How to Brew Coffee with a Switch? How to Use Tetsu Kasuya's Smart Glimpse Four-Six Method? How to Make Pourover Coffee with Hybrid Brewing Methods?

"Absolutely Delicious!"

That's how Tetsu Kasuya introduces the coffee brewed with his improved hybrid brewing method at the beginning of his early videos.

FrontStreet Coffee believes that everyone should already be familiar with Tetsu Kasuya. He is both the 2016 World Brewers Cup Champion and the inventor of the well-known "4:6 Method" and "Hybrid/Devil's Brewing Method." Whether it's the "4:6 Method" or the "Hybrid Method," these are brewing techniques that Mr. Kasuya developed around the concept of "anyone can brew delicious coffee." Therefore, these methods are very simple to operate, and even beginners can easily brew a cup of delicious coffee.

As FrontStreet Coffee mentioned earlier, Mr. Tetsu Kasuya recently improved the hybrid brewing method. Although the changes are just two small actions during the brewing process, they greatly enhance the stability and uniformity of brewing, making it easier to brew delicious coffee. So today, FrontStreet Coffee will share what this brand-new version of hybrid brewing is all about.

New Hybrid Brewing Method

What is hybrid brewing? It's actually quite easy to understand—it's a brewing method that combines different extraction methods, and here the different extraction methods refer to "immersion" and "drip." So-called immersion is an extraction method achieved by steeping coffee in water, while so-called drip is another extraction method that uses water to wash over coffee for extraction. The meaning of hybrid brewing method is that during the brewing process, there is both immersion extraction and drip extraction, which is a relatively uncommon approach in coffee making. However, because this method requires coffee grounds to steep in water for a period of time, it needs to be used with a clever dripper that has a valve.

Since the hybrid brewing method is derived from the 4:6 method, their theories are identical, with differences only in actual operation. As the name suggests, the 4:6 method divides the total water injection into the first 40% and the last 60%. The water injected in the first part is 40% of the total water, which determines the flavor direction of the coffee (the balance between acidity and sweetness); the water injected in the latter part is 60% of the total water, which determines the texture of the coffee.

The hybrid brewing method also divides the hot water for brewing into the first 40% and the last 60%, with the same principle, but the difference is that it has fewer water injection segments and incorporates immersion extraction during the brewing process. The 4:6 method has five segments, where the water injected in the first two segments adds up to 40%, and the water injected in the last three segments adds up to 60%. The hybrid brewing method is the same for the first two segments, both using drip extraction. The difference is that the last three segments are concentrated into one injection, also 60% of the total water, but the extraction method used is immersion rather than drip. The specific operation is very simple—just close the valve of the clever dripper before injecting water.

But because it combines immersion extraction and the steeping time is quite long, to prevent dissolving undesirable substances, the water temperature for the third segment will be reduced. The improved version of the hybrid brewing method changes the bloom in the first segment from drip to immersion and divides the latter 60% into two injections—one drip and one immersion. The purpose of this change is to allow the coffee grounds to fully contact with water during the bloom stage for sufficient degassing, making subsequent extraction more uniform and stable.

That's roughly how the operation is introduced, so next, FrontStreet Coffee will demonstrate how to brew this new version of the hybrid brewing method.

How to Brew with the New Hybrid Brewing Method?

For this demonstration, FrontStreet Coffee will use FrontStreet Coffee's Emerald Manor·Diamond Mountain from our bean menu. The brewing parameters are as follows:

Dripper used: Hario V60 Clever Dripper
Coffee amount: 20g
Water ratio: 1:15
Grind level: Fine sugar grind, Ek43 setting 10 (75% pass-through rate on #20 sieve)
Water temperature: 92°C for the first three segments, 70°C for the last segment

First, we close the valve of the clever dripper, then inject twice the amount of water as the coffee grounds for a 40-second bloom (the purpose is to allow more thorough degassing).

After the bloom ends, we open the valve and release the coffee liquid from the dripper. When the coffee liquid has finished dripping, use a small water flow to inject the second segment of hot water from the center outward in a circular motion. The amount of water needed for this segment is 80ml, meaning the electronic scale should show 120ml, and the injection time should be controlled within the range of 20-30 seconds.

When most of the coffee liquid in the cup has dripped through, keep the valve open and inject the third segment of hot water. Again, use a small water flow in a circular injection. The amount of water injected in this segment is 80ml, meaning the electronic scale shows 200ml.

While waiting for the coffee liquid to drip through, we add a certain amount of room temperature water to the kettle to cool the hot water to the range of 70°C-80°C. At about 2 minutes and 10 seconds, when the coffee liquid in the clever dripper has finished dripping, we can close the valve and then inject the remaining 100ml of hot water all at once for a 35-second immersion.

When the time reaches 2 minutes and 45 seconds, we can open the valve to end the immersion, then wait for all the coffee liquid to drip out before removing the dripper to complete the extraction!

The total time is 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Although it's much slower than conventional brewing time, because we lowered the water temperature and used more immersion extraction, the coffee didn't show over-extracted flavors; instead, it was exceptionally delicious. The flavors of citrus, berries, and apricots were all well-expressed, with a balanced taste, higher sweetness, and a texture as smooth and rich as honey, with a long oolong tea finish. So that's the operation process for the new version of the hybrid brewing method, which everyone can reference. But as Mr. Tetsu Kasuya said in his video, this operation process can just serve as a template for reference. Everyone can modify it freely because everyone's taste preferences, equipment used, and beans are different. As long as you understand the general principles and operations, and then customize the operation according to your own understanding, the brewed coffee will definitely be more to your liking, and this is also the philosophy that FrontStreet Coffee has always shared with everyone.

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