The Correct Brewing Method for Pour-Over Coffee Bags: How Much Water for 10g of Coffee?

As the Spring Festival approaches, coffee enthusiasts have already started preparing for the holidays, stocking up on one or two packages of their favorite coffee beans to brew at home. For the "lazy" ones who want to set aside various complex brewing tools and a bunch of tedious parameters, preferring everything to be simple, drip coffee bags are our "savior."

Drip Bags Are Designed for Convenience

Drip coffee bags belong to the drip extraction category, and their design originates from string tea bags. The inventor hoped to simulate pour-over drip coffee by pre-preparing coffee powder and placing it in non-woven filter bags. The paper sheets on both sides of the filter bag allow the coffee bag to hang suspended in the center of the cup. Since the coffee beans are pre-ground and lack various brewing auxiliary tools, the flavor might be slightly lacking. But what everyone values is precisely the "simplicity" of drip bags, which allows us to quickly and conveniently get a cup of drip black coffee in our daily lives.

Since it's the simplest drip method, we certainly wouldn't want to bring out electronic scales, thermometers, and other tools that are only used for pour-over brewing, making it complicated. Brewing drip bags requires nothing more than a pot of boiling water, a tall cup, and a drip bag. Even the water amount is determined by "guessing."

Simple as It Is, the Ritual Cannot Be Absent

The water amount for hot brewing drip bags is relatively easy to control. Taking FrontStreet Coffee's store drip bags as an example, 10 grams per small bag, following the pour-over coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15-1:18, it's recommended to inject 150-180ml of water.

Typically, first pour a small amount of hot water into the drip filter bag to completely moisten all the coffee powder, filling to 1/2 of the bag for the first pour, and let it bloom for about ten seconds. Then continuously pour water to the center twice until the drip bag is 8/10 full. Wait until all the coffee liquid in the filter bag has dripped out before continuing to add water, until the final segment is filtered. If you fill it to the brim, the water accumulated in the upper layer can easily "bypass" the powder layer and directly filter out from the side of the drip bag, resulting in a weak coffee flavor. FrontStreet Coffee has conducted numerous tests and found that pouring water in three segments like this takes about one and a half minutes, with the total water amount generally around 150ml. If you prefer a lighter taste, add one more segment to 8/10 full, which will be about 180ml.

How to Adjust Water Amount for Ice Brewing Drip Bags

When switching from hot pour-over to iced pour-over, we would adjust the grind to be finer and need to separate a portion of the water, replacing it with ice cubes. The same applies to drip bags. However, pre-made drip bags usually have a grind suitable for hot brewing, so we can only adjust the coffee-to-water ratio or extend the steeping time to increase extraction concentration.

FrontStreet Coffee follows the iced pour-over ratio of 1:10, meaning injecting 100g of hot water. The amount of water to moisten the powder layer remains unchanged, and after the bloom, the two water levels become 5/10 full, meaning three consecutive segments all reach 1/2 of the filter bag, with the total water amount approximately 90-105ml. Until all the liquid has dripped through, pour it into ice cubes to cool. When the coffee cup becomes ice-cold to the touch, you can remove the remaining crushed ice to avoid further dilution. FrontStreet Coffee, through the above experiments, found that brewing iced coffee this way can retain the basic flavor profile of the beans with a moderate concentration.

FrontStreet Coffee has noticed that some friends directly soak the coffee bag in hot water and then add ice to the concentrated coffee. If the soaking time is not well-controlled, the coffee can easily become over-extracted, so this operation is not recommended. Rather than risking drinking bitter coffee, FrontStreet Coffee thinks it's more effortless to make it directly into cold brew - soak coffee powder in cold water, seal it, and place it in the refrigerator overnight, then use the drip filter bag to strain out the coffee grounds.

Try to Control the Pouring Point at the Center

During pour-over brewing, the water flow can stir the coffee powder. Circling helps to more evenly rinse the powder layer, making it easier for aromatic flavor compounds to be released. When brewing drip bags, it's also best to pour water in small amounts multiple times to improve extraction efficiency. FrontStreet Coffee suggests using a small water flow throughout the entire process; otherwise, the filter bag will fill up in just a few seconds, making subsequent pours more difficult to control. A kettle with a long, thin spout helps us better control the water flow.

Even when fully expanded to its maximum square shape, the surface area of the powder layer in a drip bag is only 3.5×3.5cm. If you pour in large circles, the water flow can easily run onto the filter bag and flow directly down into the cup, naturally greatly diminishing the taste. FrontStreet Coffee suggests concentrating the position where the water falls at the center point, and try to keep the circling range as small as possible - if possible, control it to the size of a one-yuan coin.

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