Many people strictly follow the "scientific instant noodle method" when preparing instant noodles, using a stopwatch to soak them in 100°C boiling water for 3 minutes, all for the purpose of achieving the best possible texture.Similarly, when brewing coffee, we also time it carefully, with the same goal — toconsistentlybrew a delicious cup of coffee. Because for coffee, time is also an important parameter that affects taste. So friends often ask Front Street Coffee: "Is there an optimal brewing time for pour-over coffee?"To find the answer to this question, we first need to understand what time's influence on coffee actually is.Front Street Coffee has often shared that coffee extraction time refers to the contact time between grounds and water. When other parameters remain unchanged, the length of extraction time determines the amount of soluble substances dissolved from the coffee. The longer the extraction time, the more substances are dissolved; the shorter the extraction time, the fewer substances are dissolved. But if we want to brew a delicious cup of coffee, the substances dissolved from the coffee must be neither too few nor too many.Because when fewer flavor substances are dissolved, the coffee tends to taste bland and thin — a case of under-extraction; when too many substances are dissolved, the coffee tends to show negative signs of over-extraction such as bitterness, muddiness, and astringency. So if we want to brew a cup of coffee with both a pleasing taste and mouthfeel, we need to control the extraction.But as Front Street Coffee shared in"Is It Really Necessary to Time Your Coffee Brew?"in that article: besides time, other parameters such as water temperature, grind size, water volume, and flow rate also affect extraction. So time is not the only factor determining coffee's taste — as long as other parameters are properly adjusted, no matter how long or short your brewing time is, you can actually brew a delicious cup of coffee.In other words, as long as your brewing time pairs well with other parameters, that time is the "optimal time" for brewing a delicious cup of coffee.Then I believe friends will easily notice that the time appearing most frequently in Front Street Coffee articles is "2 minutes." This is because the other parameters Front Street Coffee uses happen to form, together with 2 minutes, an extraction formula that brews most coffees well, so it is the time that appears most often in Front Street Coffee articles. We can also understand it as the "optimal extraction time" in this formula.Taking Front Street Coffee as an example, when brewing the light-roast Front Street Ethiopia · Huakui from the bean list, the water temperature used is 92°C, the grind size is 80% passing through a No. 20 sieve, the coffee-to-water ratio is 1:15, and the brewing method isthree-stage pouring. Under such a formula, pairing with a 2-minute extraction time can brew a pot of coffee with quite good concentration and taste, while the flavor performance is also very prominent, with berry, citrus, floral notes, and an oolong tea finish.
But if the time is less than 2 minutes, say 1 minute 30 seconds, then the brewed coffee's concentration will not be as high, the taste not as balanced, not as full. The coffee tastes thin and weak, and the flavor is not very rich either; and if the time is far more than 2 minutes, for example 2 minutes 40 seconds, then the brewed coffee may carry obvious bitterness and muddiness. So overall, "2 minutes" is the optimal time when brewing Front Street Ethiopia · Huakui with this set of parameters(there can be a certain margin of error, but try not to make it too large, such as exceeding 20 seconds).So if everyone, like Front Street Coffee, uses a traditional pouring method such as the three-stage pour when brewing light-roast coffee, and the parameters are consistent with Front Street Coffee's, then 2 minutes will be a fairly good choice.But Front Street Coffee does not recommend stubbornly sticking to this set of parameters, because the condition of coffee beans varies, and the same parameters cannot brew all coffees well. Just as when brewing dark-roast coffee beans we need to lower the water temperature to prevent over-extraction, for some coffees, such parameters cannot fully dissolve the flavor substances we want — for example, some higher-density coffee beans. In that case, we need to adjust the parameters based on the coffee's taste.For example, when Front Street Coffee brews Front StreetYirgacheffe · Gudingdingfrom the bean list, the Gudingding brewed with this set of parameters, although tasty, still has slightly weaker overall expressiveness(meaning it could taste even better). The reason is that its roast is lighter and its density higher, so the flavor substances are not as easy to dissolve out as Huakui's, making the brewed coffee somewhat less impressive.So if we want to brew a Gudingding with a fuller taste and richer flavor, we need to improve extraction efficiency to dissolve more flavor substances. At this point, we have many options to choose from, such as raising the water temperature, adjusting to a finer grind, increasing agitation, or extending the extraction time. The specific choice depends on your preference.For example, if you fix the time at 2 minutes, then what you need to regulate are the other parameters, such as water temperature and grind size. And if you do not plan to fix the time, you can choose to change the dripper or use segmented extraction to extend the extraction time and increase the extraction rate. Either way, you can improve extraction efficiency during brewing, increase the dissolved flavor substances, and make the coffee perform more impressively.In other words, there are many solutions, and we do not need to stubbornly stick to any single parameter — whether time or others. When the brewed coffee's taste does not meet your expectations, we need to adjust promptly based on the taste — that is how we can better brew a delicious pot of coffee. The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
