What to Do When Pour-Over Coffee Temperature Drops Too Fast? Solutions for Coffee Powder Clumping and Whether It's Safe to Drink

Winter Coffee Brewing Challenges

Just the day before yesterday, Guangzhou transitioned from summer to winter. This wouldn't normally be significant, but Guangzhou's cold carries a damp, penetrating quality that affects even pour-over coffee brewing. Winter coffee brewing therefore takes on a different feel. FrontStreet Coffee is here to discuss common winter coffee brewing problems.

Coffee Powder Clumping

Coffee powder clumping during grinding isn't uncommon, mainly due to static electricity and moisture, which causes finer particles to stick together and form clumps. This situation becomes more frequent in winter, to the point of being frustrating.

Some grinders are equipped with static eliminators at the powder outlet, but their actual effect is minimal. Fallen clumped coffee powder is relatively easy to solve. FrontStreet Coffee's solution is to use a small spoon or needle-like tool to directly break up the clumped coffee powder. Similarly, some coffee powder stubbornly adheres to the upper part of the collection cup, and we can still use this method to break up the coffee powder.

However, some coffee powder directly sticks to the powder outlet, which we often call "powder retention." For example, when precisely grinding 15 grams of coffee powder, the actual output might be less than 15 grams due to the grinder retaining powder. FrontStreet Coffee offers two solutions for this situation. The first is to pre-grind an additional 0.5-1 gram of coffee beans (depending on the grinder's retention level). For example, if the target powder amount is 15 grams, you can grind 15.5 grams of coffee beans. Of course, in the long run, this method seems wasteful.

The second method is to purchase a "puffer" (dust blower) online for under 10 yuan. After grinding, don't remove the collection cup, extend the puffer to the powder outlet and blow - the trapped coffee powder will come down, very convenient.

Regarding online rumors about solving static clumping by adding a drop of water to coffee beans before grinding, FrontStreet Coffee doesn't recommend this approach. Even assuming this method is effective, controlling the amount of water drops is quite difficult. If too much water is added accidentally, the blade's heat cannot evaporate this moisture, and when water mixes with coffee oils, it can cause devastating damage to the burrs. The drawbacks outweigh the benefits.

Rapid Water Temperature Drop

Winter coffee brewing has a notable characteristic - water temperature drops particularly quickly, both in the kettle and in the filter cup. Once water loses its heat source, it begins to cool down. Even when placed in a thermos, it still cools, just at a much slower rate.

In winter, due to lower room temperatures (indoor temperatures in southern China are lower than outside), the overall cooling speed becomes much faster than in summer. For example, when brewing coffee at 91°C in summer, the kettle temperature remains around 88°C after brewing. In winter, brewing at 91°C leaves less than 85°C afterward. If even an insulated kettle behaves this way, the filter cup continuously exposed to air will likely experience a temperature drop of 1-2°C during extraction - a conservative estimate.

To cope with this situation, FrontStreet Coffee suggests that if you're not using a temperature-controlled kettle, first preheat the kettle with a small amount of hot water. Then, when normally adding hot water to your pour-over kettle, add slightly more hot water than usual. Sufficient hot water helps your kettle's hot water combat the cold room temperature and maintain water temperature.

During brewing, use water temperature 2°C higher than usual. This helps maintain water temperature throughout the subsequent brewing process. For example, if you normally use 90°C water for a particular coffee bean, you can use 92°C water in colder environments to better replicate the usual taste. As for those using temperature-controlled kettles, you can place the kettle back on the heating base between pours to maintain temperature.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473