What Impact Do Different Pour Heights Have on Pour-Over Coffee? Essential Details to Note During Brewing!

Pour Height in Coffee Brewing

Pour height refers to the distance from the kettle spout to the coffee bed during brewing. Everyone has their own brewing habits, which lead to different pour heights. According to FrontStreet Coffee's observations, when people use common brewing methods, the pour height generally falls within the range of 0-7cm.

Some people prefer to pour vertical water streams from a higher position, while others like to pour close to the liquid surface! Of course, neither approach is wrong. Today, FrontStreet Coffee wants to share how different pour heights affect brewing! This knowledge can help everyone use more appropriate heights during brewing to make delicious coffee.

The Penetrating Power of Water Stream

When brewing coffee, the height of the pour position determines the penetrating force of the water stream. The higher the pour position, the stronger the penetration; the lower the position, the weaker the penetration. The penetrating power of the water stream plays a key role, which is "stirring the coffee bed." When we pour hot water into the coffee bed, the coffee grounds will churn due to the impact force of the water stream, causing the coffee grounds to be exposed to hot water in more areas, thereby accelerating the release rate of substances.

There are two important points to note here. First, let's talk about the penetrating power of the water stream: stronger penetration is not necessarily better. Stronger penetration means the coffee will be stirred more vigorously, and substances will be extracted more quickly. When you continuously use a water stream with high penetration on the coffee bed, it will lead to over-stirring. At this point, bitterness, harshness, and other flavors that shouldn't be over-extracted will all be released. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests that water streams with strong penetrating power should be used according to the situation.

Secondly, there's the maximum height limit for pouring: the water stream when we pour is not cylindrical, but rather a cone shape that's thicker at the top and thinner at the bottom. Therefore, when the pouring position reaches a certain height, the water flow is no longer a continuous stream but becomes continuous dripping water droplets (or even breaks off).

Drip brewing causes the coffee bed to receive water unevenly—some areas get dripped on, others don't, which easily leads to extraction deviation. So to avoid uneven extraction, FrontStreet Coffee suggests limiting the maximum pour height to 7cm. Of course, except for some special brewing methods~

Cooling Rate of Hot Water

Surprise check! Let FrontStreet Coffee see which friends haven't read the article "Matsumoto-style Brewing." It's okay if you haven't read it~ What FrontStreet Coffee wants to say is that Matsumoto-style, which uses a "pot lid" to cover and steam, is one of the special methods mentioned above. This brewing method uses a pour height exceeding 7cm (starting from 25cm!) precisely to allow the hot water to cool down.

When hot water flows out of the kettle spout, it immediately comes into contact with a large amount of air, and this air will cool down the hot water. The higher the height, the larger the surface area of the water stream exposed to air, and the more temperature it loses. This will cause deviations in the actual water temperature used for coffee extraction, thereby changing the concentration. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests that if you're used to pouring from a high position, especially in winter when there's a lot of cold air, it's best to increase the brewing water temperature by 1-2°C. This can compensate for the heat taken away by the cold air and ensure the coffee gets sufficient extraction.

Verticality of Water Stream

Most pour-over kettle spouts don't pour water vertically! Because their spout design causes the hot water to form an outward-sloping parabola when poured, and only gradually tends toward vertical as the pouring height increases. This means that when these types of spouts pour close to the liquid surface, the hot water won't penetrate the coffee grounds vertically but will break through the coffee bed wall at an angle, adding an unstable factor to the extraction. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee suggests maintaining a certain distance from the liquid surface when pouring to avoid deviation in the water landing point and prevent uneven extraction.

In summary, the aspect most affected by pour height is extraction efficiency. FrontStreet Coffee commonly uses a pour height of 3-4cm when brewing! It's not because the coffee brewed at this position tastes the best, but because for the pour-over kettle that FrontStreet Coffee uses, this position has the highest fault tolerance! Therefore, friends only need to understand what impacts and effects different water stream positions bring, and then use them in combination with their own pour-over kettle and brewing method to maximize the avoidance of negative factors and obtain a delicious cup of pour-over coffee!

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

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