The difference between the length of steaming time for hand-brewed coffee! How much water does a drip coffee require to steam? Tips for steaming coffee! How long does it take to steam hand-brewed coffee?

As the saying goes: "Steaming is good, but you don't have to worry about boiling." For making hand-brewed coffee, steaming is a very important preparatory step.

The so-called steaming is a step in which we use a small amount of hot water to soak the coffee powder in advance and wait for a certain period of time before formally extracting the flavor substances of coffee. In this way, the carbon dioxide in the coffee that affects the extraction will be discharged at this stage, and the hot water we inject subsequently can better extract the flavor substances in the coffee and make the coffee taste more full.

However, it is very technical to do a good job in steaming. Because the amount of water used during steaming is relatively small (usually twice the amount of powder), without certain water injection foundation or experience, it will be difficult for the hot water to wet all the coffee powder, which will cause some coffee powder to fail to be used during steaming, and the final coffee taste will not be as rich.

Then if we don't want this to happen, in addition to increasing the amount of water injected, we can also choose a more scientific way to inject water! As Qianjie often shares, scientific water injection can allow hot water to infiltrate coffee powder more comprehensively, allowing more coffee powder to be fully exhausted during the steaming stage, thereby achieving "perfect steaming." Then the question arises: What should we do specifically?

How to achieve perfect steaming? In general, uneven steaming mainly occurs in conical filter cups. Qian Jie has shared in previous articles that because the conical filter cup has an inverted triangle structure, the powder bed accumulated in the conical filter cup with the same amount of powder will be thicker than the filter cups of other shapes, so the downward flow path of hot water will be longer, making it easier to find a channel during the infiltration process and deviate from the target route, and cannot infiltrate the coffee powder at the bottom. Therefore, if we want to get a small amount of hot water to soak as much as possible into the coffee powder in the filter cup, then try the following two water injection methods:

1. Concentrate hot water in the center and inject it: The first method is the more commonly used water injection method in Qianjie, concentrate hot water in the center and inject it! Because the powder bed in the center of the conical filter cup is the thickest, as long as we concentrate the hot water in the center and inject it, we can try to concentrate the hot water in the center and penetrate, so as to reduce the situation where coffee powder fails to exhaust due to the appearance of bypass water. Exhaust gas is therefore more uniform. The specific method is very simple. For example, the most commonly used method on Qianjie is to circle from the center out. However, when injecting water in a circle around the center, the stay time will be longer and more water will be used. The specific practice is shown in the following figure:

Of course! We can also do the opposite and inject water in a circle from the outside to the inside. Then, again, the time can be longer when injecting water around the center. However, this method has a disadvantage, which is that it is not suitable for fresh coffee beans with a very rich carbon dioxide content. Because this will affect the exhaust effect of the coffee powder in the center, making it difficult to exhaust the coffee powder in the center.

2. Reduce the thickness of the central powder bed: Another method is what Qianjie has just shared not long ago, that is, dig a small hole in the center of the powder bed, then concentrate hot water into the hole and then circle it outward. As shown in the following figure:

In this way, we can reduce the thickness of the powder bed, and hot water can more easily come into contact with the coffee powder at the bottom to complete the infiltration. Qianjie recommends this method for novice friends, because this method requires less water control when injecting water compared with the previous method. Even newbies who have just started can easily steam perfectly.

The length of steaming time In addition to the method of water injection, we can also pay attention to the steaming time. "Double the amount of water to powder, wait for 30 seconds" is a very classic steaming formula. For beginners, using the parameters in this formula is undoubtedly the most conservative method when you first get started.

But we all know that the content of gases in coffee that hinder extraction will vary depending on the freshness and roasting degree. Sometimes these gases may not be fully exhausted with this time alone, and the extraction efficiency will be reduced. Then at times like this, we can appropriately adjust the extraction time.

How to adjust? As Qianjie has always mentioned, we need to first observe the state of the powder bed when it is steamed. If the powder bed still looks very "moist" and is still getting bigger after steaming for 30 seconds, it means that the bean is relatively fresh and rich in carbon dioxide. For example, the picture below shows the appearance of Qianjie Golden Mantelin, which had just been baked for a few days in Qianjie's bean list, after steaming for 30 seconds. You can see that it is not only very moist, but also bubbles are constantly emerging.

This is because carbon dioxide will form bubbles when it emerges from beans, and the presence of these bubbles will reduce the penetration rate of hot water. Therefore, when the carbon dioxide content is relatively rich, the penetration rate of hot water will be slower due to the continuous emission of gas. Even after the set 30 seconds passed, the state of the powder bed looked the same as when the water was first filled. And this powder bed will gradually increase due to the continuous release of carbon dioxide. At times like this, we can appropriately extend the steaming time for 5 to 10 seconds, so that the coffee powder can expel more carbon dioxide before extracting it, so that the taste of the coffee can be fuller.

If the powder bed dries up quickly after we finish injecting the steaming hot water, and the bulging bags quickly collapse (as shown below), it means that there is not much carbon dioxide in the coffee powder.

In this case, we can appropriately reduce the steaming time and end the steaming and enter the extraction 5 to 10 seconds earlier. After all, the carbon dioxide that hinders extraction is gone, so there is no need to steam. However, if you are not very experienced and you are not very good at judging, Qianjie still recommends steaming until 30 seconds before starting extraction is the most safe.

So the above are two things we need to pay attention to when steaming: steaming time and how to inject water. As long as hot water can be allowed to uniformly moisten the coffee powder and allow the coffee powder to have sufficient exhaust time, then we can minimize the obstacle (carbon dioxide) during extraction, better wash out the flavor substances in the coffee, and make the taste more full ~

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