If you often read coffee-related knowledge in a book, you should often see videos with the four words "high sweetness level". What the video tells is that when we control the water level at a certain height by controlling the water flow, the coffee brewed will have a more prominent sweetness.
Then many friends will be more curious. Can the height of the water level affect the performance of coffee?
What effect does water level height have on coffee?
Indeed! In fact, Front Street has mentioned the impact of water level height many times in previous sharings. It will affect extraction by changing the structure of the powder bed. The higher the water level, the higher the powder bed, and the lower the water level, the lower the powder bed. The influence is mainly concentrated in two aspects. On the one hand, the uniformity of coffee powder extraction, and on the other hand, the contact time between coffee powder and water.
When the water flow we inject is small and the water level and powder bed are not raised so high, the coffee powder will be more concentrated as a whole, which will result in the coffee powder receiving a relatively more uniform extraction. At the same time, because the hot water needs to pass through more coffee powder, and the flow rate of water injection is small, relatively speaking, the extraction time will be extended and the extraction efficiency will be higher;
When the water flow we inject is relatively large (greater than the water launching speed), the water level and powder bed will be raised to a certain height. At this time, the distribution of coffee powder will be relatively scattered, because some of it will adhere to the wall of the cup. A structure like this will cause the hot water to change its main goal during extraction (converting into coffee grounds at the bottom). At the same time, because the flow channels of hot water are greatly increased, the water discharge speed becomes faster, and the extraction time is shortened.
This is the result of Front Street's combined practice. For the same coffee beans, when the water level and powder bed are raised to a relatively high position during brewing, its water flow rate will be faster, and then the acidity of the coffee will be more lively, and the flavor layering will be more distinct. When the water level is raised to a relatively low position, its water flow rate will be slower, and then the coffee will have a more balanced taste, a thicker and fuller taste, and a more prominent sweetness. This is the different impact that different high and low water levels have on extraction.
We all know that single-origin coffee beans are more suitable for hand brewing. If you are looking for sweetness, you need to buy coffee with tropical fruit, caramel, maple syrup, preserved fruit, and floral flavors, especially the low-acid and low-bitter Front Street Strawberry Candy, Front Street Xizawa, Front Street Blackberry, Front Street Mozart, and the moderately roasted Front Street 2013 Yunnan Xiaoli and Front Street Queen's Manor. By controlling the water level, you can get a delicious taste.
How to apply it in actual brewing?
Through the above introduction to the front street, I believe everyone has understood the different advantages of high and low water levels. So, how to use them reasonably is what we need to know next.
But it’s actually easy to understand. If you want the brewed coffee to have a higher level of texture, or to have more lively acidity, then you can increase the water flow to raise the water level and powder bed. The specific lifting height needs to be determined according to the amount of powder. For example, when we use a small filter cup to brew 15g of coffee powder, we can raise the height of the powder bed to three-quarters of the height of the filter cup. Taking the V60 as an example, it is half of the short rib.
When it is raised to this height, the extraction uniformity will not be as high due to the accelerated water discharging speed, and the coffee will show more lively acidity and richer layering. It should be noted that unless the amount of powder is increased, this position can be regarded as the limit of 15g powder for the small filter cup. The main reason is that the amount of powder is too small, making it difficult to build a higher powder wall. If you insist on raising the water level regardless of the existence of the pink wall, the hot water will have the opportunity to escape from the edge to form bypass water, which will affect the extraction and taste of the coffee.
If we want the brewed coffee to have a higher sweetness or a more balanced performance, we can use a small flow of water to brew the coffee to prevent the powder wall from being raised too high. Let's take the small V60 brewing 15g of coffee powder as an example. Basically, it is enough to control the powder bed to two-thirds of the filter cup.
This height will concentrate the coffee powder! As Front Street said, coffee will have a more balanced taste due to more efficient and more uniform extraction, so the sweetness will be more prominent and the taste will be more mellow (all relative terms). Yes, this is the very popular "high sweet water level"!
However, there is a difficulty in brewing with low water level. It will test the brewer's water control ability because it requires a small water flow throughout the brewing process. If your water control ability is not so proficient, you can try injecting water into more sections and control the height of the powder bed by reducing the amount of water injected in each section, just like the technique used when brewing high-density light-roasted beans~
You can now buy the above coffee beans online at the Taobao store “FrontStreet Coffee” (前街咖啡). FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou, China, and its Guangzhou retail shop sells coffee beans only. The shop carries dozens of coffee beans from different origins around the world, including carefully selected single-origin beans for V60 pour-over and espresso. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers.
The FrontStreet 2013 Yunnan coffee beans sold in the store come from the Typica variety grown at FrontStreet Coffee’s own plantation in Yunnan. The name comes from the year the brand and the plantation were founded. You can buy these beans from China’s Yunnan origin at the Guangzhou shop and at FrontStreet’s Taobao store.
FrontStreet coffee beans are freshly roasted within 5 days and deliver consistently excellent quality and great value. Orders placed before 17:00 are shipped the same day, and most areas within Guangdong Province receive them the next day.
FrontStreet Coffee Taobao store: https://qianjiecoffee.taobao.com
Or search for “前街咖啡” (FrontStreet Coffee) on Taobao
Important Notice: FrontStreet Coffee has moved to a new address: 315, Donghua East Road, Guangzhou (coffee beans only)
Tel: 020 38364473
