For more knowledge about specialty coffee, please pay attention to: Front Street Coffee (Frontsteet Coffee）
Usually when making Pour over(V60) coffee, we will steam it first, especially when filter coffee is used for brewing. So is steaming still necessary for immersion-extracted coffee?
What is steaming?
It means that when making Pour over(V60) coffee, hot water is placed lightly, softly, quickly and evenly on the coffee powder to "activate" the coffee powder, causing the coffee to release a large amount of carbon dioxide. The coffee powder will form a process of upward bulging. In other words, steaming is actually a process in which the coffee powder releases carbon dioxide.
In the immersion extraction method, the surface of the coffee is wetted, causing the coffee powder cake to rapidly expand to release carbon dioxide and form a good filter layer. Theoretically, the expansion space of the coffee powder is about 1-2 mm. The expansion forms uniform water bubble gaps between the coffee powder particles, allowing water to penetrate quickly and evenly. The function of pre-soaking is to expand the coffee particles to form uniformly sized gaps, allowing the aroma of the coffee to be fully released.
Brew experiment
Then we used smart cups to test with Front Street Ethiopian Yigacheffe red cherries and Indonesian Front Street PWN gold Mandheling.
Operation process
These two beans were tested using a steaming method and direct water injection. The details are as follows:
Grinding degree: Yirgacheffe [medium-fine grinding, No. 20 standard screen pass rate 80%]
PWN Golden Mandheling [Medium grinding, No. 20 standard sieve passing rate 70%]
Amount of coffee powder: 15g
Pink to water ratio: 1:15
Water temperature: Yirgacheffe 92℃, Golden Mandheling 88℃
Steamed version: First pour 30g of water and steam for 30 seconds, then add 225g of water and wait for 3 minutes and 30 seconds. The total extraction time is 4 minutes. Then move the smart cup to the sharing pot to strain.
Direct water injection version: Directly inject 225g of water and wait for 4 minutes, then move the smart cup to the sharing pot for filtering.
Flavor comparison
Yirgacheffe sun-dried red cherries
Steamed version: Concentration: 1.37%, thick taste, sweetness of berries, rich fermentation flavor.
Direct water injection version: concentration 1.33%, acidity of citrus and berries, balanced taste, and slight fruity aroma.
PWN Golden Mandheling
Steamed version: Concentration: 1.40%, mellow taste, rich nut, cocoa, caramel flavor, and herbal aroma.
Direct water injection version: 1.33%, thick taste, sucrose and chocolate flavor, more comfortable to drink.
In terms of flavor, the steaming step will taste richer and thicker than the direct soaking in water. Front Street believes that because a small amount of water is steamed, and then the impact of subsequent water injection will stir the powder layer, the one-time injection of water with a large flow of water will have a greater extraction efficiency, making the coffee more mellow and rich.
In fact, Front Street believes that for immersion brewing methods such as smart cups, you might as well try stirring with a stir stick so that all the powder can be extracted evenly.
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
