"Tutorial for beginners" How to make good coffee by hand, just master 10 steps and tips

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Nowadays, coffee has become an indispensable part of modern people's lives. More and more people are beginning to pay attention to the quality of life and the spiritual enrichment brought by handmade products. They are gradually abandoning traditional three-in-one instant coffee and instead enjoy the fun of hand-brewed coffee.

In fact, hand pouring is not difficult, but there are many mysteries and knowledge involved. Today, I will share with you the basic techniques, steps and tips for hand pouring coffee. I will take you through ten steps from start to finish to make your own fragrant coffee!

STEP 1: Boil water

Fresh hot water will work best. As for water quality, water that is too hard or too soft is not suitable, and different minerals have different effects on coffee extraction. Simple filtered water can usually meet our needs, but please do not use distilled water, purified water or Ro reverse osmosis; it contains no minerals at all and will also affect extraction.

Hard water → easily extracts bitterness and astringency

Soft water → easy to extract sweet and sour flavors

STEP 2: Weigh the required coffee beans

The recommended coffee powder to water ratio at the beginning is 15 grams of coffee powder to 225 grams of hot water. (Small filter cup No. 01) If the amount of coffee powder is higher or lower than 15 grams, the operation will be more difficult and it will be more likely to be unevenly extracted.

STEP 3: Warm the filter cup and sharing pot with hot water

Does the filter paper need to be soaked first? There are two schools of thought:

Those who advocate washing the filter paper first mainly focus on removing the pulp smell of the filter paper. (Some people think that it is necessary to soak the filter paper first so that it can fit flatly on the filter cup)

Those who advocate not soaking the filter paper first do so in order to allow the coffee powder to be exhausted smoothly during steaming, extend the extraction time, and reduce the degree of dilution of the coffee by water. (This group believes that if the filter paper is soaked first, the coffee powder will start to soak when it is put in, which will affect the extraction.)

You can do it in any way you want. Washing the filter paper will indeed make it fit the filter cup better and affect the exhaust, but it will not necessarily affect the steaming effect (depending on the beans, filter cup and technique). Some people will wash the filter paper first, and then take it out and rearrange it before brewing, so that it does not fit the filter cup completely, ensuring smooth exhaust. If you do not wash the filter paper first, it is generally recommended to use bleached filter paper to reduce the interference of paper taste, but dry filter paper will absorb some of the "essence" extracted in the previous stage, making the final flavor weaker. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

STEP 4: Grinding beans

Put the prepared coffee beans into the grinder for grinding. It is recommended to use medium-fine grinding (the size of fine sugar) as a reference value at the beginning. For those who like a cleaner flavor, you can add a process of sifting out fine powder.

STEP 5: Put the coffee powder loosely into the filter cup

Pour out the water at the bottom of the kettle, put the coffee powder loosely into the filter cup, and shake it gently to make it flat. Do not compact the coffee powder, and try to make the coffee powder fluffy and have space. After pouring the powder, brew as soon as possible to avoid the filter cup heating and the wet filter paper affecting the coffee powder too much.

STEP 6: Water temperature 85~95 degrees

Pour hot water into the hand-pour kettle, the initial recommended water temperature is 85~95 degrees. For a hand-pour kettle that has been heated with hot water, the water poured out from the kettle will drop by 2~3℃, and for a hand-pour kettle that has not been heated, it will drop by 5~6℃ (depending on the size of the kettle and the amount of water). Therefore, when measuring the water temperature, you must measure the hot water in the hand-pour kettle.

STEP 7: Steaming

When pouring water for the first time, start from the center and circle around, evenly covering the surface of the coffee powder with a small amount of water to soak all the coffee powder. If the amount of water is appropriate, a few drops of coffee liquid will flow down the lower pot, at most a thin layer at the bottom of the pot. If there is more than this, there is too much water; if there is no dripping at all, there is too little water. This step is called pre-soaking, also known as steaming. The amount of water for steaming is generally 1.5~2 times the weight of the powder.

If the steaming is successful, the coffee powder will expand like a soufflé. If the steaming fails, there are two situations: one is that it does not expand but collapses, which is common in uneven water injection or stale beans or light roasting; the other is the opposite, which is excessive expansion, with the surface layer slightly sinking like a crater after cracking, which is common in dark roasted beans that are too fresh.

STEP 8: Continue to inject water inward in a spiral shape

Observe the surface of the coffee powder. If it continues to expand and is shiny, you can continue to wait. If the expansion has stopped and the surface gradually loses its moisture, the steaming is complete and you can start the second water injection (but don't wait until the coffee powder starts to shrink).

Start pouring water from the center and do it in a spiral shape. Pay special attention to leaving at least 0.5 cm of coffee powder wall in the outermost circle so as not to break through it. After going around the outermost circle, continue to pour water inward in a spiral shape. The 0.5 cm coffee powder wall is retained to lock the hot water that penetrates the filter paper and flows out to the outside, so that it must pass through the coffee powder layer to ensure the concentration of the coffee. In other words, if the brew is too strong and too slow, you can try to "break down" the powder wall in the later stage of water injection.

STEP 9: Water supply cut off or not cut off?

Cut-off or continuous water method? Cut-off water method means adding hot water in batches during the hand brewing process, waiting for the coffee extract to flow to the lower pot between each injection; continuous water method means pouring all the way to the bottom without interruption. The extraction rate of cut-off water method is higher than that of continuous water method. No matter which method is used, pay attention to the following points:

Try to maintain the shape of the coffee grounds and avoid overfilling or too high a water level.

Continue to add water in a spiral shape to evenly extract the coffee. The principle is: where the powder layer is thick, pour water slowly in a circle; where the powder layer is thin, pour water quickly in a circle.

If you don’t want over-extraction or obvious bitterness, try to avoid letting the water in the filter cup drain completely. The same is true at the end. When the extraction volume has reached our preset amount, or the water level drops to the point where the powder bed is about to be exposed after the water filling is completed, please remove the filter cup and discard the remaining substances.

・Flush to the bottom: In this step, water is continuously added in a spiral shape, while the amount of water in the filter cup is controlled so as not to damage the filter layer. Extraction stops when the target milliliters are extracted or when the water filling is completed and the powder bed is about to be exposed.

・Water cut-off method: You can use a slightly larger water column to repeatedly and evenly add water. However, be careful not to drain the water from the filter cup when the water is cut off (you can continue to add water when the coffee powder layer in the filter cup is slightly concave)

STEP 10: Serve in a glass

When brewing is finished, stir or shake the next pot of coffee slightly and serve it in a cup.

I hope that after learning these ten steps, everyone can make a unique and fragrant cup of coffee for themselves!

‍【Recommended reading】：

Why is the hand-poured filter cup funnel-shaped? Will different filter cups affect the flavor of coffee?

[Beginner's Guide] What should I do if I don't know how to pour water in circles when pouring coffee? Then don't do it in circles!

How to improve hand-poured coffee - How to make a cup of hand-poured coffee that can talk?

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