Pour-Over Coffee Simple Brewing Method Tutorial: Key Details and Parameters to Consider

FrontStreet Coffee would like to ask everyone a question: "Do you think it's difficult to brew two cups of pour-over coffee that taste exactly the same?" Most friends say this is extremely difficult, with some commenting, "Every time I brew coffee, the result is full of uncertainty. I have to taste it to know what it's like!" FrontStreet Coffee believes that brewing two cups of coffee with identical flavors is extremely challenging. Even when using the same coffee beans and identical brewing parameters, it's still not guaranteed to produce exactly the same taste because there are many unstable factors involved.

Although brewing two identical cups of coffee is very difficult, it's possible to create two cups that are indistinguishable to human senses by reducing unstable factors during brewing. Therefore, we need to pay attention to certain details when brewing to minimize these unstable factors.

Strictly Follow Brewing Parameters

Before brewing coffee, we always create a brewing plan. For example, when FrontStreet Coffee brews Yirgacheffe coffee beans, the plan might be: 15g of coffee grounds, 1:15 ratio, grind size with 80% passing through a #20 sieve, water temperature at 91°C, divided into three water pours of 30ml, 100ml, and 95ml respectively.

After establishing this brewing plan, it's crucial to strictly follow these parameters during brewing. If during brewing, you use 14.7g of coffee grounds, pour 40ml during the bloom, and accidentally pour a total of 230ml of water, the resulting coffee will likely differ from what was planned. The plan becomes meaningless, and unstable factors increase.

Preheat the Filter and Server

When we talk about water temperature for brewing coffee, we're typically referring to the initial pour temperature, not the extraction temperature of the coffee grounds. What actually affects the coffee's flavor is the temperature during extraction. Therefore, we need to minimize the difference between the extraction temperature and the initial temperature.

If you're using a ceramic dripper for brewing coffee, preheating becomes especially important. While ceramic drippers are known for their excellent heat retention, this is only true when the dripper itself is sufficiently heated. If a ceramic dripper is at room temperature, when you pour water, the temperature of the coffee bed will be higher than that of the dripper. At this point, the ceramic dripper will absorb heat from the coffee bed, causing the extraction temperature to become lower.

To avoid this unstable factor, please rinse the filter with hot water several times before brewing coffee to preheat the dripper.

Clean the Grinder Before Grinding

Whether using a manual or electric grinder, a small amount of fine powder will remain on the burrs (and in the exit chute) after grinding coffee beans. If you don't use your grinder frequently, these remaining fine particles can oxidize and produce undesirable flavors. Without cleaning, these unpleasant residual powders might be transferred to your fresh coffee grounds.

If you use your grinder frequently, failing to clean it might result in flavor contamination between different coffee beans. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee recommends that friends using manual grinders simply brush away coffee residue after grinding. For electric grinders, which are more difficult to clean, you can use a blower to remove residual powder. FrontStreet Coffee suggests grinding a few beans of the same variety before your actual grinding session to clean away any previous residue.

Allow Complete Drip-Through

If you have the habit of removing the dripper before all coffee liquid has finished dripping through, you're undoubtedly introducing unstable factors. This is because you cannot determine the quantity of remaining coffee liquid in the dripper, and you're disrupting the coffee-to-water ratio.

Consider this scenario: if you're brewing coffee with a 1:15 ratio and using 15g of coffee grounds, you would need to pour 225ml of water. However, if not all of this water (coffee liquid) drips completely into the server because you removed the dripper early, then the actual coffee-to-water ratio is no longer 1:15. This is essentially deceiving yourself.

Only when 225ml of water passes through the coffee bed and drips completely can we say that this cup of coffee is truly the result of a 1:15 ratio.

Beyond these details, many other factors can affect coffee flavor, but by paying attention to these specifics, you can significantly reduce those unstable factors that have a major impact on your brew.

Important Notice :

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