What are the tips and considerations for brewing 30g of coffee powder? How to make delicious 4-serving pour-over coffee

Recently, a friend asked FrontStreet Coffee, "I'm used to brewing single-serving coffee, but I suddenly decided to try brewing a two-serving batch. However, the taste turned out different from my usual brew." So they came to ask FrontStreet Coffee how to properly brew coffee for two people.

For most coffee brewers, the amount of coffee grounds is a relatively fixed parameter. For example, if someone is accustomed to using 15g of coffee grounds for a single serving, they would develop a familiarity with this amount over time. They would have an intimate understanding of the coffee bed state with 15g of grounds, could predict extraction time based on water flow rate, and thus adjust their subsequent pouring technique to achieve the target extraction time. After brewing numerous times, they would fine-tune all parameters until everything becomes second nature, with complete control over the process.

Effects of Changing Coffee Amount

So what parameters are affected when the amount of coffee grounds changes? Taking 15g for a single serving as an example, brewing two cups of coffee would require 30g of grounds. Under the same coffee-to-water ratio, this means doubling the water amount, and the coffee bed would be thicker. Consequently, a longer extraction time is the most direct change.

This leads many to wonder: when doubling the amount of coffee grounds, what's the appropriate extraction time? Should parameters be adjusted to maintain the same extraction time? Is a larger water flow needed during pouring? Or can you simply increase the coffee amount while keeping everything else unchanged?

If you only increase the coffee amount while keeping other parameters unchanged, the resulting coffee will be stronger than a single-serving brew. Because there are more grounds, both the pouring time and drainage time are extended, naturally making the coffee taste more bitter and concentrated. Therefore, the simplest approach is to increase the water flow during pouring to shorten the pouring time, while also raising the coffee bed to reduce the coffee's soaking time.

The Bloom Process

Next is the issue of blooming. The bloom isn't always fixed at 30 seconds. More coffee grounds mean a thicker coffee bed, which requires more time for the coffee to release gases. If you're using a conical dripper, the center of the coffee bed is the last to fully saturate. Therefore, when pouring for the bloom, start with small circles from the center, allowing the coffee grounds to absorb water and spread gradually. This way, gases will be expelled toward the periphery, achieving better results.

If you start pouring from the center outward in larger circles, moistening the surface coffee grounds first, then the bottom and sides of the coffee bed will saturate faster than the center. This causes gases to only escape upward, and you'll see the coffee "puck" continuously bubbling. This degassing process actually takes longer.

The indicator that degassing is complete is when the coffee puck stops expanding and releasing bubbles. Maintaining this state for 2-3 seconds indicates that degassing is finished, typically around 30-35 seconds.

Dripper Considerations

Next, let's discuss the impact of drippers on brewing larger amounts of coffee, which needs to be analyzed in three different scenarios.

1. First scenario: You have both size 01 and 02 drippers. Use the size 01 dripper for 15g of coffee and the size 02 dripper for 30g. In this case, you only need to pay attention to the bloom state and time, and use a larger water flow than before. For example, if the flow rate for a single serving is 5-6ml/s, you can increase it to 10ml/s for a double serving. Keep other parameters unchanged, and the overall extraction time will be slightly longer than for a single serving, approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

2. Second scenario: You only have a size 02 dripper, using it for both 15g and 30g brews. In this case, when brewing 30g, the coffee grounds should be ground slightly coarser. For example, if 15g is ground with an 80% pass-through rate on a #20 sieve, then 30g should have a 75-78% pass-through rate. This is especially important for some harder light roast beans, where doubling the coffee amount will visibly slow down the drainage rate, potentially even clogging the filter. Besides adjusting the grind size and paying attention to the bloom state, other parameters can remain unchanged, with the extraction time同样控制在2分30秒左右即可。

3. Third scenario: You only have a size 01 dripper. Since the size 01 dripper is suitable for brewing 15-20g of coffee grounds, using 30g would cause the bloomed coffee puck to nearly fill the entire dripper, leaving insufficient space for both the coffee grounds and water.

Therefore, if you insist on using a size 01 dripper for brewing larger amounts of coffee, you'll need to redesign your brewing method. The approach is quite simple:分散每段的水量. There are many specific approaches, and here FrontStreet Coffee shares one tested and viable method.

First, regarding grind size, FrontStreet Coffee would use a coarser grind. Generally, light roast coffee has an 80% pass-through rate on a #20 sieve, but this method would adjust it to a 70% pass-through rate, similar to what FrontStreet Coffee typically uses for dark roasts.

The ratio is 1:15, with water temperature at 91°C. The pouring method is divided into 5 stages: the first stage is the bloom with 50ml of water, and the remaining 4 stages each use 100ml of water.

The pouring technique is as follows: in the second stage, pour in small circles; in the third stage, make circles slightly larger than the second; in the fourth stage, make circles larger than the third; and in the fifth stage, pour directly into the center. The total extraction time should be between 2 minutes and 40 seconds to 3 minutes.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473