Pour-Over Coffee Brewing Theory: Detailed Explanation of Single-Stream, Three-Stream, and Cross-Stirring Methods

Beyond Traditional Brewing: Exploring Alternative Coffee Brewing Methods

While following established brewing methods can certainly produce good coffee, coffee enthusiasts often enjoy "playing" with new techniques, developing interesting brewing approaches through accumulated experience from numerous trials. (Note: This "play" must still be based on brewing logic, not random experimentation.)

Do you remember the brewing parameters that FrontStreet Coffee shared as influencing coffee flavor? These include coffee-to-water ratio, grind size, water temperature, and pouring technique. These parameters work in coordination to express coffee flavor, and changing one parameter directly affects the final result—truly a case where one move affects the entire system.

For common pour-over methods, the coffee-to-water ratio is typically controlled between 1:15 to 1:16; the grind size is slightly finer than cupping grind—what we commonly refer to as 75-80% passing through a #20 sieve; water temperature is controlled at 90-93°C for light roasts and 86-89°C for dark roasts; and pouring techniques include single-pour, three-pour, and three-stage methods, all sharing the common characteristic of requiring a bloom before pouring.

Clearly, these established parameters make it easier for everyone to brew delicious coffee. However, this doesn't mean other parameter combinations can't produce distinctive coffee.

The No-Bloom Brewing Method

The need for a bloom stage during pour-over brewing has long been considered standard practice. However, Hario released a dripper called "Mugene" (Infinite), which claims in its manual that no blooming is needed—simply pouring all the water at once can yield delicious coffee. When first hearing this, doesn't it sound incredible (or even absurd)?

FrontStreet Coffee brewed Ethiopian Alsi (light roast) using 15g of coffee, a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, a grind size of 80% passing through a #20 sieve, and water at 91°C. Using a single pour, completing the pour in 42 seconds, with the coffee dripping through in 2.5 minutes. The resulting coffee had a concentration of 1.19% and an extraction rate of 15.66%.

From the data, the concentration is appropriate, but the extraction rate is low (conventionally, extraction rates between 18-22% are considered better). In terms of flavor tasting, the overall coffee cleanliness is very high—exceptionally clear, with subtle floral and fruity notes. Compared to regular brewing methods, the flavor is less complex but overall very pleasant.

This suggests that without blooming, coffee compounds are indeed more difficult to extract, but this doesn't necessarily mean the coffee tastes bad. For example, with medium-dark roasted coffee beans, as the extraction rate increases, aroma and flavor also improve, but bitterness becomes more pronounced.

Alternative Brewing Approach for Clean, Balanced Coffee

FrontStreet Coffee would like to share another technique that achieves clean, balanced, smooth, and pleasant口感 through no-bloom, low-extraction brewing. Of course, this is suitable for medium-dark roasted coffee beans. Current testing shows that medium-roasted coffee beans work particularly well, such as traditionally washed Colombian beans, traditionally honey-processed Costa Rican beans, and Papua New Guinea beans. Their common characteristic is low acidity and low bitterness.

FrontStreet Coffee used the Kono dripper, which has the advantage of more easily producing rich coffee aroma. They used 24g of coffee—this amount was chosen primarily to match the dripper—with a grind size of 70% passing through a #20 sieve, water temperature of 88°C, and using a coffee-to-liquid ratio to produce 240ml of coffee liquid from 24g of coffee.

Brewing Method

For the first stage, pour in a circular motion directly to raise the liquid level to the top of the dripper, using a large water flow. At this point, larger coffee particles remain on the surface with no obvious foam. The Kono dripper has the characteristic that the higher the liquid level, the more obvious the "siphon" effect.

When the liquid level drops to form a bowl shape, begin the second pour, again using a large water flow to raise the liquid level to its original height. At this point, the surface shows golden-colored foam. When the liquid level drops again to form a bowl shape, begin the third pour, similarly using a large water flow to raise the liquid level to its original height. At this stage, the surface shows light-colored foam. When the server reaches 240ml, you can remove the dripper.

Through measurement, the coffee concentration was 1.3%, a moderate and pleasant concentration. The calculated extraction rate was 13.57%, which is very low. According to Golden Cup standards, this would be considered severely under-extracted. Don't rush to judgment—upon tasting, the coffee performed exceptionally smooth, with moderate concentration and very clean taste, with prominent caramel flavors.

Creative Brewing Approaches

Of course, there are many experts who have elevated coffee brewing to an art form. For example, in Taiwan, there's a barista known as "Crazy Barista" Amis, whose cross-stirring method and some brewing logic in shake iced coffee offer valuable references. Those interested might want to follow his work.

Some seemingly "unconventional" brewing methods might appear to defy common sense, but how would you know they're not feasible without trying them? Finally, let me repeat: even when being "unconventional," there's still brewing logic involved—not baseless experimentation. This distinction is important to understand clearly.

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