Coffee Science | How to Make a Perfect Cup of Pour-Over Coffee

When we drink tea, we are actually drinking the flavor that is nurtured by the variety, origin, farmers and tea makers. The same is true for coffee. When we drink latte, Americano, and espresso, we are actually drinking the flavor that is nurtured by the variety, origin, and farmers and given to the coffee beans.

These flavors are what make them so valuable. You know, not all coffees can present elegant and comfortable malic acid, and not all coffees can give us pleasant nutty, toffee, and chocolate flavors.

In addition to the drinks derived from espresso, are there any other ways for us to enjoy this precious product? Yes! And it is very simple! That is hand-brewed coffee!!

♢How to taste a cup of hand-brewed coffee correctly♢

First, we must understand the basic flavors of coffee:

● Acid: A must! Fruit acid can make coffee lively, light and rich. But we want to drink fruit acid, such as apple, lemon and peach acid. What we don’t want is vinegar-like acid.

● Sweetness: The sweetness in coffee is not the sweetness of sugar, but the combination of caramel sweetness and caramel-like aroma.

● Bitterness: All coffees have bitterness, but we don’t want to taste too much bitterness (no bitterness is the best). Bitterness increases with the degree of roasting. If we like slightly roasted coffee beans, we want to taste the bitterness that will “melt away”, rather than the taste of “burnt”, “carbon” or “smoky”.

● Aroma: This is the most precious and delicate treasure of coffee. If there is no identifiable and clear flavor characteristic, there is no need to choose such coffee, because it is no different from other coffees!

● Balance: Balance is very important to me. It is basically a combination of all feelings. It must have acidity (but not too much, so it becomes acrid), sweetness, not too bitter, a comfortable taste, and a pleasant aftertaste. In short, the overall feeling of drinking should be pleasant.

♢ The birth of a cup of hand-poured coffee♢

As mentioned in the previous article, the method of making hand-brewed coffee is very simple, basically according to the coffee powder to water ratio of 1:15, the water temperature is preferably 90-93 degrees, first wash the filter paper, then spread the coffee powder, and finally brew, drip filter, and serve. The total time is controlled within 2.5 minutes. The grinding scale is not mentioned here because there are differences in the grinding coarseness between different brands of grinders, and it is impossible to give a unified value.

So let's take a look at how changes in various parameters affect the flavor of a cup of hand-brewed coffee:

As the ground particles become finer, the bitterness, body and stimulation of the coffee will increase accordingly, thereby reducing the sourness; the higher the water temperature, the higher the sourness, bitterness, body and stimulation; the brewing time has no significant effect on the sourness, bitterness and body, but the stimulation will increase with time.

Review - Which Pour Over Kettle is the Best?

It may seem like pour over coffee is dead in the last few years, but I wanted to briefly compare the most popular methods of pour over coffee.

I have always liked pour-over coffee, which is of consistent quality and generally more fully extracted than other traditional drip coffees. However, it is not suitable for home baristas, nor for cafes or restaurants with less than 100 cups of coffee per day, or cafes that only sell expensive coffee.

This time we will evaluate and see which hand brewing kettle is the best?

In my opinion, pour over kettles can be roughly divided into the following categories: conical kettles (such as V60, Melitta), flat bottom kettles (such as Kalita), "immersion-and-drain" kettles (such as Clever). Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Conical kettle (V60, Melitta, etc.)

The biggest advantage of the conical pot is that when the filter bowl is the right size, the barista can quickly pour the remaining hot water in one go after pre-brewing. Compared with pouring hot water in batches, pouring water in one go can keep the water temperature and avoid the coffee from having a sour taste.

I have tasted coffee made with a V60 pot in a staged pour-over method, and the coffee tasted sour, which was caused by the low water temperature during the extraction process. In the past, people liked sour coffee, but I personally don't agree. You can like sour coffee, but don't despise it because other coffees are not sour enough.

Many baristas have complained to me that customers don't like sour coffee, and they try to "educate" these customers. However, customers don't like it because the coffee is really sour! Bright, red wine-like acidity is good, but no one likes sour taste!

Kalita

The biggest advantage of Kalita is that it extracts very evenly. However, it is relatively small in size, so it can only make a small amount of coffee each time, and it needs to be poured with water in stages. Of course, this problem is also a common problem faced by other small hand-poured pots.

I personally think that the folded filter paper in the Kalita coffee pot has gaps, which will cause some coffee grounds to remain when brewing coffee. I heard that there is a seamless filter paper now, but I have never seen it.

Clever

I would love to see more cafes adopting steep-and-drain pots like the Clever. I personally prefer the V60 and Kalita, but the Clever is really easy to use.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Choose the correct ratio of coffee powder and water.

2. Pour in 94℃ ~95℃ hot water to ensure that all coffee powder is soaked quickly.

3. Pour in all the water and stir gently.

4. Close the lid.

5. Open the lid after the customized time (2 minutes or 3 minutes), stir it to make sure there is no coffee powder stuck to the filter paper, and then place the coffee pot on the coffee cup to let the coffee flow into the cup.

Yes, it's that simple! Compared to other hand-poured coffee pots, Clever is more like an immersion pot, so there is no need for pre-brewing. Even a novice can make a coffee with a score of more than 80 points in 5 minutes with a little training and referring to the time, water temperature, powder weight and grinding parameters of a good ratio. In comparison, I can't remember the last time I drank a hand-poured coffee with a score of more than 80 points.

About coffee

Recently, coffee shops have been promoting lightly roasted coffee. Firstly, lightly roasted coffee has a higher caffeine content due to the shorter roasting process. Secondly, the delicate taste of the coffee itself is perfectly preserved, thus comprehensively enhancing the sensory experience of customers.

The following are the most common roasting levels:

➊ Cinnamon (light roast):

The coffee is very lightly roasted. Although it is called "Cinnamon", there is actually no cinnamon in the coffee, nor is there a cinnamon flavor, it just has a color similar to cinnamon.

➋City (medium roast):

Coffee beans go through a "first crack". The coffee beans burst when the water forms steam after heating, which eventually bursts the beans. The temperature of the "first crack" is about 205℃. Medium roasted coffee is the most common type of roasting in "third wave" coffee shops. On this basis, some people will slightly extend the roasting time to make "City+", which is slightly more than medium roasting.

➌Full City (dark roast):

Coffee cracks again after the first crack, which is called the second crack. On this basis, there is also a deeper "Full City+". The coffee has lower acidity, higher solubility, a mellower taste, and a stronger flavor.

➍Traditional Continental Baking:

This is the old-school, almost outdated way of roasting beans, where the beans are roasted until the oils are oozing out and the smoke is very strong, almost completely erasing the flavor of the coffee itself. Some people call this the "Viennese/Italian/French/Spanish" roast.

➎ Single product vs. blended product

You often hear the barista ask you, "Single origin or blend?" What does this mean? Single origin coffee is coffee produced from a single plantation or a single producing area in a specific country of origin, processed in the same way, and from a single bean variety. In simple terms, all the coffee beans are exactly the same. A blend is a mixture of two or more coffee beans.

Coffee Vocabulary

What is "espresso"? What is a "portafilter"? Here are some common professional terms:

➊ Italian espresso (Ristretto):

A concentrated version of espresso, the coffee tastes sweeter and has a higher acidity.

➋Lungo :

Espresso that takes longer to brew will have a nuttier flavor, but if it is over-extracted, it will have a woody taste.

➌Handle (Portafilter):

A device used to hold powder and installed on a coffee machine.

➍Dose :

The amount of ground coffee to put into the portafilter.

➎Yield :

Net weight of extracted coffee.

➏Pour Over:

Fresh, hand-brewed coffee is one of the best ways to enjoy the taste of coffee, completely different from the inferior coffee made with drip machines in the past.