Three-Cut Method Tutorial for Pour-Over Coffee: Water Volume Requirements for Each Segment

Segmented pouring is currently the most common pouring method for pour-over coffee. Generally, this type of method offers good flexibility and adjustability. You can also use different water distribution to adjust the flavor expression of the coffee.

Here, FrontStreet Coffee shares a method to help everyone understand coffee brewing water distribution. This method involves separately extracting the early, middle, and late stages of the coffee, comparing their respective flavors, and finding a way to adjust the coffee brewing ratio. Sometimes, due to different properties of the beans, the flavors expressed are not the same. That is to say, through this method, you can make some characteristic beans express their better characteristics. FrontStreet Coffee will now demonstrate this, using a washed Yirgacheffe with the three-stage pouring method. You need to prepare 3 sharing pots to hold the early, middle, and late stage coffee liquids respectively.

The coffee dose is 15g of coffee grounds. First, pour 30g of water and let it bloom for 30 seconds. Then, for the first stage, pour 65g of water. Wait until all the coffee liquid in the filter cup flows into the sharing pot, then switch to the second sharing pot. Next, for the second stage, pour 65g of water. Wait until all the coffee liquid in the filter cup flows into the sharing pot, then switch to the third sharing pot. Finally, for the third stage, pour 65g of water. Wait until all the coffee liquid flows into the sharing pot, and you're done.

This way, we obtained the early, middle, and late stage coffee. You can determine the water distribution by tasting the flavors of these three stages. FrontStreet Coffee tasted the early stage of this coffee, and the flavor was quite strong, with a concentrated juice-like acidity, but because the overall concentration was quite high, the acidity was rather sharp. The middle stage coffee had much lower concentration, like the sweet and sour sensation of berries, with a honey aroma. Finally, tasting the late stage coffee, it was basically as light as water, but the floral aroma was very prominent, with a tea-like sensation, mixed with some woody notes. If based on this situation, when distributing water, you can reduce the late stage water amount and increase the middle stage water amount. This can avoid some undesirable flavors from the late stage and enhance the juice-like sensation of the middle stage.

Of course, this is just an example. In reality, there are many other flavor expressions. This method can also verify which extraction stage a coffee bean's more desirable flavors are concentrated in, and can also identify which extraction stage undesirable flavors appear in, then solve the problem step by step.