How to adjust the extraction of hand-brewed coffee to be light or strong?

At this time, you will always think that even though you follow the steps step by step, the coffee you make is always not good enough! Why is it so bitter? There are many reasons: water quality, grinding, technique, water temperature are all variables...

1. Control the water flow and understand the secrets of the hand-pour kettle structure

There are all kinds of hand-brewed kettles on the market. When choosing, you should pay attention. A good and stable kettle must have the following structures:

1. Hand-brew kettle: The design is wide at the bottom and narrow at the top. The starting point of the spout is at the bottom of the kettle, so that the water flow will not fluctuate during the pouring process because the starting point is higher than the water surface. The capacity of the kettle is about one liter, so the water flow will not be insufficient when brewing a large amount of coffee.

2. Hand-brewed kettle spout: The arc from the starting point of the spout to the outlet is gentle and the path is longer, which can make the water flow more stable. The lower edge of the spout is in the shape of a bird's beak, which makes it easier to control the direction of the water flow.

3. Handle: The shape of the handle is easy to hold, the influence of the center of gravity of the water level when pouring water, and the comfort of the wrist are all the key points in choosing a hand pourer. Therefore, before buying, try it first, and make sure it is smooth and comfortable to operate.

The key points of the construction of a hand-poured teapot are the design shape of the teapot body and the curvature and size of the spout. The design of a simple hand-poured teapot is not very careful, and the water flow during water injection is prone to fluctuate, affecting the uniformity of water injection. When the water column is too thick, the impact is too strong, which can easily destroy the powder layer structure in the cup; when the water column is too thin, it will prolong the overall extraction time, the curvature will change greatly when the water temperature drops, and the extraction rate will decrease.

2. Relationship between water injection method and concentration

We often distinguish between the two methods of water injection: the "water cut-off method" and the "continuous water method". (The "water cut-off method" means that after each round of brewing, the water injection is stopped to allow most of the liquid with coffee flavor to drip down first, and then the water injection, stop, drip, and repeat this process several times. The action of stopping the water injection in the middle is called the "water cut-off method". The coffee brewed in this way has a higher concentration; on the contrary, the water injection action continues without interruption, which is the "continuous water method". However, friends who do hand brewing should have experienced that this distinction is far from enough. If you want to make the quality of hand brewing more stable, you must take the time factor into consideration, that is, limit the time of "water injection" and "drip a fixed amount of coffee" within a certain range to minimize unstable environmental factors.

The operation of [Time Limit] is not complicated at all. Just add a timer when you pour water and observe how long it takes you to brew the expected amount of coffee liquid. For example, if you use 15 grams of powder and expect to brew 240 grams of coffee in 2 minutes, press the timer as soon as the water pouring action starts to see if you can achieve this goal.

Then taste it again, observe whether the coffee dripped within this range meets your taste requirements, and try to remember the flavor characteristics; if you think the coffee tastes too strong, try to shorten the time limit by ten seconds, if you think it is too weak, extend it by ten seconds, and drip 240 grams. Repeat the operation several times and taste the coffee to see if the flavor is close.

You may find that even if the dripping speed is similar, the taste may be similar one or two times out of five, but the differences in the other times are a bit different. At this time, it is time to study the issues of [powder layer] and [water column strength].

The powder layer condition cannot be ignored in hand brewing, this must be emphasized! The powder layer plays a delicate role, one of its functions is to provide resistance, so that the hot water can stay in the filter cup long enough to ensure that enough flavor components are dissolved. The powder layer must also have a certain support force to play a "blocking" function. In order to prevent the powder layer from weakening, it is necessary to grasp the [strength of the water column], [the position of water injection], and [stable circling technique], which is a complete set of [water injection skills].

How to correct the taste of hand-brewed coffee:

(Note that the taste here refers to the three situations when the hand-brewed coffee tastes light, strong, or has too much unpleasant flavor)

1. How to correct the light taste of hand-brewed coffee:

1. Other steps remain unchanged, just adjust the grinding degree to be finer. This will increase the number of particles that absorb water and retain the hot water longer, which will naturally increase the concentration of the coffee liquid.

2. Keep other steps unchanged, but try increasing your coffee powder (same grinding degree as before) by 3-5 grams. This will increase the thickness of the powder layer, enhance its water absorption, and also improve the concentration.

3. Keep other steps unchanged and replace the coffee beans with darker roasted beans. Generally speaking, darker roasted beans have better expansion and water absorption capabilities. You can retain the hot water in the powder layer to extract more ingredients and achieve the purpose of increasing the concentration. However, it should be noted that the flavor of the coffee will become slightly different due to the change in the roasting degree of the coffee beans. Generally, Xiaoka recommends not making such adjustments.

4. Other steps remain unchanged. You can adjust yourself and slow down the water injection frequency. If it takes one minute and forty-five seconds to brew 240 grams of coffee, you can adjust it to two minutes or two minutes and ten seconds. If it is still not strong enough, you can do the same.

5. Other steps remain the same. You can make the hot water in the brew pot a little hotter than before. The higher the temperature, the higher the extraction capacity of the water. This will bring out more flavor. However, this method should never be used on coffee beans that are roasted too dark, otherwise... you will be bitter! Remember this!

2. How to correct the strong taste of hand-brewed coffee:

1. Add water directly to the strong 1:8 – 1:10 coffee liquid

2. Other steps remain unchanged. Just adjust the grinding degree to be coarser, reduce the number of coffee particles that absorb water, and shorten the time it takes for hot water to pass through the powder layer, so as to reduce the concentration of the coffee liquid.

3. Keep other steps unchanged, but reduce the amount of coffee powder (same grinding degree as before) by 3-5 grams to make the powder layer thinner, reduce its water absorption capacity, and reduce the concentration.

4. Other methods remain unchanged, but replace the coffee beans with beans with a slightly lighter roasting degree. The expansion ability and water absorption capacity of medium-light roasted coffee beans are relatively weaker, and the extraction time of hot water staying in the powder layer becomes shorter, and the concentration of the coffee liquid is naturally reduced.

5. Keep other steps unchanged, just speed up the water injection frequency. Instead of taking two minutes to brew 240 grams of coffee, you can adjust it to one minute and fifty seconds, try the taste of the coffee, and so on.

6. Other methods remain unchanged, only lower the extraction temperature to weaken the extraction ability of water, and the taste will become lighter and weaker. However, this method will also cause your coffee to lose the flavor that can only be extracted under relatively high temperature conditions. It depends on how you choose.

3. How to correct the problem when coffee has too much unpleasant taste.

1. Keep other methods the same, lower the extraction temperature and reduce the extraction rate, so that the unpleasant flavors in the coffee will not be extracted too much. However, I personally think this method is just like covering one's ears and stealing the bell. While the extraction rate is reduced, the good flavor of your coffee will not come out, so a cup of coffee brewed in this way is nothing to look forward to.

2. Keep other methods the same, but change your coffee beans! Try changing coffee beans from several roasteries to compare. Because some bad coffee flavors are most likely caused by improper roasting, no matter how you adjust the brewing of such beans, it will only treat the symptoms and not the root cause.

3. If you change the water source, poor water quality will also make your coffee taste weird. If you want to make a good cup of coffee, you can't save money on water purification equipment.

4. Keep all the steps the same, change the grinder with different blades, and compare the coffee results.