Conforms to the scaa standard handbrewing coffee tutorial brewing technique-how to know whether the water injection is uniform?

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Methods of steaming and water injection of hand-brewed coffee data of water temperature and powder-to-water ratio of hand-made coffee

There are still some omissions in two essays about making coffee by hand. for example, what other different techniques are there? What other details should be paid attention to in the brewing process? In addition, hand-brewed coffee is classified as "drip filtration", but most people know little about the historical development of drip filtration. At the beginning of the last essay, I originally intended to write all these contents, but found that the space required was too large, so I decided to write two supplements, one about different techniques and details that should be paid attention to, and the other about the historical development of trickling filtering. this article is the first of the addenda.

Readers who have read the previous essay will remember that the demonstration I made in it is the cut-off flushing method, and it is only one of the many changes in the cut-off flushing method. As a matter of fact, there are so many ways of brewing, it can be said that there are all kinds of stranges. if all the known methods are recorded, it can be written into a booklet. But to put it bluntly, of the various methods I have seen and tested, there are only a few that can make coffee wonderful, and many strange patterns, including some so-called what-flow, often look gaudy and dazzling. but it is not in line with the basic principles of brewing coffee, it is difficult to make a good cup of coffee. If a regular coffee drinker does this, it may be because he does not understand, or because he has a special preference for flavor; if the coffee shop does so, he may be pretending to play tricks and fool amateurs as a means to attract customers, because, if you don't make the brewing look like a lot of knowledge, how can you show that he is smarter than the average person?

Fair conclusion: brewing method is only good or bad, and there is not a kind of "SOP" that everyone should follow. Any technique, as long as it is in line with the principle of brewing, can be considered a good method with existing equipment and their own preferences. To make it clear, we should first grasp the two key factors of grinding and water temperature, and at the same time set the ratio of powder to water that we like. In actual operation, we can achieve "proper presoaking", "stirring fully" and "evenly injecting water", and the coffee will be wonderful.

So, what kind of brewing technique can meet these requirements?

Although there are many changes in brewing techniques, they can be roughly divided into two categories: cut-off water flushing method and continuous water flushing method. The cut-off water flushing method refers to the completion of the following water injection after the end of the pre-immersion, while the continuous water flushing method refers to the continuous and uninterrupted water injection after the end of the pre-immersion until the original amount of water injection is used up. These two kinds of brewing methods can make excellent coffee when operated correctly.

Take the break-water flushing method, for example, the model I demonstrated in the previous essay is to pre-immerse first, then the first flush, the second flush, and then replenish water if necessary (third, fourth flush, etc.). But the water is also cut off, and there are different ways. For example, the method of hand flushing with water cut off several times is explained as follows: first, it is prepreg as in the previous article, and then it is divided into several times (at least five or six times). The main point of water injection is to inject only a small amount of coffee powder each time, just enough to infiltrate all the coffee powder. make the powder meter swell only slightly, but the waterline (the adjacent boundary between the water and the filter paper at the moment the prepreg stops) does not rise. As for the timing of water injection, it is the same as mentioned in the previous article, that is, every time the water on the surface of the filter cup nearly disappears and the center begins to show signs of subsidence. Here is a tip for reference: when the water on the filter cup sinks and nearly disappears, the light is not easy to reflect and the surface of the coffee paste becomes dimmer, which can be easily identified if the surrounding environment is bright enough. Another supplementary explanation: the technique of cutting off water for many times is characterized by prolonging the contact time of powder and water and increasing the degree of concentration, but also because of the extension of time, it is easy to lower the temperature of coffee. You must be skillful in operation in order to master the correct rhythm.

Then let's take a look at the continuous flushing method. This kind of hand punching is very simple to explain, but it is a little difficult in actual operation. The practice is as follows: first, in the same way as above, the prepreg is completed, and then it is no longer the first flush and the second flush, but to the end, but as far as possible in the process of water injection:

The water injected into the filter cup is almost the same as the water flowing from the self-filter cup, in other words, the rate of water injection should be slowed down.

Every area on the surface of coffee powder should be fully and evenly infiltrated.

Avoid fixed position bubbling, if there is this phenomenon, you can refer to the instructions in the previous article to eliminate this phenomenon.

The above points are not difficult to say, but in practice, the hands must be stable, and if the coffee to be brewed is not one or two cups, but five, six or more cups, and the hot water in the pot must be enough, so the wrist strength must also be strong enough. Otherwise, it is not easy to carry a heavy pot and operate steadily and slowly.

Whether it's a cut-off flushing method or a continuous flushing method, there are some things we should pay attention to:

In order to stabilize the water temperature of the coffee mud bed, the spout of the hand punch had better be kept on the same horizontal plane without easily changing the height; as for the distance between the water injection mouth and the powder noodle, it can be adjusted according to the water temperature. When the water temperature in the pot is higher than the predetermined temperature, slightly increasing the spout (and slowing down the rate of water injection) can slightly lower the temperature of the water entering the coffee mud bed; when the water temperature is low, the spout should be lower. As for how to handle the height? Based on experience, I would suggest that you choose in the range of about 6, 7 cm to 20 cm, because too high will cause coffee liquid to spill, and too low will easily hit the filter cup or filter paper. Of course, the operator can also sum up the appropriate water injection height from his own experience.

In order to stir fully, you can make use of the short waiting time of "pre-soaking" with the aid of a stirring stick to lightly stir the coffee mud bed so that the coffee powder does not stick in the filter cup and ensure that the subsequent water injection can evenly infiltrate each area. Usually, in the case of brewing only one or two cups of coffee, this auxiliary operation is not necessary; but if the brewing volume is large, the use of coffee powder must be more, with the aid of a stirring stick, the effect is indeed better, but it must be noted that stirring will accelerate the temperature drop of the coffee mud bed. If you have decided to stir before the operation, the water injection temperature selected by pre-soaking should be slightly higher.

How do you know if the water injection is uniform? It is not difficult to judge by visual observation: when water is injected into the filter cup, the surface of the coffee mud bed must swell slightly (if there is no swelling, it means that the coffee powder is not fresh and is not worth drinking at all). Whether the straight line distance from each point to the bottom filter hole is almost equal. If so, the water injection is ideal; if it is not (the surface of the mud bed is uneven), it means that the water injection is uneven and must be properly adjusted in the subsequent water injection process to try to smooth the powder meter.

If there is another coffee powder sieve, the coffee powder that is too fine can be put aside for the time being, and these fine powders will not be added to the filter cup until the end of pre-immersion and the beginning of water injection. the reason for this is to shorten the contact time between fine powder and water and reduce the bitterness of fine powder caused by over-extraction. In the case that the bean grinder is not high-end enough and it is easy to grind out more fine powder, this will improve the flavor to a considerable extent.

Finally, add a few more details, which are not important, but not without help:

Due to problems in production, the filter paper is sometimes not easy to stick to the inside of the filter cup, thus affecting the brewing quality. In order to improve this, all kinds of strange methods have been tried, such as increasing the number of folds, changing the direction of folding, etc., but in my opinion, these are not ideal practices. Here I would like to recommend a self-created method that has been used for many years with no record of failure: before folding the filter paper, tear the pressure on the side a little bit (the main point is to tear but not break), and then fold the filter paper properly and put it into the cup. You will be pleased to find that the filter paper put into the cup will no longer be dissatisfied.

In order to achieve the same standard for each brewing, we should try to maintain "consistency". In other words, in addition to fixing the parameters such as grinding, water temperature and ratio, all the changing factors that will affect the actual operation, such as the speed and height of water injection, the amount of water injected, the number of stirring times and forces when necessary, should be the same as possible.

If you inadvertently inject too much water, you can remove the filter cup early when the coffee in the container reaches the predetermined amount. Do not regret the coffee liquid that remains in the filter cup that has not been filtered out and must be discarded, because the soluble substances with good flavor have been extracted early and are close to the end of brewing. Basically, they are just "replenishing water", and it is not enough to give up. However, there will be excessive water injection, indicating that there is still room for improvement in your skills or concentration.

Freshly brewed coffee may be uneven for a short time in the container, especially when there is a large amount of coffee. So before pouring coffee into individual cups, it is best to shake the container slightly, or stir the coffee evenly with a stirring stick, which is fair to everyone who drinks coffee.

At this point, although I dare not say that it covers all the knowledge of hand-brewing coffee, I am convinced that anyone who is proficient in the techniques I have introduced and pays attention to the relevant details is enough to look at one side in the world of hand-brewing coffee; and when watching others do hand-brewing, it is also easy to judge the depth of the operator's kung fu, at least, so as not to be deceived by some tricks.

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