnt flavors. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee lets boiled water sit uncovered at room temperature for about 1 minute to allow the temperature to drop to around 90°C.

When brewing pour-over coffee, the coffee-to-water ratio is very important. When too much water is used, the coffee tends to taste flat and lack aroma, and the same applies to drip bag coffee. FrontStreet Coffee recommends starting with a 1:15 ratio - 10g of coffee grounds to 150g of hot water - which extracts more balanced flavors and results in a more stable extraction. If you don't have a scale, simply find a measuring cup or kettle with markings.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473