Is the Taste of Pour-Over Coffee Affected by the Coffee Bed Depression? Does a Deeper Depression Mean Better Coffee? How to Achieve the Perfect Coffee Bed Depression in Pour-Over Brewing?

Many beginners hope that once brewing is finished, the spent grounds in the filter cup will settle into a deep, symmetrical pit. Because people so often judge a cup by the look of that spent coffee bed, some drinkers come away with a misleading idea: that a deep pit automatically means good coffee.

In truth, a deep pit says nothing about how the coffee tastes. It only tells you that the hot water was poured fairly evenly. Of course, not everyone reads it that way. Some people simply enjoy a deep pit because it looks satisfying, and that is reason enough. But then others discover that no matter how evenly they pour, they still cannot produce a picture-perfect pit in the filter cup. The explanation is simple: even pouring is only the foundation. A perfect pit also demands at least two further conditions.

So today FrontStreet Coffee will share how to brew a deep, symmetrical, evenly distributed "dream pit." But as always, remember: a deep pit does not represent quality.

1. The Pour Rate Needs to Be Fairly High

A coffee bed pit forms mainly because the grounds cling to the wall of the filter cup. The larger the area the grounds cover and the higher they climb, the bigger and deeper the finished pit will be. To make that happen, we first need the rate at which we pour water in to exceed the rate at which the coffee liquid drains out.

In other words, raise the water level. As long as more water enters the filter cup than drains away, water will keep accumulating and the level will rise. The grounds are then carried upward with the hot water. When the water drains out, those grounds cling to the surrounding wall of the filter cup and form a grounds wall. From there, you only need to keep the later pours from washing that wall away, and a deep pit is yours. Pour with too small a stream, at a rate equal to or below the drain rate, and the water level never rises. The grounds never get a chance to climb the higher wall of the cup. With too little coverage, a deep pit simply cannot form, and you may even end up with a completely flat bed. That is not necessarily a bad thing.

2. Ground Coffee Density Must Not Be Too High

Have you ever noticed that darker-roasted beans produce a pit more easily, while lighter roasts tend to leave the bed flat? This comes down to the density of the grounds. Denser grounds are heavier and more resistant to buoyancy. Even if you increase the pour rate, heavier grounds cannot be lifted as the water level rises. Less dense grounds are lighter, so they rise along with the water level.

Relatively speaking, dark-roasted beans are easier to brew into a pit because they expand more and are less dense. Lighter roasts are denser and harder to coax into a deep pit, though a deep pit is not actually necessary. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will share how to brew the perfect coffee bed pit.

How to Brew the Perfect Coffee Bed Pit

One more reminder: here FrontStreet Coffee is only showing you how to brew a good-looking pit. Whether the coffee tastes good has little to do with how the pit looks. Please keep that firmly in mind.

The pour rate determines the height of the pit, but it is ultimately limited because there is only so much coffee. If you want a bigger, thicker pit, you can increase the dose of grounds to enlarge and deepen it.

For this demonstration, FrontStreet Coffee uses dark-roasted Indonesia Golden Mandheling beans, because they carry the darkest roast, expand enormously, and easily brew a perfect pit. The parameters are as follows: 20g of grounds, ground at Ek43 setting 10.5, with 80% passing through a #20 sieve; a coffee-to-water-to-ice ratio of 1:10:6 (because I want it iced, though the hot method is similar); water temperature 88°C; a Kono filter cup; and a three-stage pour. This is a regular three-stage pour. The fewer the stages, the easier it is to form a pit.

Likewise, use twice the weight of the grounds in water (40ml) for a 30-second bloom.

After the bloom, pour the second stage with a large stream in wide circles, adding 100ml of hot water. Because the Kono filter cup drains more slowly, we need not worry that the big stream will extract too little by flowing through too fast.

Finally, pour the last stage with a small stream in tight circles around the center, adding 60ml of hot water. Be careful not to pour onto the grounds wall around the edge. Then simply wait for the water to finish draining, and the perfect pit, like the one shown at the start, will appear.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

You can chase a beautiful coffee bed with almost any bean, but the deep, evenly set pit in this article comes most easily from a dark, high-expansion roast. FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling, grown in Sumatra's Aceh region and wet-hulled, is our classic choice: dark-roasted with very low acidity, a full and lingering body, and layers of herbal and dark chocolate notes. It sits at the heart of this brew and gives you both the density and the expansion that a deep pit requires.

If you would rather let a lighter, brighter coffee put the V60 through its paces, try FrontStreet Coffee's Ethiopia Yirgacheffe Gudingding, a washed Grade 1 lot with elegant white florals and a clean citrus note, or the Ethiopia Huakui, whose sun-dried tropical-fruit character of berries, florals, and honey makes a vivid contrast in the same dripper. Both are among the beans FrontStreet Coffee most often reaches for when brewing with a conical filter like the V60.