Do Different Drippers Require Different Pour-Over Methods? What's the Ideal Extraction Time for Brewing Coffee?

Yesterday, a friend raised a question because he has been a long-term follower of FrontStreet Coffee's articles and pays close attention to brewing parameters during brewing. He saw that FrontStreet Coffee recommends a brewing time of 2 minutes in their articles, but when he uses FrontStreet Coffee's parameter recommendations from the articles, his brewing time consistently exceeds 2 minutes, landing around 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

After some confirmation, it turned out that this friend was using a flat-bottom cake dripper, which is different from the V60 that FrontStreet Coffee uses daily. Then, this friend continued to ask, "Since the drippers are different, should I change my parameters and brewing method? What is the correct brewing time?"

How Different Drippers Affect Coffee Performance

So how do different drippers affect coffee performance? If we classify drippers by their shape characteristics, they mainly fall into three categories: trapezoidal (fan-shaped), conical, and flat-bottom (cake). For constructing brewing parameters, the main consideration is drainage speed. Some drippers are characterized by fast flow rates to create rich flavor expressions. Representative drippers include V60 and its derivatives, Ice Prism, Origami, Karyuu, Starlight, and B75 drippers.

Some drippers are characterized by slow flow rates, using an immersion method to allow coffee grounds to achieve even extraction, presenting balanced and full-bodied flavor and texture. Representative drippers include fan-shaped drippers, Kono drippers, Infinity drippers, and flat-bottom drippers (drainage speed mainly depends on the total area of drainage holes).

Dripper Flow Speed Rankings

Below is FrontStreet Coffee's testing of drainage speeds for some common drippers, which you can use as reference: B75 > Karyuu ≥ Starlight > Ice Prism > V60 ≥ Origami > Flat-bottom cake (3-hole) > Kono > Kalita fan-shaped (3-hole) > Infinity dripper > Mellita fan-shaped (single-hole)

Practical Application: V60 vs Cake Dripper

Returning to the original question: if I'm using a flat-bottom cake dripper and adopt the brewing parameters for V60 drippers, is this appropriate? Do I need to change parameters or brewing methods?

Using the same parameters with different drippers will result in different coffee flavor expressions. Taking V60 and cake drippers as comparison, FrontStreet Coffee used Guji coffee for brewing with the same parameters: 15g coffee, 91°C water temperature, grind size with 80% pass-through rate on #20 sieve, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, and three-pour brewing method.

The extraction time for V60 dripper was 2 minutes 5 seconds, while the cake dripper (3-hole) had an extraction time of 2 minutes 30 seconds. In terms of flavor, the V60 brew showed rich fruit aroma, prominent berry juice characteristics, lively acidity, and black tea aftertaste.

The cake dripper brew showed full-bodied berry sweetness and acidity, noticeable sweetness, creamy smoothness, and fermented fruit aroma in the aftertaste.

Therefore, this brewing parameter can be applied to both V60 drippers and cake drippers.

Understanding Extraction Time

However, using specific extraction time to judge coffee quality has limitations due to the dripper factor. When FrontStreet Coffee says "extraction time should ideally be controlled around 2 minutes, not exceeding 2 minutes 30 seconds," this is based on 15g coffee, three-pour brewing method, and V60 dripper. If switched to a slower-flow dripper, the extraction time will naturally extend accordingly.

So what happens to the flavor expression if we adjust parameters to control extraction time to 2 minutes? FrontStreet Coffee adjusted the grind size to be coarser and used pour-over techniques to control the cake dripper's extraction time to 2 minutes. The flavor expression showed noticeable berry acidity, overall lighter body, and balance.

Therefore, we don't adjust parameters for the sake of parameters. The reason we adjust parameters is because we're not satisfied with the current coffee flavor and texture, thus adjusting parameters to achieve better taste. If the coffee brewed at 2 minutes 30 seconds tastes good, then naturally we have no reason to adjust parameters or techniques.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473