The Art of Japanese Drip Pour-Over: A Complete Guide to the Kanazawa Method | Mastering Delicious Pour-Over Coffee Techniques

Previously, FrontStreet Coffee shared the Kono-style drip and Matsuya-style brewing methods, which received excellent feedback. So in this issue we're introducing another interesting brewing method: the Kanazawa style.

The Principle of Kanazawa-Style Pour-Over

Kanazawa style was created by Mr. Masayuki Kanazawa, owner of Kanazawa Coffee Shop. He studied at the Kono Coffee Academy and received serious coffee instruction from Kono himself. His book "Kono-style Kanazawa Coffee" also explains very clearly and simply how to use the Kanazawa method to brew delicious coffee. Friends who have the chance should read it.

Kanazawa style is also a very Japanese pour-over method, characterized by gentleness, slowness, and a dragonfly-dipping-water-like pouring technique. The viewpoint mentioned in the book is that, when extracting coffee, the last 2/3 of the coffee liquid is full of various bitter and negative flavors, while the first 1/3 is the most delicious and essential part.

Therefore Kanazawa style extracts only the first 1/3 of high-concentration coffee liquid, then adds 2/3 water to dilute it to the appropriate concentration.

That 1/3 is based on a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:10. That is, if you start with 24g of coffee grounds, you extract 80ml of high-concentration coffee liquid, then mix it with 160ml of clear water to get a 240ml cup of Kanazawa-style coffee.

Kanazawa-Style Brewing Process Demonstration

Mr. Kanazawa came from the Kono Coffee Academy, so he also highly approves of Kono equipment. For equipment, using Kono's dripper, serving pot, and filter paper is the standard setup. The kettle is quite interesting: he uses a Kalita handle-style pour-over kettle, the same as conventional Japanese pour-over kettles.

Traditional Japanese pour-over kettles are tall with side handles, while this kettle is short and stout with a different kind of handle, a carrying handle. This design places the kettle's center of gravity directly above the body when in use, and the spout uses an extremely narrow opening, allowing precise flow control when pouring.

Below is a video of Mr. Masayuki Kanazawa demonstrating the Kanazawa brewing method at an exhibition, with the YouTube video creator being "suling hung."

In the video, Mr. Kanazawa uses a 10-cup Kono dripper with 120g of coffee grounds. You can see that before pouring water, a hole needs to be dug in the middle of the coffee bed, because the middle layer is too thick to bloom well. Due to the huge amount of coffee grounds this time, the hole dug is correspondingly larger. The water temperature is 88 degrees Celsius, the grind size is consistent with Kono style, and the coffee beans used are all relatively dark and fresh.

First, pour water from the small hole in the middle and slowly circle outward to wet all the surface coffee grounds. The amount of water for blooming doesn't need to be too much, just enough to wet the surface grounds. Too much water will let some coffee liquid flow down during blooming, which actually makes the bloom insufficient.

The timing for blooming is mainly determined by watching the changes in the coffee bed. When the entire bed rises into a big hamburger shape and holds that state for 5 seconds, you can begin the next pour.

Next comes the dragonfly-dipping-water-like pour (shaking the kettle up and down so water drips out), about two drops per second. First keep dripping at the center, and when the foam in the middle stabilizes, start dripping toward the surroundings.

When foam emerges across the entire coffee surface, you can pour in a circular flow pattern until the coffee liquid in the lower pot reaches the 400ml mark, then remove the dripper. Then add 800ml of hot water to the pot and stir well to finish.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

The V60's 60-degree cone and fast flow are ideal for the floral, fruit-forward coffees this method favors, and FrontStreet's Yirgacheffe Gotiti Cooperative brings citrus, berry, and floral notes with a green-tea finish. For a bolder fruit profile, FrontStreet's Ethiopia Huakui is loaded with strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit, and lychee aromas, with low bitterness and a juicy body. And FrontStreet's Strawberry Candy, blending a Costa Rican honey-process coffee with Panamanian Geisha, gives delicate florals and sweet fruit, and it also works well as cold brew.