Hand-brewed coffee powder pit judges extraction problem What is the reason why coffee grounds are layered? How to solve the problem?

Many people like to take pictures of freshly brewed powder pits and leave messages to Qianjie: "Is the coffee brewed like this good? "Seventy percent of the final taste of a cup of coffee is influenced by the coffee beans themselves, and 30% comes from water and multiple key parameters. Because of this, people often say: As long as the coffee beans are good, ensure their freshness, they can be brewed casually. It's easy to drink.

The truth is that there is nothing wrong with this. For experienced people, it is easy to make a satisfactory cup of coffee, but for newbies who teach themselves to coffee, if you want to quickly check success or failure and strive for excellence on this basis, you need a reference indicator. Qianjie believes that this indicator is first of all taste, and secondly, feedback on the powder pit after the brewing is over.

What is a powder pit? Make coffee by hand and see if the powder pit is useful?

A large part of the reason why hand-brewed coffee is attractive is because of its controllability. The person who picks up the kettle changes the parameters and adjusts the water flow to form a dynamic extraction with coffee powder. The powder pit we see is the state in which all the hot water is injected and penetrated.

The ideal powder pit has uniform and neat powder walls. As the shape of the filter cup takes on a conical shape, the overall look is relatively round. At the same time, the coffee particles are fluffy like a honeycomb, which can basically achieve this state, indicating that the technique has passed. Although the powder pit is not directly related to the taste, it can reveal many details when brewing, such as the thickness of the coffee powder, the size of the water flow, the speed of the circling, and the freshness of the beans...

If the coffee you make is always bad, you lose direction for a while, and the powder pit is far from the "ideal state," Qianjie suggests that you may wish to find clues from it and then investigate the reasons behind it one by one. (Here we need to reach a consensus first. Qianjie's brewing advice for novices is that the powder-to-water ratio is 1:15, the grinding degree is a No. 20 standard sieve pass rate of 70-80%(sugar thickness), and the water temperature is medium and light for baking. Use 90-93℃, use 86-89℃ for medium and deep baking, and the brewing time is 1 minute 50 seconds to 2 minutes and 10 seconds.)

① Mud pit

As the name suggests,"mud" refers to the mud-like state of the powder pit. After brewing the coffee, it looks wet with scattered foam. The reason is obvious. It is nothing more than the coffee powder is ground too fine. In such cases, the brewing time will generally exceed expectations, resulting in a bitter taste of the coffee. If you are still troubled by this problem, you can browse Qianjie's sharing of abrasive degree: Why is the biggest "pit" in hand flushing the abrasive scale?

② Haiyankeng

"Haiyan Pit" and "Mud Pit" are the two most common cases that appear when Xiaobai plays coffee for the first time. Because he has no concept of the degree of grinding, he only knows that he needs to grind the coffee beans into powder. As for whether the thickness or the thickness is fine, it all depends on the feeling.

This kind of situation is diametrically opposed to the first type of powder pit. We can see that the particles distributed under the filter cup are the size of sea salt, which far exceeds the requirement of hand-brewed grinding, and the brewing time will be shorter, so coffee is easy to extract insufficient. Lack of aroma. It is either caused by the scale of the bean grinder being too large, or the grinding equipment is not up to standard (such as using a cooking machine) and needs to be adjusted based on time.

③ Concave-convex pit

Many novices can actually make the powder bed form a deep enough pothole, but the fly in the ointment is that the powder wall they build will partially dent and partially bulge. This is because the water column is not injected vertically, causing the water to lean forward. Especially in the direction facing the hand-flushing pot, the force is greater, so it sinks, and the places that have not been hit become convex. If the coffee you make always lacks clear flavor, has a dull taste, and has uneven powder pits, you must pay attention to adjusting the water injection technique to make the hot water drop more evenly.

④ Flat bottom pit

The flat bottom pit is mainly reflected in the fact that the powder bed is flat, and there is almost no coffee powder attached to the upper part of the filter cup. This situation is usually because we are accustomed to pouring water to the edge of the filter cup, allowing all the previously piled coffee powder to be washed down. Not only is it easy for the hot water floating on it to slip away along the edge, but the center of the coffee powder accumulated at the bottom will also be under-extracted, so the taste is generally lacking.

This kind of pattern often appears when you finish making coffee. It is best to adjust the circling technique when filling the water in the later stage, so that the water flow falls into the circle, and ensure that it does not exceed the height of the previous stage, so that the hot water is always "wrapped" by coffee powder.

④ Fault crater

Faults are generally divided into two forms. The first one usually comes from more cautious friends. They are used to using small water currents to concentrate around a small circle and constantly impact the center straight. The coffee powder that has not been washed by the water currents on the outside will be adsorbed on the edge of the filter paper, forming a thick wall. This leads to an unbalanced performance of high extraction rate in the center and low extraction rates in the four directions, and the taste ends with "bitter bitterness, sour acid."

If you want to burst out the flavor of coffee and ensure stability, Qianjie recommends continuously increasing the circle range from the center to the periphery after the steaming is over. While the water level is raised, use the water column to wash the powder layer once to allow the coffee powder to be evenly extracted as much as possible. As the liquid level rises, less and less coffee powder can be attached to the filter paper. The liquid level reaches 3/4 of the filter cup. When the powder bed is about to emerge, water is poured in a circle along 1/2 of the radius of the liquid level. Be careful not to exceed the water level in the previous section.

④ Powder wall fault pit

This kind of fault is represented by the division of the powder wall. Although the coffee powder in the filter cup is built to a certain height, the connection between the powder wall and the bottom is obviously broken in two. This kind of situation is usually due to the large water flow around the outer ring. The impact becomes stronger, so it is directly poured on the powder wall. Then the broken area will "give way" to the hot water, resulting in insufficient extraction. For specific solutions, you can refer to Qianjie's article "Why did the powder bed break in two after making coffee?"

FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou China, selling freshly roasted beans from its own farm in Yunnan as well as dozens of carefully selected single-origin beans from around the world for both pour-over and espresso. The products deliver consistently excellent quality and great value, with shipping within 24 hours. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers, and the beans are now available online at the Tmall 。

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