What are the characteristics of Matsuya-style, Kawano drop-by-drop, and volcano brewing methods? How should dark roast coffee beans be brewed?

When people think of Japanese coffee, two images tend to come to mind: extremely dark-roasted beans with an oily sheen, and a pouring style that is gentle and unhurried. Most of today's pour-over methods are quick and vigorous, because that lets us get a richly layered cup in the shortest possible time. The slow Japanese approach is a stark contrast, and it looks more graceful and refined for it. So today FrontStreet Coffee will share some of the most classic brewing methods in Japanese coffee.

Kono-style Brewing

The Kono drip method dates to 1973. As the name suggests, it was created by the Kono family, founders of the well-known Japanese coffee equipment maker Kono. The Konos were especially fond of mellow, dark-roasted coffee, so they took the brewing effect of flannel filters as their reference and designed the Kono dripper. Then, to make the brewed coffee even richer, they refined the technique further and developed the drip method - a clear expression of their devotion to full-bodied, dark-roasted coffee.

The method is called "drip" largely because the first stage is not the usual steady stream of hot water but a continuous succession of distinct droplets. This extends the blooming time, letting the coffee's carbon dioxide escape fully so the water that follows can extract flavor compounds more effectively. When the filter paper is completely saturated with coffee liquid - or, put another way, when the dripper's output changes from droplets into a stream - the bloom is done. At that point we change our pouring and use a large flow to pull the aromatic compounds out quickly. (For a more detailed look at the drip method, see our article "The Drip Method.")

Matsuya-style Brewing

Matsuya-style brewing is a unique representative among Japanese methods, thanks to three striking traits: an extremely long bloom, an extremely high pour height, and a super-concentrated coffee liquid that has to be diluted with water.

The long bloom gives beans of different freshness levels the same extraction efficiency. Pouring from a very high position ensures the water arrives at the right temperature even without a thermometer. And the concentrated liquid comes about because, under such high extraction efficiency, the flavor compounds do not need much water to be drawn out - so by raising the coffee-to-water ratio you get a pot of highly concentrated coffee, which you then dilute to your preferred strength through bypass. (To learn Matsuya-style brewing, see our article "Matsuya-style Brewing.")

Volcano-style Brewing

Of the three, Volcano brewing is the most spectacular to watch. The coffee bed releases gas continuously during the brew, creating a scene reminiscent of a volcanic eruption - genuinely magnificent.

Volcano brewing also begins with blooming and degassing before extraction, but the difference is that during extraction the hot water is not poured all at once. Instead it is divided into several segments: each time, water is poured lightly in small circles at the center of the dripper, then a 5-second pause follows before the next pour, until the target volume is reached. Along the way you can watch the bed expand as hot water goes in, contract as the coffee liquid permeates through, expand again with more water, contract again - a repeating cycle. Because Volcano brewing extracts so efficiently, it too uses a relatively high coffee-to-water ratio, so the finished liquid is highly concentrated and needs to be diluted through bypass. (To learn Volcano brewing, see our article "Volcano Brewing.")

Whichever of these methods you use, they are all better suited to dark-roasted beans, since each was developed around the question of how to extract a rich, mellow dark roast. If you too enjoy a calm, full, bitter coffee, these Japanese methods are well worth trying - the change from the usual approach makes for a distinctive experience.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

These slow, gentle methods reward beans that can stand up to the heat and the long contact time. For a dark-roast match, FrontStreet Coffee's Sumatra Mandheling is roasted dark, with very low acidity and a thick, lingering body, full of herbal and dark chocolate aroma and a faint earthy note - ideal for anyone who likes a heavier cup. Alongside it, FrontStreet Coffee's washed Yirgacheffe shows the opposite face of pour-over: vivid citrus, berry, and floral notes and a green-tea-like finish, soft and bright rather than sharp.

If you want to compare how a single bean behaves under these Japanese methods versus a standard V60, try FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Huakui. Its tropical-fruit aroma of strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit, and lychee, its clear sweetness, and its low bitterness and smooth, juicy body make it an easy reference point. Brewing the same bean with a slow drip or a segmented Volcano pour next to a fast V60 will show you just how much the pouring method shapes the cup.