Besides Three-Stage Pour, What Other Brewing Methods Do You Know?

Exploring Popular Pour-Over Coffee Brewing Methods

Compared to other single-origin coffees, pour-over coffee offers numerous brewing techniques. Examples include: single-pour, three-stage method, volcano pour, variable temperature brewing, stirring, and more. Today, let's explore some commonly seen pour-over coffee brewing methods.

1. Single-Pour Method

The single-pour method differs somewhat from the one-pour technique. One-pour involves pouring the entire target amount of water in one go; while the single-pour method is divided into two stages - one for the initial bloom, and the second for pouring all remaining water at once. Because the theory and technique are simple and easy to understand, we can see this brewing method used in many places.

Its name is quite special - "Single-Pour," which comes from a school of Japanese swordsmanship. The reason for this name is roughly because the water pouring segments during brewing seem to be cut off by a single stroke, hence divided into two parts. Taking 15g of coffee with 225ml of water as an example, the segmented water amounts for the single-pour method are 30ml for blooming + 195ml for one-time pouring, with a total extraction time of about 2 minutes. The characteristic of this brewing method is that it can extract stably with a relatively clean flavor, as it doesn't extract substances from the later stages.

2. Three-Stage Method

This is the brewing method most commonly used by FrontStreet Coffee - the "Three-Stage Method." Because different substances contained in coffee have significantly different dissolution rates, simply put, the order of flavors released by hot water is: first sour, then sweet, and finally bitter. Segmented pouring is designed to extract all the aromatic substances it contains.

Again using 15g of coffee with 225ml of water as an example, its three stages as used by FrontStreet Coffee are divided into 30ml for blooming + 95ml for the first pour + 100ml for the second pour. Its extraction time is relatively longer. Besides the blooming stage, with the same coffee-to-water ratio, the more segments you divide the water into, the more times you rinse the coffee grounds, so the time will be relatively extended. Coffee extracted with the three-stage method can more fully dissolve flavor substances, increase a certain sense of layering, and has higher compatibility.

3. 4:6 Method

The "4:6 Method" was invented by Mr. Tetsu Kasuya from Japan. His philosophy was that "anyone can brew delicious coffee." So this method is very simple, requiring no stable water control or deep understanding of brewing - just follow the formula to brew a pretty decent cup of coffee.

Tetsu Kasuya's understanding of the 4:6 method is: the first two pours account for 40% of the total water, and their main job is to determine the direction of the coffee's flavor (guiding the balance between acidity and sweetness); while the remaining three pours account for 60% of the total water, and their job is to determine the intensity of the coffee's mouthfeel, that is, the body.

The 4:6 method most commonly uses 20g of coffee grounds with 300ml of water, divided into five pours of 60ml each, with a 45ml interval between pours (the interval includes the pouring time). Although Tetsu Kasuya says it's simple, many people still have a relatively high failure rate when using the 4:6 method, with most failures resulting from over-extraction. Because the extraction time is longer, many people don't adjust their grind, leading to over-extraction of the coffee when using conventional grind particles.

Therefore, we need to adjust the grind to a coarser setting to compensate for the over-extraction that can easily result from the long extraction time. FrontStreet Coffee typically uses coarse particles with a 50% pass rate through a #20 sieve. Such particles, after long extraction time, produce coffee with a rich body that conventional coffee doesn't have.

4. Three-Temperature Brewing Method

The Three-Temperature Brewing Method invented by Mr. Wu Zelin is actually a type of variable temperature brewing. As the name suggests, it uses different water temperatures for brewing. He uses 16g of coffee as a standard, then brews with 240ml of water divided into four pours of 40ml, 60ml, 60ml, and 40ml. The first two stages use water at 94°C for brewing, the third stage uses a slightly lower temperature of 90°C, and the final stage uses water at 80°C for brewing, thus forming a stepped variable temperature extraction.

The concept of variable temperature extraction is also easy to understand - using higher water temperatures to extract the rich flavor substances in the early stages, then using lower water temperatures to finish in order to avoid the risk of over-extraction that comes with continuous high-temperature extraction. But this brewing method has a certain degree of difficulty and requires a lot of brewing tests to find the right temperature standards for the current coffee beans. So, when you've established the appropriate temperature standards, you can ultimately get a cup of coffee with strong flavor expression.

5. Volcano Pour

The Volcano Pour brewing method comes from Japan. Its name originates from the carbon dioxide contained in coffee beans, which forms a large dome with the fine coffee powder floating on the surface, looking like a mountain. The hot water injected in the middle will accelerate the degassing of the coffee powder, looking like a volcanic eruption, hence named Volcano Pour.

It's more suitable for brewing dark roast coffee beans, because only dark roast beans can release enough gas to form the mountain shape. A wedge-shaped filter cup is used, with 30g of coffee grounds - the more grounds, the better the visual effect of the volcano, with a slightly coarser grind. Then 300ml of hot water (1:10 coffee-to-water ratio) is used for brewing. First, bloom with twice the amount of hot water as the coffee grounds for 30 seconds, then perform multiple, small, gentle repeated pours in the center. There's no limit to each pour - when the water level starts to drop, you can proceed with the next pour until the target amount of water is used.

The Volcano Pour has two distinctive advantages. First, it's highly观赏性, allowing you to enjoy a visual feast while brewing coffee. Second, the coffee it produces has a balanced mouthfeel, is highly sweet, and not bitter. Friends who like dark roast coffee should definitely give it a try.

6. Stirring Method

The rise of the stirring method originated from 2012 World Brewers Cup champion Matt Perger, who used this technique to win the championship. He then uploaded a video on a foreign video website, in which he used a wooden stick during the blooming stage to stir quickly - first up and down, then left and right, and finally up and down again.

The purpose of stirring is to make the coffee grounds tumble under the force generated by stirring, thus evenly absorbing water and ultimately achieving balanced extraction. For example, during the blooming stage, without stirring, the water will only slowly penetrate downward, which leads to the bottom coffee bed not having enough time to bloom and degas, thus requiring increased impact force from the first pour to compensate for extraction.

But the stirring technique is relatively difficult. Coffee fine particles will migrate downward to the bottom of the filter cup due to the flow around them caused by stirring, easily causing blockage. Secondly, because there's no unified technique and force, everyone stirs in their own way, and one person's stirring technique cannot be applied to another's. Many may look similar, but the force and position are completely different. Therefore, when operating, you must fully understand the force and method of stirring, as well as whether the characteristics of the beans can adapt before choosing to use it.

But in the end, all brewing methods actually revolve around adjusting the release order of flavor substances - sour, sweet, and bitter. When you understand the principle of flavor release, then which brewing method to use is no longer the focus of consideration. The focus is on knowing what taste this brewing method can bring you, thus using it freely. This is also why FrontStreet Coffee consistently uses the three-stage method as its regular brewing technique.

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FrontStreet Coffee

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

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