Why Pour-Over Coffee Should Be Served Hot: Coffee Concentration Meter Testing at Different Temperatures

Summer has arrived, and customers coming to FrontStreet Coffee for pour-over coffee are increasingly inclined toward iced pour-over. However, when FrontStreet Coffee's baristas learn that customers want to get to know a particular bean and fully experience its flavors, they still recommend trying it hot. Why should you drink it hot to taste the flavors?

Why Drink Hot to Experience Flavors?

Iced pour-over is an improvement based on hot pour-over, but with the added element of ice. Because ice is added without participating in extraction, it dilutes the coffee concentration. Therefore, when making iced pour-over coffee, we need to adjust our extraction parameters to increase the concentration, aiming for an iced coffee that tastes comparable to hot pour-over.

Take FrontStreet Coffee's daily brewing parameters for light-roasted beans as an example:

Hot pour-over: 15g coffee grounds, ground at EK43s setting 10 (78-80% pass-through rate on #20 standard sieve), water temperature 91-93°C, powder-to-water ratio 1:15, with total water injection of 225ml.

Iced pour-over: 15g coffee grounds, ground at EK43s setting 9.5 (83-85% pass-through rate on #20 standard sieve), water temperature 91-93°C, powder-to-water ratio 1:10, with total water injection of 150ml, plus 100g of ice. (Note: The grind for iced pour-over should be slightly finer than for hot pour-over, with specific sieve pass-through rates varying slightly depending on the bean.)

Flavor Differences Between Hot and Iced Pour-Over

From an extraction perspective, although iced pour-over makes adjustments in grind size and powder-to-water ratio to increase extraction rate and compensate for some extraction lost due to reduced water volume, it actually lacks the final brewing stage of hot pour-over.

Therefore, when it comes to flavor tasting of the same bean, iced pour-over lacks the fullness, sweetness, complexity, and aftertaste of hot pour-over. The greatest advantage of iced pour-over is that it can become our "cooling remedy" during the hot summer months. That's why FrontStreet Coffee suggests that if you want to truly get to know the flavors of a coffee bean, you should still drink it as hot pour-over.

The Advantage of Temperature Variation in Hot Coffee

Hot pour-over has another significant advantage: it allows you to distinguish the flavor changes at high, medium, and low temperatures. FrontStreet Coffee will test the TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) changes in the same pot of coffee at high temperature (approximately 70°C), medium temperature (approximately 50°C), and low temperature (30°C to room temperature).

FrontStreet Coffee will use 90+ Eleta (medium-light roast) for testing, with specific parameters: 15g coffee grounds, ground at EK43s setting 10 (78-80% pass-through rate on #20 standard sieve), water temperature 91-93°C, powder-to-water ratio 1:15, with total water injection of 225ml; using V60 dripper with a three-stage pouring method.

How Temperature Affects Coffee Flavor Perception

From the comparison results, as temperature changes, the flavor compounds within coffee also continuously change. At high temperatures, TDS is lowest, and as the temperature continuously decreases, TDS also increases. This is because the flavor compounds in coffee are continuously dissolving. In other words, the coffee's flavors are not yet fully stable at high temperatures. As the temperature decreases and flavor compounds continue to release, dissolve, and stabilize, the flavors we can taste become fuller. Therefore, the flavors experienced at different temperatures vary slightly.

From our own perspective, when we taste a cup of hot pour-over coffee, as the temperature decreases, our sensitivity to various tastes also varies, resulting in different flavors upon entry. This is also why we need to taste from high to low temperatures during tasting—specifically at high temperature (approximately 70°C), medium temperature (approximately 50°C), and low temperature (30°C to room temperature).

Flavor Perception at Different Temperatures

At high temperatures, the burning sensation of the liquid in the mouth overrides the perception of taste buds, reducing taste sensitivity. Therefore, we cannot taste the specific flavors of a coffee in detail, but we can roughly determine its flavor direction—whether it tends toward floral and fruity acidity or nutty-chocolate bitterness.

When the temperature drops to medium levels, this is when we are most sensitive to sweet and sour tastes. At this temperature, we can taste the specific flavors of this bean more concretely, and it's also the stage where we're most likely to form flavor associations. Light-roasted beans allow for detailed appreciation of their beautiful acidity, while dark-roasted beans can be enjoyed in large sips to experience their rich body and sweetness.

When the coffee temperature drops to low or even near room temperature, although the coffee hasn't developed negative flavors, our taste perception becomes more sensitive to bitterness, and the coffee has already lost some volatile flavor compounds at this point. Therefore, the tasting experience may not necessarily be pleasant.

- END -

FrontStreet Coffee
No. 10, Bao'an Qianjie, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473