What are the characteristics of the Ice Pupil dripper? How to brew pour-over coffee?

Initially, when choosing pour-over drippers, people might focus more on their extraction effects, wanting to experience the differences in coffee brewed with various dripper styles. As the number of brews increases, one gradually understands the underlying logic of different extraction methods for various drippers. The selection of drippers then transitions from their "talent" (functionality) to their "appearance." Hey! Which one looks good, buy/use that one!

Therefore, today's protagonist is the "Ice Pupil Dripper" - a dripper that received considerable attention upon its release due to its high aesthetic appeal.

Sparkling and shining! The Ice Pupil Dripper is also a type of conical dripper, but its cup wall is quite different from other conical drippers of the same type! In daily use, the conical drippers we commonly use have prominent ribs. These prominent ribs create air channels between the filter paper and the cup wall. As we all know, the length of these air channels determines the flow rate. The reason I mention air channels here is that the Ice Pupil Dripper's air channels are not created by prominent ribs, but by grooves that go from the inside of the cup body to the outside.

Now, let's focus on its side! From this angle, we can intuitively see that its cup wall design is divided into three parts: the first part is the smooth surface at the topmost layer, which has no groove design and can perfectly fit with filter paper; the second part is located in the middle of the dripper, consisting of 24 finer grooves; the third part is located in the lower part of the dripper, consisting of 12 coarser grooves that extend to the spout.

Each coarse groove in the lower part forms an inverted A-shape arrangement with two fine grooves above. You could say that the lower part is almost like Origami, in a suspended state. This design can stagger the flow rate of water at different positions. The 24 fine grooves in the middle layer will slow down the water flow, increasing the immersion extraction time, until the water flows to the lower groove area, where the suspended design will accelerate the water flow, thus avoiding over-extraction!

Therefore, the Ice Pupil Dripper is also a dripper with a relatively fast flow rate. So, what's the difference between the coffee extracted with it and our commonly used V60 dripper?

Faster flow rate drippers are more suitable for brewing light to medium roasted beans, so for today's comparison, we've decided to use "Hacienda La Esmeralda · Geisha Green Label" ~ Absolutely not because FrontStreet Coffee is using public position for private gain, wanting to drink it (probably)! Coffee dosage: 15g. Grind setting: 10 on Ek43. Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15 (225ml). Water temperature: 92°C. Brewing method: Three-stage method. For the first stage, we use twice the amount of coffee weight, 30ml, for a 30-second bloom, then slowly pour in large circles, injecting the second stage of 120ml of hot water. When the water level is about to bottom out, inject the remaining 75ml of hot water, slowly pouring in small circles until the drip filtration is complete!

The V60 extraction time was 2 minutes and 15 seconds, and the Green Label brewed with it had the sweet freshness of cantaloupe, gentle citrus acidity, jasmine aroma, and a distinct green tea sensation! The Ice Pupil extraction time was 2 minutes and 16 seconds, almost no difference from the V60 time. The Green Label brewed with it also had jasmine aroma, cantaloupe sweetness, with a hint of orange peel flavor, and the mouthfeel was a bit thicker than the V60, with a slightly weaker tea sensation. The advantage of V60 is that you can control the extraction time through pouring speed, resulting in a brighter, cleaner taste with more complex layers, but it lacks richness. The advantage of Ice Pupil is that the upper and middle parts of the dripper can form immersion-style extraction, making the brewed coffee have a fuller experience with higher richness. However, its layering is not as obvious as V60's, and the aroma and acidity have become somewhat general.

And besides its appearance, the Ice Pupil Dripper has another appealing advantage! That is, it can easily make the filter paper fit the dripper perfectly, without having to go through great trouble like other conical drippers to achieve a certain degree of fit! This is simply too wonderful for those with obsessive-compulsive disorder!

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