Several elements that should be paid attention to in steaming

Steaming is a very important link in the process of making hand-brewed coffee. Good steaming can fully infiltrate the coffee powder and activate the coffee activity, thus making the coffee extraction process more smooth. So how to do a good steaming?

Steaming literally means to give the ground coffee powder a "lid" to "cover" it and let it "react" in it to facilitate later production. This "lid" is water, and the so-called "reaction" is to activate the activity of coffee powder. This is the same as making noodles before making steamed bread, the right ratio of water to noodles, the right temperature, the right time can fully ferment the noodles, and the steamed bread will be delicious. This step of steaming also needs to pay attention to several elements in order to fully activate the activity of coffee powder to make the coffee have a good taste.

One: the appropriate water temperature.

Coffee needs to be made with hot water at the right temperature, and so is steaming. Too high water temperature (above 95 degrees) will destroy part of the flavor characteristics of coffee in the process of coffee powder infiltration, resulting in turbid taste of extracted coffee, while too low water temperature (below 80 degrees) will lead to insufficient steaming and insufficient activation of coffee, resulting in monotonous and unrich taste of extracted coffee. Generally speaking, it is more appropriate to keep the water temperature of extracted coffee at 83 mi 93 degrees, and the water temperature of steaming should also be in such a range.

Two: the right amount of water.

Steaming is just a preparation step before you really start watering and extracting, just to infiltrate the coffee powder and activate its flavor properties. So the right amount of water is very important, because strictly speaking, this is not an extraction. If there is too much water, see the coffee liquid flowing out, so that the extraction process has already begun, and the steaming process becomes short and insufficient. What happens if there is too little water? Although there is no drop of coffee liquid, we can see that the dry powder still exists. Even if there is no dry powder on the surface, there must be insufficient steaming in the bottom and middle part of the powder layer. This can not fully stimulate the taste characteristics of coffee. The right amount of water should not only ensure that the coffee powder is fully infiltrated, but also be careful not to cause the coffee to be extracted excessively. In general, it is better to drop a few drops of coffee liquid or a thin layer at the bottom of the coffee container.

Three: the right time.

The key role of steaming is to stimulate the activity of coffee powder, with the right water temperature, the right amount of water is still not enough, time control is also important. Steaming for too long will lead to coffee powder soaking for too long, coffee powder taste characteristics are fully stimulated, bad taste characteristics also become active, and good flavor components begin to disappear after full infiltration. If the steaming time is not enough, it will obviously cause insufficient steaming, and the taste characteristics that have not been fully awakened will soon begin to be extracted, and the taste can not be fully expressed. Steaming time for 25 seconds is appropriate, or according to the naked eye to judge the degree of expansion of coffee powder, about to expand to the maximum time to start extraction, do not wait until the expansion to the maximum before starting, then the internal coffee powder may have been steaming too much.

Four: the correct way of steaming.

Steaming, of course, can only be called steaming if the coffee powder is suffocated. This puts forward the requirement for the way of steaming water injection. Coffee production will generally draw a circle from the center to the outside to extract, steaming should also be used in this way. However, it should be noted that when steaming, the water should be evenly distributed on the coffee powder and should not be poured directly on the filter paper. What is the effect of pouring it directly on the filter paper? When the filter paper is attached to the filter, the heat has nowhere to go, it will break through the coffee powder layer and form a hole, the cold air will enter, and the steaming process will be destroyed, so the good taste of the coffee will not be extracted so easily.

The above are just a few simple elements that should be paid attention to. The actual production of coffee should also be adjusted or selected according to the actual situation. For example, fresh coffee beans are ground into powder. Coffee powder can be fully activated without too high water temperature, because the activity of beans is very high, and beans stored for a long time after baking should be properly steamed with higher water temperature. only in this way can the flavor characteristics of beans which are not very active be activated. In short, steaming is a very important link, serious treatment will make the whole coffee making process more smooth and successful.

Source: Qingdao Xiumen Coffee blog