A guide to coffee equipment

In April, the glaciers melt, butterflies fly, bears frolic, flowers bloom, and everything comes back to life. Well, it is a good time to get rid of spring sleepiness.

On days like this, going to Starbucks to order a cup of coffee to relieve fatigue has become a must for city dwellers on weekdays, but the real bigger thing is to make a cup of coffee by yourself. Friends who haven’t gotten started yet, come and learn!

Before starting:

First of all, we need to understand what coffee is. In fact, coffee is just soy milk! It's just that the dregs have been filtered out.

Do you know how to make soy milk? When I was a kid, my mom taught me how to make soy milk. I soaked the soybeans and ground them. Then I filtered the raw soy milk with gauze and cooked it. But the basic brewing process of coffee is slightly different: because the raw coffee beans have a roasting process after being dried. After being roasted at hundreds of degrees, the volume of the coffee beans expands and the water content decreases greatly. The coffee beans develop a unique flavor during the roasting process. So the production process is roughly - grind, brew, filter, and then you can drink it.

So if you think about it, making a cup of coffee doesn't seem to be that difficult. The process is like making tea, which is actually grinding soybean milk. However, for the same type of coffee, there are four factors that determine the taste of the finished coffee: water, proportion, grinding degree, and freshness.

• Water: Purified water, heated to the required temperature

• Ratio: 10g coffee powder to 180mL water

• Grinding degree: Different utensils are suitable for different grinding degrees

• Freshness: Pay attention to the shelf life of coffee powder and coffee beans

Adjusting any of these parameters will affect the taste of the final product: high water temperature means bitterness, low water temperature means sweetness; high ratio means strong coffee, low ratio means weak coffee; coarse grinding means clear coffee, fine grinding means turbid coffee; fresh coffee means mellow coffee, otherwise it will be tasteless. Of course, everyone has different preferences, and the best one is to find the one that suits you. Adjusting the water temperature, ratio and grinding degree, and using different coffee making utensils can bring completely different brewing effects, so the real pit starts from below.

1. French Press

French Press is one of the most classic ways to brew coffee. It originated in France around 1850. The basic structure is a simple brewing device consisting of a bottle and a set of pressure rods with a filter. Of course, this structure is also suitable for brewing tea, so it is also a magical tool for brewing tea.

Steps:

① Use water to warm the French press pot and coffee cup. Warming the cup can ensure that the coffee is brewed at a sufficient temperature and ensure the taste.

② Pour out the water and put an appropriate amount of ground coffee powder into the French press (placing the ground powder suitable for the coarseness of the French press according to the cup size of the pot)

③ Slowly pour in hot water (90~96℃), stir evenly and cover and simmer for 4 minutes

④Slowly press the lever to the bottom, pour the coffee into the warmed coffee cup and enjoy it.

When using a French press to make coffee, you can easily control parameters such as water temperature and ratio. You can also freely control the time to make the same coffee beans have different tastes. However, since it generally uses a coarse metal filter, the filtering performance is average. Therefore, it is recommended that the coffee beans be ground coarser to make the taste cleaner and less powdery. Students who really like pure taste can also filter it again with filter paper.

2. Hand pouring and drip pot

It seems to have been invented by the French, but it was developed by the Japanese, so most of the hand-brewed coffee machines on the market come from Japan. Its basic structure is a funnel drip cup, a receiving cup, and a long-mouthed hand-brewed coffee pot. Of course, there are many kinds of pots developed based on this structural principle, such as using filter paper, filter mesh or cloth filter in the drip cup, using hand-brewed coffee pots and drip cups of different materials, shapes and functions, and fully automatic drip coffee machines are also common. Here is a brief introduction to the more traditional and common hand-brewed coffee.

Steps:

①Use a water temperature cup and heat the appropriate amount of hot water at a preset ratio

②Pour the ground coffee powder evenly into the drip cup covered with filter paper and shake it slightly to spread it flat.

③ Slowly pour in hot water, usually twice, starting from the center of the coffee powder and spiraling to achieve a uniform steaming effect

④Pay attention to the water volume control and wait for the dripping to be completed before enjoying.

Coffee made using the drip method can be easily controlled in terms of extraction level, and a coarser powder is generally used to ensure that it is not over-extracted or difficult to drip. Different filter devices can be used to enrich the taste, and it tastes cleaner than a French press. The drip coffee machine commonly used by Americans is just a OEM machine for this method, and the coffee drip bag brewing method preferred by the Japanese also uses the same principle.

3. Siphon coffee maker

Originated in Germany, it is a brewing method that uses air pressure to press water and simmer coffee, which is somewhat similar to the principle of a steam engine. The structure is a pair of glass vessels placed up and down, with water in the lower part, pipes in the middle, and coffee powder in the upper part. When heated, air pressure is used to press the water in the lower part to the upper part to mix with the coffee powder and simmer. After gradually cooling, the coffee liquid is filtered and returned to the bottom.

Steps:

①Put water in the lower part of the pot, put coffee powder in the upper part, and add hot water

②After heating and boiling, insert the coffee container on the top of the water container, paying attention to the sealing

③The boiling hot water will automatically be pressed to the upper part due to the pressure of the steam and mix with the coffee powder.

④Observe the situation and continue to boil until all the water is pushed into the upper half of the pot, then turn off the heat source.

⑤Try to cool the lower pot with a wet cloth or other methods, so that the coffee liquid will return to the lower pot and pour it out to enjoy.

Siphon coffee makers are difficult to operate and require a lot of practice to master parameters such as ratios and extraction time. However, the biggest advantage is that it avoids stirring the coffee and extracts more coffee sweetness and colloid. For more experienced coffee lovers, it must be a tool that they will love.

4. AeroPress

AeroPress is a patented device, so we have to distinguish it from other types of devices. Structurally, AeroPress is also an innovation. A syringe-shaped device with filter paper is equivalent to a combination of hand pouring and filter pressing. It also has two different ways of use.

Positive pressure steps:

①Put the filter paper into the lid, screw on the lid, and put it in the cup

② Add coffee powder and boiling water. Stir and control the time according to your personal preference.

③ Add the piston, press down slowly, and finally press hard to remove all the water.

④Enjoy the coffee in the cup

Backpressure steps:

①Insert the piston into the tube and invert the vessel

② Add coffee powder and boiling water. Stir and control the time according to your personal preference.

③Put the filter paper into the lid, screw on the lid, and turn it upside down in the cup

④Press down slowly, press hard and enjoy the coffee

Since AeroPress comes with filter paper, the taste is similar to hand-brewed and drip coffee. It also borrows the feature of being able to stir in a French press container, allowing for more complete coffee extraction. In addition, it is easy to clean, so it has to be said that AeroPress is a magical tool for brewing coffee. However, AeroPress has also been developed with a function that is presented to you here.

Unique ice-drip coffee:

①Put the filter paper into the lid, screw on the lid, and put it in the cup

②Put in coffee powder and frozen ice cubes and place in a low temperature environment

③ Leave it for about 8 hours until the ice melts and is extracted with coffee, then dripped into the cup

④Enjoy the taste and fun of ice-drip coffee

Regarding ice drip coffee, it is indeed a very special way of making coffee. It is difficult to use a French press or a drip pot, but AeroPress provides an excellent structure. Coffee extracted at low temperature has a unique flavor. Deeply roasted coffee beans such as Mandheling are more suitable for extraction using this method. The extracted coffee is not very acidic and has a unique aroma and richness. Coffee lovers may wish to try it!

This is the end of the introduction to coffee utensils. You need to practice a lot to master the use of different utensils. I also hope that in the process of controlling the grinding degree, extraction degree, and ratio, I can enjoy the different flavors and fun of coffee and find my own coffee taste.

About the author: Persian dog, not a Coffee Master.

This article was first published on KnewOne

If you need to reprint, please contact WeChat backstage | Infringement will be investigated

If you like it, please click on the upper right corner […]

Find out more Follow us on Weibo @KnewOne

Click [Read original text] to learn more