If you want a novice with no water filling experience to make a good cup of coffee, Front Street believes that most coffee experts will not recommend using the "Taiwan Balm" V60 in the filter cup industry, but a cake filter cup. Because compared to the conical filter cup, the cake filter cup does not require too much water filling skills. At the same time, it can also make the sweetness of coffee more easily.
So today, Front Street will share with you what characteristics the cake filter cup has, why it does not require high water filling, and why, it can make the sweetness of coffee easier!
What is a cake strainer?
Perhaps when most of my friends heard about the cake strainer for the first time, they would imagine the connection between the shape or design of the strainer and the cake. But as we can see from the picture below, without exception, these filter cups called cake strainers are difficult to associate with cakes.
There is no doubt that they have nothing to do with cakes. The reason why they are called cake strainers is mainly because the filter paper they use is shaped like the cake paper of cupcakes, so they are called cake strainers.
But it is not difficult to find that these filter cups have a common feature: their bottom is not a pointed bottom type like the cone-shaped or fan-shaped filter cups, but a flat bottom (except for the origami filter cups). Because the bottom is flat, filter paper is different from ordinary ones. Because of this, they also have a special nickname - flat-bottomed filter cups.
The world's first filter cup was the flat-bottomed version, invented by Mrs. Melita. But it was not promoted at the time. It was not until 2010 that the well-known Japanese coffee equipment manufacturer Kalita released a filter cup called Kalita Wave (translated as wave), which made the flat-bottomed filter cup known to the world.
In recent years, many contestants have carried flat-bottomed filter cups to win championships in competitions. So we can know that the flat-bottomed filter cup is not inferior to the pointed-bottomed filter cup, and it also has its own advantages.
What are the advantages of cake/flat strainers?
The advantage of the cake filter cup mainly comes from its flat bottom. As mentioned before, whether it is a conical filter cup or a fan-shaped filter cup, their bottom is a sharp bottom. Therefore, when the coffee powder is poured in, the powder bed structure mainly presents an inverted cone shape.
The inverted cone-shaped powder bed structure means that the cross-sectional area of each layer of the powder bed is different, from large to small from top to bottom, so this results in the thickness of the powder bed being relatively thicker. The location and intensity of our water injection will have a significant impact on extraction. Because the thickness of the powder bed passed by the water injected at different locations is different, this results in differences in the extraction efficiency of the coffee powder due to differences in liquid concentration and penetration.
As shown in the picture, the cake filter cup has a flat bottom and a large area, so the powder bed structure after the coffee powder is poured will be an inverted cone. Even the powder bed structure of some filter cups with smaller cup wall inclination will be closer to a cylinder.
Whether it is a table or a cylinder, the area of each cross-section of the powder bed is very close, which means that the thickness of the powder bed will be reduced. Even if the location of the water injection is not so standardized and uniform, and different water flows are used, the extraction rate of the coffee powder in each place will be very close. And this means that when we use a flat-bottomed filter cup to fill water, we do not need to deliberately change the range and position of water filling like a pointed-bottomed filter cup, such as making a large circle and a small circle.
At the same time, because most flat-bottomed filter cups have fewer and smaller openings, the penetration rate of liquid is slower. This can add a certain steeping function to the extraction, so that all coffee powders can be extracted roughly the same. Although this method cannot achieve the same excellent layering as the conical filter cup, the coffee brewed will taste more balanced and the sweetness will be higher.
When using a cake filter cup, it is best to buy coffee beans from Front Street Strawberry Candy, Front Street Hijab, and Front Street Queen's Manor with a balanced taste. They are medium-roasted and have no obvious bitterness or acidity. Extraction with a flat-bottomed filter cup can highlight the rounded body.
So this is one of the reasons why the cake strainer is recommended as a strainer for beginners! But, again, there is no good or bad filter cup. They all have their own advantages. We can also obtain similar extraction results from different filter cups by changing parameters and brewing methods~
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
