How to Learn Techniques for Pour-Over Japanese Drip Method? Which Coffee Beans Are Best for Kono-Style Pour-Over Coffee?

Drip-Style Coffee Brewing

Many coffee enthusiasts are fascinated by drip-style coffee brewing but have been unsure about the intricacies of this method. FrontStreet Coffee is here to analyze how you can master the art of drip-style coffee brewing.

Kono Drip Method

The Kono pour-over method, also known as Japanese drip coffee, originated in 1973 from the Kono family, founders of Japan's Kono brand. Kono initially specialized in siphon brewers, where they remain distinctive in the field. Later, to research and replicate the mouthfeel of flannel-filtered coffee, they invented the Kono dripper. The drip method was born precisely to brew rich, mellow coffee.

The Kono drip method uses a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:10. It begins by adding water drop by drop, gradually moistening all the coffee grounds to extract the pure, rich flavors, followed by using a larger water flow to dilute the concentrate.

What draws most attention to Kono drip brewing is the brewer's calm and focused performance, which embodies true craftsmanship. This might be what attracts everyone to this method.

FrontStreet Coffee will now share several segments of Mr. Yamada from Taiwan's Yamada Coffee Shop demonstrating the Kono pour-over method for us to analyze together.

In this image, Mr. Yamada is folding the filter paper, and we can see he's using a Yukiwa Kono wide-mouth pour-over kettle, which is a special model designed for Kono brewing. Its feature is that the spout widens downward, facilitating precise drip pouring.

The dripper being used is the Kono MD-21, characterized by ribs that occupy half of the dripper body, convenient for brewing with large amounts of coffee grounds. Additionally, Kono has two short-rib models—the shorter the ribs, the slower the water flow. Of course, the serving pot is also from Kono (its special feature will be explained later), making this a complete standard Kono setup. Notably, there's no electronic scale visible in the picture.

In this image, we can see that coffee grounds have been placed in the dripper, but the filter paper hasn't been pre-wetted. This is a characteristic of the Kono method. Kono designed the dripper with the belief that when the filter paper is dry, the weight of the coffee grounds will cause the paper to conform perfectly to the dripper. To eliminate paper taste concerns, Kono introduced their own filter paper. Dry filter paper helps with degassing when the coffee grounds absorb water and ensures better adherence to the dripper.

This image shows Mr. Yamada's posture as he prepares to pour water. The water temperature at this point is 88°C. Friends who want to learn drip brewing can practice this, noting two key points: First, the height of the table is very important. When the table is approximately at the root of your thighs, holding the pour-over kettle with your right hand allows it to remain parallel to the ground without lifting your arm, making it less tiring since drip brewing is an endurance test.

The second point is the way you hold the kettle. Hold the kettle with your right hand while supporting your right wrist with your left hand, and step forward slightly with your left foot. This distributes the force more evenly and provides greater stability when holding the kettle.

Next, add water drop by drop to the center. Because the middle layer of grounds is thicker, dripping water in the center causes the coffee to gradually expand outward.

When dripping water, the frequency of drops must be stable, not too fast or too slow. Some friends might ask, "This isn't something I can control with my hand." The only solution is practice. In the video, Mr. Yamada also mentioned that even someone without coffee brewing experience can master water control through one month of practice.

After about 2 minutes of dripping, coffee liquid begins to drip from the bottom. At this point, under normal circumstances, the surface of the coffee grounds should be completely moistened. If it hasn't expanded and moistened, it might be because the coffee is ground too coarsely or the coffee beans were roasted too long ago.

There are two indicators for when to stop dripping: First, as shown in the image, the coffee grounds are fully expanded and moistened, and the filter paper is completely soaked; Second, a layer of coffee liquid has accumulated at the bottom of the serving pot.

At this point, approximately 2 minutes and 40 seconds into the dripping process, you can enter the second stage: using a small water flow to pour in small circles. The coffee grounds will rise in the middle. When it's about to "overflow," stop pouring and let the center of the coffee grounds sink. When a small depression appears, continue pouring in the same manner. Repeat this 2-3 times, making it look as if the coffee grounds are breathing.

When the coffee liquid reaches 2/3 of the target amount, use a large water flow to lift the coffee grounds.

When you reach the target coffee amount, immediately remove the dripper without waiting for all the liquid to finish dripping. This is because in Japanese pour-over philosophy, bitterness and off-flavors in coffee come from coffee foam. If you wait for all the liquid to drip through, the bitter and off-flavors from the foam will be transferred to the coffee liquid. Therefore, there's a technique at the end of brewing to use a large water flow to lift the dripper and then remove it. The total time from starting to pour to removing the dripper is 3 minutes and 32 seconds.

This reveals the special feature of the Kono serving pot. On the body of the Kono serving pot, there's a coffee cup logo, and the bottom horizontal line of this logo represents the 240ml (2 servings) marking. Therefore, when brewing 24g of coffee grounds, the coffee liquid reaching that line indicates a 1:10 coffee-to-water ratio.

Summary

To master the Kono drip method, here are the key points:

1. Coffee beans: Generally, select fresh dark-roasted coffee beans. The richer the carbon dioxide, the better the degassing effect of the coffee. For grind size, use a coarse grind, approximately with a 62% pass-through rate on a #20 sieve.

2. Brewing equipment: When the pour-over kettle's spout curves downward, it prevents backflow during dripping, which also helps you more easily learn the drip pouring technique. The matching Kono dripper will enhance the overall coffee performance.

3. Stable drip water flow: The method has been explained—pay attention to posture, fill the kettle 8/10 full with water, and the rest depends on your practice. The dripping frequency should be approximately 3 drops per second. Dripping too slowly might prevent the grounds from expanding, while dripping too quickly might cause water to fall into the serving pot before the coffee grounds have fully absorbed it.

4. Time points are not what Kono brewing focuses on. The times provided above are just to give you a temporal concept. What's important is to pay attention to the nodes when the state of the grounds changes.

5. Be patient. This is a brewing method that emphasizes endurance. Learning it isn't inherently difficult, but persistence is challenging.

6. When friends practice drip brewing, common issues like coffee grounds not being fully moistened, grounds not reacting or expanding, and burnt or bitter coffee usually stem from problems with the five points mentioned above.

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