Pour-Over Coffee Watering Techniques! Drip Coffee Pouring Tips and Methods! How to Add Water to Coffee?

FrontStreet Coffee often welcomes friends who are learning pour-over coffee at home to discuss brewing-related issues. Many friends mention that although they use parameters identical to those recommended by FrontStreet Coffee in their stores, the taste of the coffee they brew varies from good to bad, and they're unsure where the problem lies.

This situation occurs almost invariably because the water flow during brewing is not stable enough, which is why the coffee sometimes tastes good and sometimes doesn't.

That's right! Just like the various parameters we pay attention to when brewing good coffee, the water pouring during brewing is also very important. The position, path, height, and size of the water flow all have direct impacts on coffee extraction. According to SCA experimental data, the higher the stability of the water flow, the higher the uniformity during extraction. Therefore, if we want to consistently brew a delicious cup of coffee, in addition to controlling various extraction parameters, we also need to manage the water flow during brewing! So today, FrontStreet Coffee will share with everyone how water flow affects coffee extraction, and how we should match water flow during brewing to consistently create a delicious cup of coffee.

Key Point One: Water Pouring Position

When beginners first start with pour-over coffee, we can focus on the pouring position, which is the landing point of the water flow.

The landing point of the water flow determines which coffee grounds and how much of them the hot water can contact. Taking a V60 cone-shaped filter as an example, the powder layer structure of a cone filter is an inverted cone, so the thickness of the powder bed is thicker toward the center and thinner toward the periphery. Naturally, hot water poured at different positions will contact different coffee grounds and quantities, and the amount of dissolved substances will vary accordingly. If we want to achieve relatively uniform and efficient extraction for the coffee, first we need to ensure that hot water can contact the most coffee grounds or maintain contact with all coffee grounds before dripping from the filter, rather than slipping through the channels supported by the filter ribs, creating bypass water. To achieve this, we only need to control the pouring range.

Still using the V60 as an example, when our water flow's impact force isn't too strong, we only need to control the pouring range to about two-thirds the size of the powder bed. Within this range, hot water will hardly have the opportunity to break through the powder bed due to excessive impact force and form bypass water, allowing the coffee to achieve more thorough extraction. (Here FrontStreet Coffee is just giving an example - in actual brewing, you still need to consider various factors when deciding on the pouring position)

Key Point Two: Water Pouring Path

Once we understand the pouring range, the next step is to get the coffee grounds moving in the filter! The reason is simple - we want to improve extraction efficiency!

FrontStreet Coffee has recently been sharing the principles of coffee extraction, so everyone should be quite familiar with them by now. Simply put, when hot water contacts coffee grounds, soluble substances in the coffee grounds transfer to the water with relatively lower concentration due to concentration gradient differences. As more flavor compounds dissolve in the water, the concentration becomes higher. When the internal and external concentrations become more balanced, extraction efficiency decreases, meaning the dissolution rate of flavor compounds slows down. Drip-style pour-over doesn't have the sufficient water-to-coffee-ground contact time like immersion coffee. If we pour water at a fixed point without movement, we'll ultimately get a coffee that lacks richness and has a very thin mouthfeel. Because extraction is insufficient, there aren't enough flavor compounds to support the coffee's taste and texture.

If you don't want to drink under-extracted coffee, then we need to manipulate the pouring kettle in circles, allowing the water flow to stir up the coffee grounds to create turbulence/disrupted flow. This way, extraction efficiency can be improved, and the coffee's flavor and mouthfeel can naturally become fuller. It's like the example of Banlangen granules that FrontStreet Coffee often mentions - if we just pour Banlangen granules into hot water and leave them alone, they will dissolve very slowly. But if we use chopsticks to stir them, they will dissolve completely in just a few seconds. So if we want to accelerate the dissolution of flavor compounds, we can let the water flow stir the coffee grounds like chopsticks, creating relative movement between coffee grounds and water, which can greatly increase the dissolution rate of flavor compounds.

However, it should be noted that FrontStreet Coffee is not saying that fixed-point pouring is bad. The difference between fixed-point and circular pouring lies in different extraction efficiencies - they each have suitable application scenarios. We need to use different pouring methods according to different situations, so there's no distinction between good and bad.

Key Point Three: Water Pouring Height

In addition to circular pouring, two other elements affect extraction efficiency, starting with pouring height - the distance between the pouring position and the liquid surface. Pouring height determines the impact force of the water flow. The higher the pouring height, typically the stronger the water flow's impact force. Stronger impact force can create stronger turbulence, naturally leading to higher extraction efficiency. Conversely, if the pouring height is lower, the water flow's impact force is smaller, creating less turbulence and resulting in lower extraction efficiency.

Similar to the choice between circular and fixed-point pouring, the appropriate height for pouring during brewing depends on our specific needs. If you want to improve extraction efficiency, you can appropriately increase the pouring height, and vice versa. But everyone should know that besides extraction efficiency, pouring height also brings three different effects!

Movement of coffee grounds: As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, when the pouring position is higher, turbulence is typically greater. Turbulence causes changes in the position of coffee grounds. If the stirring amplitude is too large, it can easily cause some fine particles that have quickly absorbed water to settle at the bottom of the filter, clogging the filter paper and slowing the water flow. This extends extraction time and increases the risk of over-extraction.

Water temperature changes: Next is the effect on temperature! In the article "What Water Temperature Makes the Best Coffee," FrontStreet Coffee shared that the extraction water temperature we usually mention is not the actual extraction temperature. The actual extraction water temperature decreases during the extraction process due to heat absorption by various factors. For example, when the water temperature in the kettle is 92°C, the actual extraction water temperature is only 80°C+. Among these various factors is pouring height. The higher the height, the more air the hot water contacts, and naturally the more heat is absorbed away, and vice versa. The famous Matsuya-style brewing lowers the brewing water temperature by increasing the pouring height, allowing the coffee to achieve optimal extraction.

Water flow form: Observant friends may have noticed that FrontStreet Coffee didn't definitively say earlier that the higher the pouring height, the stronger the water flow's impact force. This is because when pouring height reaches a certain point, the water flow cannot maintain its column shape and breaks into droplets. Droplets cannot stir up coffee grounds, so compared to column-shaped flow, their extraction efficiency is much lower. If we don't want to experience the three negative effects mentioned above during brewing, then we need to control the pouring height properly. As before, FrontStreet Coffee recommends controlling the height at about one fist's distance from the liquid surface.

Key Point Four: Water Flow Size

Finally, let's discuss water flow size. Water flow size refers to the pouring speed/rate - how much hot water you can pour per second. The more hot water poured, the relatively larger the water column/flow, and vice versa. The water flow rate/size brings three different effects! Besides the water flow impact force mentioned by FrontStreet Coffee, there's also extraction time and coffee ground distribution!

The effect of water flow size on time: Water flow size affects extraction time. When we use a larger water flow during brewing, the drainage speed is relatively faster, and vice versa. How water flow size affects the powder bed: When the amount of poured water exceeds the amount of drained water, the liquid level rises. So when we want to raise the powder bed, we only need to increase the pouring water flow to raise the water level while elevating the powder bed. For specific operations and the purpose of raising the powder bed, you'll need to refer to the article "Transfer Portal" for details - FrontStreet Coffee won't elaborate further here.

How to Pour Water for Pour-Over Coffee?

In summary, we can see that the position, path, height, and size of water flow all have direct impacts on coffee extraction. If you want to consistently brew delicious coffee, try to avoid drastic changes in pouring during the brewing process. For example, if the water flow fluctuates between large and small, or the height varies between high and low, this will reduce the uniformity of coffee extraction, making the coffee less enjoyable.

If you're unsure how to pour water, you can refer to the methods FrontStreet Coffee uses in daily brewing. The article "Three-Stage Brewing is This Simple" provides detailed sharing. Interested friends can check it out themselves~

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