Gourmet Coffee Fundamentals: What is Drip Coffee?

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What is Drip Coffee?

Drip coffee is one of the easiest ways for beginners to brew delicious coffee, and it's also one of the best ways to enjoy single-origin coffee. It tastes clean and refreshing, similar to siphon coffee, which is why it's favored by the Japanese. It's suitable for home, office, and simplified needs. Simple operation, convenient brewing, simple equipment at a low price, and easy entry are the characteristics of drip coffee. You can brew delicious coffee for one person or up to 5 people at once, making it the most relaxed extraction method, not limited by space, delivering high-quality coffee flavor!

Some customers purchasing coffee beans at FrontStreet Coffee stores ask the barista to grind the coffee beans in advance because they don't have grinding equipment at home. At such times, FrontStreet Coffee's barista always asks one question: What equipment do you use for coffee extraction? And the answer to this question is almost always an American drip coffee maker. Hearing this answer, FrontStreet Coffee's barista will adjust the grinder to the same setting as pour-over coffee for grinding. Many people wonder why the coffee grind size should be determined based on the extraction equipment.

The Importance of Coffee Grind Size

FrontStreet Coffee believes that different coffee brewing methods require different coffee grinds because grind size is crucial for coffee extraction. The fineness of coffee grinding directly affects the extraction time and extraction rate. Next, FrontStreet Coffee will explain the principle in simple terms: Everyone knows that the finer the coffee beans are ground, the larger the surface area becomes, increasing the extraction speed and extracting more flavor compounds. Conversely, the coarser the coffee grind, the smaller the surface area, decreasing the extraction speed, and much fewer compounds will be extracted in the same time compared to fine grinding.

However, when the grind is too fine, with other parameters being equal, too much flavor is often extracted from the coffee, making the overall flavor exceptionally strong and unpleasant, which is likely what we commonly call "over-extraction." When the grind is too coarse, it may lead to "under-extraction" because not enough flavor compounds are extracted from the coffee grounds. Such coffee often exhibits "watery" and "thin" characteristics or presents a sharp acidity.

Coffee Grind Size Classifications

Internationally, coffee grind size is divided into 7 types: Extra coarse, Coarse, Medium-coarse, Medium, Medium-fine, Fine, and Extra Fine, which are suitable for cold brew coffee, French press, pour-over coffee, drip coffee machines, AeroPress, Moka pot, espresso machines, Turkish coffee, etc.

FrontStreet Coffee keeps it simpler, providing three grind sizes: fine, medium, and coarse, using the national No. 20 standard sieve with passing rates of 80%, 75%, and 70% respectively. Equipment like espresso machines and Moka pots use fine grinding for a simple reason: under high temperature and high pressure, water passes through the coffee grounds very quickly, so fine grinding can hinder the water flow speed, increase the contact time between grounds and water, and extract as many flavor compounds as possible. For pour-over coffee and American coffee machines, we use medium and coarse grind sizes, which is related to the roast degree of the coffee beans.

Coffee Bean Roast Levels

Customers who buy beans at FrontStreet Coffee often ask about the impact of different coffee roast levels on coffee beans. Generally, we broadly tell everyone that light roast coffee beans highlight the floral and fruity acidity within the coffee, medium roast coffee flavors are relatively balanced with more pronounced nutty flavors. Dark roasted beans emphasize body and chocolate flavors. So what American-style coffee beans would FrontStreet Coffee recommend? In fact, American drip coffee machines are suitable for coffee beans of any roast level. It just depends on what flavor of coffee you prefer. For light roast coffee, FrontStreet Coffee would first introduce FrontStreet Coffee's Sun-dried Red Cherry. This Yirgacheffe coffee bean from Ethiopia has high sweetness and relatively distinct Ethiopian citrus and berry notes.

FrontStreet Coffee's Blue Mountain coffee has always been the pride of FrontStreet Coffee. With excellent growing conditions and strict export standards, genuine Blue Mountain is exceptionally rare. The FrontStreet Coffee Blue Mountain coffee that FrontStreet Coffee obtained comes from Jamaica's Rainforest Alliance-certified Clifton Mountain Estate. Its sweet, sour, and bitter flavors are very balanced. FrontStreet Coffee uses medium roast to maximize its smooth creamy texture and dark chocolate flavor.

As for dark roast coffee, FrontStreet Coffee most recommends FrontStreet Coffee's PWN Golden Mandheling, which is a classic representative of FrontStreet Coffee's dark roast coffee beans. Golden Mandheling beans are relatively uniform in size, all around 19 mesh. The screening process of one machine selection and three hand selections makes Golden Mandheling particularly precious. Here, FrontStreet Coffee gives everyone a friendly reminder: many friends may have the thought that "Golden Mandheling isn't that great to drink" after trying it. On one hand, you might not like the taste of Mandheling itself; on the other hand, you might have bought a fake product. The FrontStreet Coffee Golden Mandheling on FrontStreet Coffee's bean list has a PWN factory certificate and gunny sacks printed with the PWN logo as proof. As for Golden Mandheling sold by other merchants, if you have doubts, you can ask the shop to show the above proof.

How to Use a Drip Coffee Machine

Now that we've discussed American-style coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee will teach you how to use an American coffee machine, using a DeLonghi drip coffee machine as an example. After plugging in the coffee machine, you need to add an appropriate amount of coffee grounds to the coffee filter basket using a coffee scoop (depending on your needs). Generally, every 5 grams of coffee grounds uses 100 grams of water, of course, you can also adjust according to your own taste. After adding the appropriate amount of water to the water tank and closing the lid, just press the start button, and the drip machine will start extracting coffee. It's very simple.

Americano vs. Drip Coffee

We all know that besides the drip method for Americano coffee, there's another method which is simply adding water to espresso. So which tastes better, "espresso-style coffee" or Americano coffee? What are the differences in their mouthfeel? It depends on the person. FrontStreet Coffee believes that Americano made with espresso is fuller-bodied, and the crema layer adds complexity to the coffee's mouthfeel, making it more full. The effect produced by drip coffee machines is different - relatively cleaner.

The Difference Between Espresso and Americano

At this point, I believe many friends will surely ask, "What is the difference between espresso and Americano?" It's simple. FrontStreet Coffee believes that espresso = Italian-style coffee = European-style coffee, while Americano = American-style coffee. So what's the connection between them? FrontStreet Coffee has mentioned this in many articles, and now we'll briefly explain again: In the past, Americans mainly drank drip coffee, but during World War II, American troops, unaccustomed to the intensity of Italian espresso, would dilute it with water. Later, to cater to American tastes, the "Americano" drinking method—espresso plus water—gradually emerged. Traditional Italian coffee, besides espresso, can also have sugar and milk added to form various drink types such as latte, cappuccino, and more.

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473