How Many Stages Can Pour-Over Coffee Poured Water Be Divided Into? What Should You Pay Attention to in Three-Stage Brewing? How Are Time and Pouring Methods Related?

Understanding Poured Water Segmentation: A Guide to Pour-Over Coffee Extraction

Whether you're a beginner new to pour-over coffee or an experienced enthusiast who has been brewing for years, segmented pouring is the most commonly used water application method. But how exactly does the number of segments affect extraction? What considerations should be made when deciding how many segments to use?

How to Define Segmented Pouring?

Given that the bloom before the main extraction is a preparatory step that most people have reached consensus on, whether there are pauses in water application after the bloom becomes our basis for determining if segmentation has occurred.

Pouring all water at once after the bloom is considered "single-stream pouring" without segmentation; while dividing the water after the bloom into two or more segments, meaning there will be pauses, qualifies as segmented pouring. Among these, the "three-stage method" that divides the main extraction hot water into 2 segments is most widely applied. This is FrontStreet Coffee's default technique for daily production and a relatively suitable extraction model for beginners.

Why Segment?

For beginners who haven't yet mastered precise water flow control, whether the hot water in the filter cup drips through within the expected time usually becomes the key point for judging if the coffee pouring was successful. Based on brewing experience, we know that too short an extraction time indicates pouring too quickly; while too long an extraction time means pouring too slowly.

When we choose the single-stream method of pouring all hot water at once after the bloom, whether it's too fast or too slow, we can only watch helplessly as the coffee "leaves it to fate" without any remedy. However, if we adopt segmented pouring, the pauses during the process provide the brewer with opportunities to observe water level changes.

For example, when FrontStreet Coffee uses the three-stage method to brew a pot of Panama 90+ Finca Eleta Geisha, if after completing the second water segment, we find that the coffee liquid has completely filtered into the lower pot before reaching 1 minute, then the third segment needs to use a smaller water flow to slowly finish pouring the remaining water to bring the total extraction time back to approximately 2 minutes. Similarly, when the second segment takes too long, we can increase the water flow to avoid over-extraction from excessive steeping.

In fact, pour-over drip extraction can be viewed as a process of rinsing and stirring the coffee grounds. The water column causes the coffee grounds to tumble within the filter cup, and techniques involve artificially changing flow rate, pause frequency, circular movements, and other details to reasonably extract coffee flavor compounds. Therefore, increasing segments means extending the time for rinsing the grounds, resulting in higher final extraction efficiency.

FrontStreet Coffee has conducted comparisons showing that single-stream pouring, with no pauses after the bloom, has a shorter brewing time and produces coffee that tends toward bright, refreshing, and clean flavors; while the three-stage method with one pause adds about 10 seconds of extraction time, and the additional segmented rinsing also improves the release efficiency of soluble substances, giving the coffee higher body richness and more layered complexity.

How Many Segments Can Be Used in Poured Water Segmentation?

To intuitively demonstrate the impact of segment numbers on flavor, FrontStreet Coffee designed a comparative experiment for reference.

Here, Geisha Village Red Label Geisha was used as the extraction subject, with corresponding parameters (coffee amount: 15g, grind size: EK43s setting 10, water temperature: 93°C, coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15). The bloom stage remained consistent (30g water for 30 seconds), with three-stage, four-stage, and five-stage methods used to brew three pots of coffee for comparison.

Three stages: 30g + 95g + 90g, stopped pouring at 1 minute 28 seconds, total extraction time 2 minutes 8 seconds. Flavor: Sweet orange, yellow lemon, bright fruit acidity, with the shortest aftertaste among the three coffees.

Four stages: 30g + 70g + 70g + 55g, stopped pouring at 1 minute 39 seconds, total extraction time 2 minutes 19 seconds. Flavor: Prominent honey peach, citrus, and black tea aromatics, with a sweet and rounded mouthfeel.

Five stages: 30g + 55g + 55g + 55g + 30g, stopped pouring at 1 minute 51 seconds, total extraction time 2 minutes 22 seconds. Flavor: Strawberry jam, jackfruit, light floral notes, tea-like quality, with the most complex layers, best sweetness, and persistent dried fruit aftertaste.

Based on FrontStreet Coffee's comparative data above, with the same ratio, more segments mean less water per segment, making it more difficult to raise the coffee grounds bed. Similarly, more segments not only extend the total extraction time but also mean we need to determine more timing points for water pouring, which significantly increases brewing instability.

To achieve uniform extraction with segmented pouring, the water level of each pour should ideally reach the same height as the previous pour. When the water level doesn't reach the previous height, particles at the top cannot participate in extraction; if subsequent water levels overflow the previous coffee bed wall, hot water will escape through the filter cup's ribs. Both scenarios can lead to what we commonly call under-extraction.

Overall, using more segments can indeed maximize flavor extraction, allowing coffee to exhibit rich aromas and layered complexity. In daily brewing, dividing into 2 or 3 segments is most common, as this makes it easier to achieve proper extraction time while allowing for corresponding water pouring adjustments based on different coffee beans, reducing extraction time errors.

Additionally, using more segments has a prerequisite condition: the coffee beans themselves must contain diverse good flavors and be extraction-resistant. Otherwise, multiple hot water rinses not only fail to bring positive extraction results but may also add some unpleasant bitter and mixed flavors from the tail end of extraction.

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