How Many Minutes Does It Take to Brew Pour-Over Coffee? What Affects Extraction Time and Flavor

Brewing a good cup of pour-over coffee is not difficult, but understanding the brewing data is challenging. Common questions include "How fine should the coffee grounds be?", "What pouring techniques make coffee taste good?", "Is my brewing time correct?"...

Given that FrontStreet Coffee has already provided extensive information on grind size and brewing techniques (you can search in FrontStreet Coffee's official account), regarding the brewing time question, although FrontStreet Coffee has discussed it before, this time we'll explore it in greater depth.

What is the ideal pour-over brewing time?

If you simply want to know whether your coffee brewing time is correct, FrontStreet Coffee will give you a direct conclusion: using a No. 01 dripper with 15g of coffee grounds as a benchmark, the overall time should be controlled between 1 minute 50 seconds and 2 minutes 30 seconds, which is considered a good range for brewing time.

What we commonly call "brewing coffee" is professionally expressed as coffee extraction - using hot water as a medium to dissolve flavor compounds from the coffee grounds. This process requires time. Typically, the longer the extraction time, the more substances are extracted from the coffee, but not all soluble substances in coffee are desirable. Therefore, we need to control the extraction duration.

Generally, for drip coffee around 2 minutes, soluble substances are rapidly released from the coffee grounds, achieving an extraction rate of 18% (18-22% is considered the ideal extraction range according to Golden Cup Standard); after 5 minutes, over 80% of soluble substances will be dissolved (equivalent to over 24% of the coffee bean).

In other words, when we use a normal brewing pattern, if the coffee extraction time is much shorter than 2 minutes, you might experience insufficient flavor, thinness, and watery taste in your coffee. Conversely, if the extraction time is much longer than 2 minutes, you might encounter the bitter and astringent flavors brought by over-extraction.

Factors Affecting Brewing Time

Therefore, controlling the extraction time between 1 minute 50 seconds and 2 minutes 30 seconds will result in better coffee flavor. To skillfully master coffee flavor, we need to understand at least several factors that can affect time.

① Bloom time calculation. Extraction time refers to the duration from the moment hot water contacts the coffee until the coffee liquid in the dripper has completely filtered through. Therefore, you should press the timer button when starting the bloom water injection, while some friends prefer to press the timer button after completing the bloom water injection, which obviously creates a larger error.

Another point is that the duration of the bloom time also affects the final extraction time. FrontStreet Coffee's calculation of the 1 minute 50 seconds to 2 minutes 30 seconds range is based on a 30-second bloom time. If you appropriately extend or shorten the bloom time, the final extraction time will correspondingly extend or shorten.

② Grind fineness. This is easy to understand - with coarser coffee grounds, water passes through more easily, requiring less time. Finer coffee grounds have fewer gaps, making it harder for water to pass through, and may even cause blockages, requiring more time. However, it's important to note that not all coffee beans have consistent grind settings. It's best to calibrate using a #20 sieve, with a hand-drip coffee grind size achieving 75-80% pass-through rate.

③ Dripper and pouring technique. We often hear that using a Kono dripper will make coffee richer; using certain pouring techniques can make coffee taste better. Part of the reason is the intentional extension/shortening of extraction time.

"Because we're afraid of extracting bitter flavors from dark roast coffee, we grind coarser" "With coarser grinding, coffee water flow will be faster, resulting in thinner taste" "To prevent dark roast coffee from being too thin, we use a Kono dripper to brew longer" This might sound redundant, but it actually contains scientific extraction knowledge.

High water temperature and fine grinding result in higher unit extraction efficiency (the amount of substances dissolved per second tends to be higher), making it easy to extract the bitter compounds from the later stages. This is why coarser grinding is needed - each second will dissolve fewer substances. However, coarsely ground coffee also causes faster water flow, leading to insufficient time and thin taste. We can use drippers with slower flow rates or pouring techniques (segmented pouring) to artificially extend the extraction time, achieving our desired extraction control.

Dripper Design and Pouring Techniques

"Drippers with more and longer guide channels have faster water flow; conversely, drippers with fewer and shorter guide channels have slower water flow. The more pouring segments, the longer the extraction time; the fewer pouring segments, the shorter the extraction time."

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473