How to Brew Light Roast Pour-Over Coffee? An Introduction to Standard Coffee Brewing Methods

Recently, many friends have been asking FrontStreet Coffee questions like "How should I brew this coffee bean?", "How should I brew that coffee bean?", or "How can I brew these expensive beans my friend gave me to make them taste good?"

FrontStreet Coffee has summarized these questions, which generally stem from encountering unfamiliar coffee beans and not knowing how to brew them, so they come to ask FrontStreet Coffee about brewing methods (parameters). However, FrontStreet Coffee believes that "giving someone a fish is not as good as teaching them how to fish." FrontStreet Coffee would like to share the method of finding brewing parameters.

Understanding Coffee Bean Information

When encountering coffee beans for the first time, the first step is to understand their information. The simplest method is to look at the label on the packaging. If it's single-origin coffee beans, the label will at minimum include origin, coffee variety, processing method, flavor description, and some will also indicate the roast level. We can use this information to formulate brewing parameters.

Origin

Knowing this allows us to generally understand the regional flavor characteristics of the coffee beans. For example, Ethiopian coffee will have rich fruit flavors, while Guatemalan coffee will have excellent citrus acidity and distinctive smoky notes. These are the flavor characteristics of coffee from producing countries. When further broken down to smaller regions, the flavors become more refined. Therefore, by first looking at the major region, you can compare whether you've brewed coffee from this region before. If you have, you can use it as reference. If not, make note of it, as it will surely be useful in the future.

Origin information is generally accompanied by altitude. This data tells us about the hardness of the coffee beans. Generally, for the same coffee variety, the higher the altitude, the harder the coffee bean. The hardness of coffee beans is related to the grind setting during brewing. For details, click here.

Processing Method

This parameter doesn't provide too much information for brewing purposes. The only thing to note is special processing methods. Coffee beans with special processing methods release flavor compounds quickly, so they're typically brewed quickly and not suitable for prolonged steeping.

Flavor Description

This information is very important. If the coffee label doesn't indicate roast level or has overly professional indicators that are difficult to understand, you can determine the roast level through the flavor description (combined with the color of the coffee beans). Knowing the roast level helps determine the grind size and water temperature parameters.

Flavor types are basically divided into floral, fruity, sugary, and nutty-cocoa categories—quite similar to the order on the flavor wheel. That's right; the flavors described on the flavor wheel are also arranged according to the flavors of coffee beans from light to dark roast.

How to read flavor descriptions? Flavor descriptions typically have 4-5 flavors, and these flavors are not并列 (juxtaposed). Usually, the most perceptible flavors are listed first. If there are 4 flavors, their proportions won't be equally divided at 25% each—they might be distributed as 50%, 30%, 12%, and 8%.

Coffee beans labeled with floral and fruity flavors can generally be treated using light roast brewing methods. Coffee beans labeled with nuts, chocolate, and caramel can generally be treated using dark roast brewing methods.

Medium roast is a relatively balanced flavor profile, where flavor descriptions might contain both fruity and nutty elements. Everyone should note that for medium roast coffee, fruity descriptions tend toward sweet fruits, such as honeydew melon, plums, and black grapes—fruits characterized by low acidity and high sweetness.

For medium-light roast, use water temperature of 90-93°C with a grind size that allows 75-80% passing through a #20 sieve. For flavors described as more acidic, choose higher water temperatures within this range and finer grinds; for flavors described as sweeter, choose lower water temperatures and coarser grinds.

For medium-dark roast, use water temperature of 86-89°C with a grind size that allows 70-75% passing through a #20 sieve. For flavors described as more bitter, use lower water temperatures within this range and coarser grind sizes.

Do Different Coffee Beans Require Different Brewing Techniques?

FrontStreet Coffee believes it's best to use your most stable water pouring technique, because compared to parameters, technique is an uncontrollable variable. Using a familiar technique helps minimize this variable risk. Moreover, using a fixed technique while adjusting brewing parameters allows for better recording of flavor changes caused by parameter variations, thereby accumulating understanding of coffee beans. Over time, there will no longer be any "unfamiliar" coffee beans.

Important Notice :

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