What does staged extraction mean in a pour-over tutorial?

Staged extraction splits the total pouring volume into several pours instead of one continuous pour. The three-pour style is the typical form. It produces richer layers, separates the front, middle, and back sections of the cup, and reduces the chance of water escaping down the dripper's edge. The trade-off is that flow rate and water volume both demand closer control.

Using Costa Rica Pirong Processing Plant beans as the example, the guide sets a V60 dripper, 90°C water, a 15-gram dose, a medium-fine grind at roughly 58 percent passing on a No. 20 sieve, and a 1:15 ratio. It starts with a 30-gram bloom for 30 seconds, then answers the common question of when to stop pouring and when to pour again.

Among the many schools of pour-over coffee, the one-pour, three-pour, and volcano styles each have their own characteristics, and the three-pour style is a typical representative of staged extraction. By dividing the pouring into several stages, staged extraction can present richer layers, clearly distinguish the flavors of the coffee's front, middle, and back sections, and at the same time reduce the probability of water escaping from the edge of the dripper, improving brewing stability. However, this technique also places higher demands on flow-rate control and water-volume control. This article will take Costa Rica Pirong Processing Plant beans as an example to break down the operating steps of staged extraction in detail, and answer the common confusion of when to stop and when to pour again, helping you easily master this technique.

It is said that pour-over coffee brewing methods can be summarized into eight major schools: the one-pour school, the three-pour school, the volcano school, the meteorite school, the Matsuya school, the tamped-powder pour school, the stirring school, and the drip school. These schools each have their own strengths in the coffee world, and the three-pour school is essentially staged extraction.

Staged Extraction

This is a fairly common brewing method, and it can also be seen as an extended variation of the one-pour method. Simply put, staged extraction means splitting the total pouring volume into several pours, and the most representative form is the three-pour style.

Compared with the one-pour method, coffee made by staged extraction has richer layers, can clearly distinguish the flavor differences between the front, middle, and back sections, and is also easier to control so that water does not overflow from the edge of the dripper, reducing instability during the pour-over process. The downside is that it has relatively high requirements for flow-rate mastery and water-volume regulation.

Let's first look at how staged extraction is specifically performed.

Take [Costa Rica Pirong Processing Plant] as an example

Dripper: V60

Water temperature: 90℃

Coffee dose: 15 grams

Grind size: BG 5R (58% passing rate on China standard No. 20 sieve)

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15

Brewing technique

1. First bloom with 30 grams of water for 30 seconds. When you see the surface of the coffee grounds go from wet to somewhat dry, that means the blooming is finished;

2. Pour slowly in a small stream around the center until it reaches 120 grams, then pause for a stage, letting the coffee grounds soak slightly to make the extraction more even;

3. When the water level drops by 2/3, pour quickly in a large stream until 225 grams to finish, so as to avoid extracting unpleasant flavors from the tail end.

For friends who want to try staged extraction, the most puzzling thing is probably when to stop and when to pour again, right?

We can determine when to stage based on the roast level of the coffee being brewed and the rising state of the liquid surface during extraction.

| Roast level

Lightly roasted beans do not degas very vigorously. When there is more water in the dripper, because there is not enough gas to support the coffee grounds, the grounds tend to sink to the bottom after absorbing water. At this time, the poured water easily accumulates on top and cannot stir the lower layer of coffee grounds, so at this point you can stage, wait for the water level to drop, and then pour again.

| Rising state of the liquid surface

If you pour a relatively large amount at the beginning and find that the water level rises too quickly, you can stage, lengthening the brewing time a bit, letting the water level drop before continuing to brew, which can avoid underextraction caused by too-fast water flow.

Reasons for staging

Staged extraction makes it less likely for the coffee wall at the edge of the filter paper to be broken through, and staged pouring also helps increase the stirring of the coffee grounds during brewing. The pouring stream can penetrate the coffee grounds to improve the extraction rate.

How to judge the timing for pouring again?

Sometimes you see some baristas pause only briefly during staging before continuing to pour, but in fact this is not very meaningful. Usually, when we perform staged pouring, we pour again after the water level drops by 1/2 or 2/3. The main reasons are:

1. When the water level drops by 1/2 or 2/3, there is neither too much water accumulating in the dripper, nor is the coffee bed exposed because the water level has dropped too much, which would cause uneven extraction of the upper and lower layers of coffee grounds;

2. After the water level drops, the stream can directly penetrate the accumulated water and stir the lower powder layer. If the water level is too high, the impact force of the water column is insufficient, which will cause the upper layer of the coffee bed to be overextracted while the lower layer of coffee grounds is underextracted.

Overall, staged extraction makes it relatively easy to obtain a cup of coffee with distinct flavor layers. We generally use it together with a V60 dripper, mainly because the V60 dripper has a fast flow rate, and staged extraction can to some extent reduce underextraction caused by a fast flow rate. So if you want a cup of coffee with rich layers, why not try this technique?

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.