Want to brew a delicious pour-over coffee? How exactly should you set the grind size, water temperature, and coffee-to-water ratio? This article first sorts out the general principles of brewing coffee, then breaks down one by one the operational details and respective pros and cons of eight brewing methods, including siphon, cold drip, espresso, filter paper, French press, Belgian pot, and moka pot. No matter which device you prefer, you can find reference parameters and steps here. At the end, it also gives specific suggestions based on Front Street Coffee beans to help you turn theory into everyday practice.
a) General principles for brewing coffee
① Try to use freshly roasted beans, and do not store them for more than a week. If you can get coffee beans within one hour of roasting, that is even better.
② Store the coffee beans in an opaque sealed container.
③ Leave the grinding step until just before brewing.
④ Before taking water, let the faucet run for a few seconds, then collect the freshly flowing cool water. Control the boiling time to about 50 to 60 seconds; do not boil too long, and even more importantly, do not pour boiling hot water directly onto the coffee grounds.
⑤ The amounts of coffee grounds and water must both be measured accurately.
⑥ The brewing method is up to your preference—French press, dripper, or other devices are all fine—but you must give the coffee enough extraction time.
⑦ Drink it as soon as it is brewed.
⑧ Do not forget to warm the cup first before pouring the coffee into it.
b) Siphon brewing
The prototype of the siphon coffee maker can be traced back to 1840, when the idea was proposed by British marine engineer Robert Napier. It was not until the early 20th century that it evolved into the form we see today.
Its working principle relies on steam pressure: after the water in the lower pot is heated, it flows upward through the siphon tube and filter cloth into the upper pot, fully mixes with the coffee grounds inside, and extracts the flavor components. After the heat source is removed, the brewed coffee liquid flows back into the lower pot. The whole brewing process is quite visually appealing. Watching the coffee being extracted little by little adds to the ritual pleasure of drinking coffee.
Before heating, be sure to wipe dry the water droplets on the outside of the pot; otherwise, uneven heating can easily cause the pot body to crack. After use, rinse it immediately with clean water to avoid coffee oils remaining on the pot wall, then soak it in clean water and store it in the refrigerator.
① Pour an appropriate amount of boiling water into the flask (about 140CC per cup). Because the coffee grounds will absorb water, you can add a little more water.
② Secure the filter cloth at the top of the upper pot. Before using a new filter cloth for the first time, boil it once with coffee grounds.
③ After the water in the flask boils, attach the upper pot to the flask so that the boiling water rises into the upper pot.
④ Add a little cold water to lower the water temperature to around 90°C.
⑤ Add the coffee grounds and stir with a wooden spoon so that the coffee grounds fully contact the hot water.
⑥ After stirring, let it sit for 45 to 60 seconds, then turn off the heat and let the coffee flow back into the flask.
c) Cold drip brewing (ice drip)
Cold drip coffee is also called Dutch coffee. The earliest prototype of the drip pot was designed in the early 19th century by the Archbishop of Paris, Dabeilou.
This method uses cold water or ice water for extraction, letting the water drip slowly like droplets at a rate of about 40 drops per minute, bringing out the essence of the coffee drop by drop. Because the speed is extremely slow, it is suitable to choose dark-roasted, finely ground coffee. Coffee extracted at low temperature for a long time has a very low caffeine content and tastes especially refreshing. In ordinary coffee shops, cold drip coffee has a good reputation, costs three times as much as regular iced coffee, and must be ordered in advance.
① Add ice cubes first, then pour in cold boiled water. Never pour in boiling water directly.
② Use dark-roasted, finely ground coffee, put it into the cylindrical filter, and press it gently to secure it.
③ Secure the round filter paper specially designed for the cold drip coffee pot inside the cylindrical filter.
④ Connect the cylindrical filter containing the coffee grounds and filter paper properly to the drip tube so that the filter is fixed on the stand.
⑤ After securing the cylindrical filter, also secure the upper pot containing ice water to the stand.
⑥ Adjust the drip valve so that water drips at a rate of about 40 drops per minute. It will be completed in about 5 to 6 hours.
d) Espresso brewing
Italians consume 33 million cups of coffee a year, with per capita coffee consumption reaching as high as 600 cups. In the early 20th century, the world's first commercial coffee distiller was born in Milan. However, it was not until 1930 that another Italian, Gaggia, invented the spring-powered piston lever distiller. This extraction method preserves the taste and concentration of coffee to the greatest extent, and the process is extremely short, so the coffee does not have time to become bitter or spoiled.
Nowadays people can stop by a coffee shop on their way to work for a cup. In Western countries, well-dressed white-collar workers often quickly drink from small porcelain cups in small espresso bars before rushing to work.
The moka coffee pot, also called an espresso pot or Napoletana coffee pot, is a device for making coffee over a flame. It is sturdy yet lightweight and very common in Italian kitchens. This pot is divided into two parts. Water is placed in the lower container, and pressure pushes the water through the coffee grounds into the upper container, from which it is poured out through the spout. Although it is cute and clever, it inherits only a small part of the advantages of the piston pot and the dripper.
e) Filter paper brewing
Before the filter paper coffee pot appeared, people used burlap bags or metal mesh as filters when brewing coffee. This kind of method let fine coffee grounds leak into the cup and affected the taste; coffee grounds also tended to remain on the filter, which was both unhygienic and spoiled the coffee's original flavor. So everyone tried to find ways to drink more delicious coffee.
In 1908, Melitta Bentz, a housewife living in Dresden, Germany, invented the filter paper coffee pot for her coffee-loving husband. The filter paper could catch all the coffee grounds, and because it was disposable after use, there was no problem of leftover coffee grounds. From then on, people could conveniently drink clear, fragrant, and mellow coffee.
When using a filter paper coffee pot, you should choose finely ground coffee. Extremely fine grinding will clog the holes of the filter paper, causing the soaking time to be too long and the taste to worsen; medium and coarse grinding produces particles that are somewhat large, so the water flows too fast and cannot fully extract the fragrant and mellow components from the coffee. In addition, for the pouring kettle, it is best to choose one with a narrower spout.
① Fold the sealed edges at the bottom and sides of the filter paper so that the filter paper fits against the inner wall of the pot.
② Rinse the filter paper evenly with hot water so that it lies smoothly and closely against the pot wall.
③ Add the coffee grounds, distribute them evenly, and make a small indentation in the center.
④ Starting from the center, slowly pour boiling water over the coffee grounds, just enough to wet all the grounds.
⑤ Wait for the coffee grounds to expand. When the expanded part begins to sink, pour water again.
⑥ For the second pour, use a spiral path from the inside outward, pouring slowly and continuously.
f) Piston pot method (French press)
This is a quite good brewing method. Many people prefer to use it because it preserves all the flavor of the coffee grounds, which other methods find hard to do and may even give the coffee the taste of filter paper. The piston pot used in the pressure method is said to have been invented in 1933 by the Italian Caliman. In order to leave Italy during the war, he sold the design and patent to Switzerland.
The piston pot is very simple to use. First preheat the pot, add ground coffee (about 5 grams per cup), add hot water and stir, let it steep for 4 to 5 minutes, then push down the mesh stainless steel piston to separate the coffee grounds from the liquid, and finally pour the coffee liquid out of the pot.
You will find that using a piston pot makes it easy to deal with coffee residue and allows you to fully enjoy 100% of the coffee's flavor. Another advantage is that there are many size options, so when brewing breakfast coffee you do not have to use an eight-cup pot. The only shortcoming is that it cannot keep the coffee warm.
g) Belgian pot brewing
There is a brewing device called the Belgian coffee pot, said to have been commonly used in the past by European royalty and nobility. Its principle is the same as that of the siphon pot, except that the upper and lower pots are changed to sit side by side left and right, and some mechanisms are added. The right pot is made of shining red copper or stainless steel, with an exquisite faucet. Its appearance is very beautiful, and its price is also quite astonishing. Coffee brewed with a Belgian coffee pot has quite a few disadvantages. First, when using this pot, the coffee grounds must be added right at the beginning of brewing, and the pot holding the coffee grounds is right next to the alcohol lamp, so by the time the water boils, the coffee grounds have long been overheated. Second, the pot holding the coffee grounds has a lid, so the steeping coffee grounds cannot be stirred, and as a result some grounds may never touch the water from beginning to end. Third, the alcohol lamp automatically goes out after the water boils, so the steeping time cannot be controlled at all...
If it is not for collection and you just want to see how flashy it is, ordering a pot at a coffee shop to satisfy your curiosity is enough.
Moka pot
Strictly speaking, the Italian moka pot is not a device for brewing Espresso, because the steam pressure it can provide is only 1.5 to 3 atmospheres, and the brewing time is too long, which does not meet the requirements of Espresso. But it is inexpensive, easy to use, and comes in unique and varied shapes.
The moka pot has an appealing appearance and is simple and lightweight, but if you look closely at its brewing principle, it is actually not a good coffee brewer. This brewing method easily scalds the coffee grounds and extracts bitter substances.
We want to emphasize that the reason Espresso is currently the most ideal coffee brewing method in the world is that it takes the perfect balance of pressure and resistance as the core of its brewing principle and can completely extract all the aromatic substances in coffee. But the coffee grounds in the coffee puck are not tamped, so they cannot contend with the powerful pressure, and water will flow easily through the coffee grounds.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
