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What does it mean to make coffee by hand and bypass water to raise the powder bed? How to remedy the weak taste of single coffee?

Published: 2026-04-06 Author:

Last Updated: 2026/04/06, In yesterday's sharing, Qianjie mentioned that as long as the four parameters of "time","proportion","grinding" and "water temperature" are used correctly, the brewed coffee will be difficult to taste bad. Then, a friend privately wrote to Qianjie backstage, saying that although he used the same parameters as those shared by Qianjie, the brewed coffee was

In yesterday's sharing, Qianjie mentioned that as long as the four parameters of "time","proportion","grinding" and "water temperature" are used correctly, the brewed coffee will be difficult to taste bad. Then, a friend wrote a private letter to Qianjie backstage, saying that although he used the same parameters as those shared by Qianjie, the coffee he brewed was almost delicious and did not taste as full and even a little watery.

A situation like this is usually caused by too much bypass water! Because there is too much bypass water during brewing, the concentration of the coffee is forced to be diluted, so even if the brewing parameters used are similar, the coffee still has a faint taste. What is bypass water? We can simply understand it as referring to water that is directly mixed with coffee liquor without participating in extraction. The reason why bypass water appears during the brewing process is mostly due to the following two reasons.

1. Coffee powder that is used to washing the edges Many friends have this habit when they first started, including Qianjie. Even during the brewing process, it is customary to wash down the coffee powder attached to the edge of the filter cup with water. I want these coffee powder to also participate in the extraction and be stirred by hot water, because usually the coffee powder on the edge is not deliberately washed, then the hot water will hardly stir them.

It's okay if you use non-bypass filter cups like Kono and Infinite. But if it is a filter cup with a lot of diversion ribs such as V60 and Origami, the hot water washed to the edge can easily "slip away" directly from the gaps made by these ribs and fall directly into the cup without participating in the extraction., affecting the concentration and extraction of coffee. So if you use a multi-diversion rib filter cup like V60 or Origami, Qianjie will recommend that you try not to inject water onto the wall of the filter cup when brewing to avoid excessive bypass water and affect the coffee. Taste and taste.

2. Forcibly raising the powder bed is a small brewing technique that can enrich the layers of coffee. Qian Jie has shared it in detail in previous articles (for details, please refer to "Portal"). The simple explanation is that by increasing the injected water flow, the coffee powder can cover the filter cup as much as possible, so that the extraction rate between the coffee powders will differ due to the different amount of hot water contacted during brewing, and the final coffee can get a rich sense of hierarchy.

However, this technique does not apply to all brewing objects. For example, some coffee beans that are lightly roasted and have a higher density are not suitable. Why? Because they can't be lifted! The reason why most coffee grounds rise as the water level rises is because they are low in density and can float, so they rise when the water level rises. But those with higher density coffee grounds cannot do because they are relatively heavy, so even if the water level rises, they will still accumulate at the bottom of the filter bowl.

If we still choose to lift the powder bed when brewing this coffee powder, then the only probability of rising is the water level. Then if you happen to use a filter cup with more guide ribs, such as the V60, there will be a lot of hot water overflowing the coffee powder "escapes" from the edge of the filter cup where there is no coffee powder attached, forming bypass water that falls into the cup and affects the concentration and extraction of the coffee. So when making high-density coffee powder, we try not to inject too much hot water in one go to avoid too much bypass water.

Many friends may be worried that a small amount of injection will prolong the extraction time and lead to the risk of over-extraction in the coffee. But in fact, excessive overdevelopment is not so easy to occur. Because beans are highly dense and are not so easy to extract, we can actually be more bold when brewing high-density coffee beans! Take Qianjie as an example. When preparing high-density coffee beans on Qianjie, it usually takes a longer extraction time and more sections of water injection than usual. For example, Qianjie Yejia Shefei·Guo Ding in the Qianjie bean list, it is the high-density coffee bean that is often cited by Qianjie as an example.

It was mentioned in the content shared by Qianjie yesterday that even though the time to cook it lasted for 2 and a half minutes, there was no such thing as a rush. Not only is the taste light and solid, but the flavor is also quite pleasant. It has the fresh flavors of jasmine, lemon and green tea. It is a very resistant coffee bean that is very suitable for hand-brewed and cold-brewed coffee. To sum up, you can know that as long as we try not to let the filtered water slip away from the edge of the filter cup without coffee powder during the brewing process, we can reduce bypass water and reduce the impact of bypass water on coffee, and then rush out a cup of delicious coffee ~

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