What's the Difference Between Drip Bag Coffee and Pour-Over Coffee? What is Drip Bag Coffee? Sharing Drip Bag Coffee Brewing Methods!

Understanding Drip Bag Coffee

It is widely known that the original design intent of drip bag coffee was to allow people to brew a cup of coffee easily at any time, without being troubled by complex parameters and complicated procedures. Therefore, a filter bag made of non-woven fabric and pre-ground coffee powder constitute the entire contents of a drip bag. When we want to drink coffee, we only need to tear open the packaging, take out the drip bag, and we can directly start brewing.

The Challenge of Brewing Drip Bag Coffee

Since the brewing method is very similar to pour-over coffee, people often regard drip bags as a simplified version of pour-over coffee. For this reason, many friends replicate the pour-over coffee method when brewing drip bags. Although this is not impossible, it is clearly quite cumbersome. After all, not only do you need to use accompanying professional tools, but you also need to constantly pay attention to the pouring method, completely losing the convenience of drip bags! However, if you don't brew it this way, the resulting drip bag coffee will be rather bland. Therefore, many friends have asked in the background whether there is a simpler way to brew good drip bag coffee.

The Simple Solution: Two Key Parameters

Of course, there is! And it's even simpler than you might imagine! To brew a delicious cup of drip coffee, we only need to pay attention to two parameters: water temperature and water amount. As introduced in the headline article, the water temperature determines the extraction rate of hot water for coffee. A good cup of coffee needs to have an appropriate extraction rate, and for drip bags with a fixed grind size, water temperature is obviously the most important extraction factor. The water temperature for brewing drip bags is no different from that for pour-over coffee, with a slightly wider range. The brewing water temperature for medium-dark roast can be 86°C~90°C, while medium-light roast requires a higher temperature, 88°C~92°C.

Many friends working in offices are accustomed to using heated water from water dispensers to brew drip bags. However, the hot water temperature of most water dispensers cannot reach these temperature ranges, generally below 80°C. This makes it difficult for the brewed coffee to have a sufficient extraction rate. The resulting drip bag coffee not only lacks aroma but also has a less rich mouthfeel. Therefore, regarding water temperature, we can pay a little attention to this aspect.

Next is the water amount. The standard specification of drip bag coffee on the market is generally 10-12g per bag. Generally, if we want the coffee to have an appropriate concentration, we need to control the coffee-to-water ratio between 1:14-1:16. The larger the coffee-to-water ratio, the higher the coffee concentration. Taking FrontStreet Coffee's drip bag as an example, FrontStreet Coffee's drip bag is 10g per package, so the amount of water we need to inject can be in the range of 140ml-160ml.

Brewing Without a Scale

If we want to pursue the ultimate simplicity, we can even omit the electronic scale. How do we measure the water amount without an electronic scale? It's very simple, just like people in the past - by understanding the capacity of the cup and calculating the approximate position where the coffee liquid will reach, we can omit the electronic scale measurement! Now that we understand the water amount and water temperature needed to brew drip bags, the next step is to start brewing! Although FrontStreet Coffee has explained the brewing points in previous articles, to prevent new friends from not knowing, FrontStreet Coffee will demonstrate again with a drip bag.

How to Brew a Perfect Cup of Drip Bag Coffee

The materials used are very simple: one drip bag, a cup, and any container that can pour water. It's best to use a tall cup. If the cup is too short, it will cause the drip bag to be in a soaked state during the brewing process (easily leading to under-extraction). Taking FrontStreet Coffee's tall cup as an example, the capacity of this cup is 350ml, so the amount of water we will inject this time is 150ml, which is slightly below the halfway point of the cup. Remember this position, and you can start brewing!

①: First, we tear open the drip bag package, take out the drip bag, and hang it on the cup.

②: Then, we take out the water kettle and inject the first segment of hot water into the drip filter bag. This segment of hot water just needs to cover the coffee powder. Then wait for 20 seconds (bloom).

③: After the bloom ends, we can inject the second segment of hot water. This segment of hot water is the same, just covering the coffee powder!

④: After the injected hot water has permeated, we inject hot water in the same way, just covering the coffee powder. Still wait for it to finish, then continue repeating until the dripped coffee liquid reaches the target position in the cup, and we can end the extraction!

Why Multiple Pour Segments?

The main reason for dividing the water into multiple pour segments is to extend the contact time between water and coffee powder. Because the material of the drip bag and the amount of coffee powder are not that much, the water flow rate is relatively fast. If we inject a large amount of hot water all at once, the water will flow down too quickly, resulting in insufficient contact time between water and coffee powder, leading to under-extraction of the coffee. Through this method, we not only extend the contact time between water and coffee powder but also allow the coffee powder to be extracted by fresh hot water without concentration, resulting in a higher extraction rate. Therefore, the final coffee not only has a rich concentration but also exhibits rich flavor characteristics due to sufficient extraction!

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Important Notice :

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