In recent years, coffee culture has continued to deepen, and many "early shift workers" need a cup of coffee every day to have the energy to "haul bricks." However, not everyone can go to a coffee shop anytime and properly savor a delicious pour-over coffee, so for convenience, people invented drip bag coffee.
What is drip bag coffee?
Drip bag coffee is coffee that has been ground in advance and packed into a sealable filter bag with two "ears" that can hook onto and secure it. With just hot water and a container for the coffee, it is a coffee packet that can be brewed anytime, anywhere.
Drip bag coffee, like pour-over, belongs to filter extraction, but compared with the operation of pour-over coffee, drip bag coffee is much more convenient and quick. Pour-over coffee requires at least the following equipment: a brewing kettle, a thermometer, a dripper and filter paper, a grinder, a timing scale, etc. Since drip bag coffee is ground in advance, there is no need to equip a grinder. The filter bag usually uses degradable non-woven fabric. Water extracts the soluble substances from the coffee grounds, which seep through the non-woven fabric, so there is no need to prepare filter paper and a dripper for brewing.
How do you brew drip bag coffee?
The first step is to choose a packet of Front Street Coffee Strawberry Candy drip bag coffee. This is a Geisha blend made from two major coffee origins, Costa Rica Tarrazu, famous for its honey processing, and Ethiopia. It uses a medium roast, and the black coffee brewed has rich fruity aromas, with flavors like roses, strawberry gummies, raisins, and citrus on the palate, and an almond finish after swallowing, with very rich layers.
Most drip bag coffee on the market is usually in small packets. For example, Front Street's drip bags are 10 g per packet of coffee grounds, using a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, so 150 g of hot water needs to be poured.
First, we need to prepare a container to hold the coffee, either a sharing pot or a drinking cup; and a kettle for pouring water.
First tear open the sealed packaging, take out the coffee drip bag, and tear open the non-woven bag along the dotted line above.
Pull open the two ears, open the entire drip bag, and then hang them on the edge of the cup or sharing pot.
First, for the first stage, wet all the coffee grounds and let them bloom for about 10–20 seconds. For the second stage, pour in a steady small stream until the liquid level is almost full, wait for the coffee liquid to drop, until the coffee liquid has finished flowing. Pour in the final stage of water until full, wait for all the coffee liquid to finish dripping, then gently shake to even it out, and it is ready to enjoy.
What should you pay attention to when brewing drip bag coffee?
Similar to pour-over, the taste of drip bag coffee depends on the coffee beans. Different origins and processing methods have different flavor profiles. The difference from pour-over is that the coffee grounds in drip bags have already been ground in advance, so the aroma is not as full as freshly ground coffee.
After coffee beans are ground into powder, they have more contact area with the air, and the gases and aromatic substances within them are lost more quickly, which corresponds to a shortened optimal tasting period. The brewed coffee's aroma is not as rich, and it tastes somewhat flat and thin. If left for too long, the coffee grounds have already staled, and a "woody taste" may also appear.
Therefore, when buying drip bag coffee, we need to pay attention to the freshness of the coffee. The coffee beans shipped by Front Street are all freshly roasted within 5 days, and can also be made into drip bags, with a processing fee of 20 yuan/100 g. After purchasing, everyone should also drink it as soon as possible; coffee is at its best during the optimal tasting period.
The brewing water temperature is also very important. Usually, the water temperature for pour-over is best controlled at 86–93°C. If the water temperature is too low, the extraction efficiency of the coffee is slow, and under-extraction is likely to occur. If the water temperature cannot be increased, then extend the contact time between the coffee grounds and hot water, that is, steep it a little longer.
The amount of water poured and the size of the stream can also change the strength of the drip bag coffee. Front Street recommends controlling the coffee-to-water ratio at 1:15, then adjusting up or down according to your preferred strength. In addition, if the poured stream is toofast, the extraction time of the coffee grounds is short, and the coffee taste tends to be weaker, so it is best to use a steady small stream throughout to make the extraction of the coffee bed more even.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
