How to Create a "Mound" in Siphon Coffee Grounds? How to Use a Siphon Pot? What Are the Extraction Parameters?

While browsing online, FrontStreet Coffee often comes across this statement: When finishing siphon coffee, if a small hill-shaped coffee bed appears, it represents that this cup of coffee will be more delicious. However, often after brewing, everyone's coffee bed presents a "flat" state, so many friends will send such questions to FrontStreet Coffee's backend: How can you make siphon coffee brew a hill-shaped coffee bed?

(Flat coffee bed) So today FrontStreet Coffee will share how this "hill" in siphon coffee is formed, and whether this "hill" can truly represent the quality of the final coffee.

How is the "Hill" Formed?

Actually, this "small hill" can be formed just by adding a little technique during the siphon coffee making process~ For the detailed production method of siphon coffee, we can move to the article "Detailed Process of Siphon Coffee Making" to understand, with the main part being the stage when the coffee liquid returns to the lower pot! When the hot water pouring into the upper pot has extracted enough coffee substances, we will cool the lower pot to make this coffee liquid return to the lower pot again. Before preparing to cool down, we need to use a stirring rod to stir in large clockwise circles, four to five times is enough, then remove the heat source to cool down, and when the coffee liquid has completely cooled, you will be surprised to find that a round "small hill" has formed!

Coffee "Mysticism"

But after tasting, you will know that it actually doesn't have much difference from the original siphon coffee (without the small hill)! It's still rich in flavor, full-bodied, and highly sweet. This means that the coffee brewed from the original flat coffee bed is also delicious. So, why would people spread such a statement? This brings us to our coffee "mysticism."

As everyone knows, coffee has always been inseparable from the term "mysticism." The reason is that some theories proposed in earlier times were spread, but during the process of dissemination, their meanings were distorted, and in the end, the theories were twisted and became unexplainable mysticism! Pour-over coffee looks at the "coffee pit," espresso coffee looks at the "coffee puck," and siphon coffee looks at the "hill" - these are the "extraction mysticism" that have been circulating in the coffee circle. When a uniform coffee pit appears after pour-over coffee brewing, or the coffee bed presents a small hill shape after siphon coffee extraction, people will mistakenly think that this cup of coffee will be a delicious treat.

The Truth About the "Hill"

But the fact is, the appearance of these phenomena only represents what you did during the coffee extraction process and what happened, rather than representing the quality of the coffee! Therefore, if a "hill" appears during the siphon coffee making process, it doesn't necessarily mean this cup of coffee will be delicious. Rather, people create such "small hills" in order to brew delicious coffee!

Why Create a "Hill"?

The reason why people make the coffee bed into a "small hill" during the siphon coffee making process is mainly for two reasons:

1. Reduce Bitter Substances Flowing into the Lower Pot

In the past, people thought that bitter substances would be released at the very end. By stirring the coffee liquid, these bitter substances could float on the surface, so they wouldn't flow into the lower pot together with the coffee liquid!

2. Allow the Returning Coffee Liquid to be More Uniform

The bottom structure of the siphon pot's upper chamber adopts a stepwise narrowing process, and the place where water flow can pass is only the middle pipe. Therefore, if the coffee bed is in a flat state, the coffee liquid in the middle will pass through the least amount of coffee powder during the descent process, while the coffee liquid around the edges will pass through more coffee powder during the descent process, which easily leads to uneven extraction. But if the coffee bed forms a hill shape, the coffee bed through which the middle water flow passes will have a smaller gap with the surroundings, thus forming a uniform extraction state.

It is precisely because of these two points that the coffee bed forms a "hill" shape. To quote a sentence FrontStreet Coffee said before: Although the formation of the hill has no direct relationship with the taste quality, compared to a flat coffee bed, the hill shape is more aesthetically pleasing, which can be considered one of its major advantages~

FrontStreet Coffee

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

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Tel:020 38364473