Pourover Lesson for Advanced Brewers
Summary
TLDRIn this video, Lance Hedric explores variables to optimize pour-over coffee at home. He revisits his 'ultimate recipe' for pour overs, emphasizing the importance of adjusting grind size and bloom time for a better cup. Lance conducts a bloom experiment with two coffee types, noting increased extraction with extended bloom times. He discusses the impact of CO2 on extraction, the role of bloom in off-gassing, and the effects of different pour techniques. Lance also addresses brewing considerations for decaf coffee and provides practical advice for achieving a balanced and delicious cup.
Takeaways
- π Lance Hedric discusses variables for dialing in pour-over coffee at home, emphasizing the importance of adjusting grind size and bloom time for optimal extraction.
- β The 'ultimate recipe' mentioned allows for flexibility with grind size and enables minor tweaks to improve the coffee experience, unlike other recipes that are grind-specific.
- π Lance highlights the impact of blooming on extraction, noting that different coffees, roasts, and ages will react differently to bloom times.
- π He conducted an experiment with two coffees, testing three bloom times (30 seconds, 1 minute, and 2 minutes) to observe changes in extraction and taste.
- π The experiment showed that extraction increased with longer bloom times, but the taste profile varied; the washed Peru coffee preferred a 30-second bloom, while the Kenya coffee tasted best with a 2-minute bloom.
- π§ Lance explains that blooming is crucial for off-gassing coffee grounds, allowing for efficient extraction by releasing CO2 and not just degassing.
- π« He critiques no-bloom pour-over methods, suggesting they can lead to under-extraction and less effective filtration due to the coffee grounds not fully participating in the process.
- π¦ The video also touches on the importance of pour dynamics, discussing laminar and turbulent pours, and how they affect agitation and extraction.
- π‘οΈ Lance suggests adjusting bloom time and pour technique based on the coffee's characteristics, such as decaf coffees requiring a different approach due to less CO2 production.
- π He addresses the issue of long draw downs, which can lead to channeling and inconsistent extraction, recommending strategies to minimize these effects.
- π Lastly, Lance encourages viewers to experiment with bloom times and pour techniques at home, providing data and sensory scores in the video description for further exploration.
Q & A
What is the main focus of Lance Hedric's discussion in the video?
-The main focus of Lance Hedric's discussion is on variables that can help improve the brewing of pour-over coffee at home, with a particular emphasis on the impact of blooming on extraction and the subsequent effects on taste.
What does Lance refer to as his 'ultimate recipe' for pour overs?
-Lance's 'ultimate recipe' for pour overs is a versatile method that allows for the use of any grind size and involves manipulating the pour-over process and timing to optimize the coffee's flavor.
Why might other pour-over recipes not work as well for some people?
-Other pour-over recipes might not work as well because they often require a specific grind size. If a person's grinder produces more or less fines than the recipe's grinder, it can result in a different bulk density and affect the extraction, leading to a different cup of coffee.
What is the significance of blooming in coffee brewing as discussed by Lance?
-Blooming is significant in coffee brewing because it allows the release of CO2 from the coffee grounds, which facilitates efficient extraction. The amount of bloom time can affect the extraction yield and the taste profile of the coffee.
How did Lance conduct his experiment on the effects of blooming times?
-Lance conducted his experiment by brewing two types of coffeeβwashed Peru and Nordic style Kenyaβat three different bloom times: 30 seconds, 1 minute, and 2 minutes. He measured extraction, brewing time, and conducted a blind triangulation to assess body, sweetness, balance, and acidity.
What was the surprising result Lance found when comparing bloom times with the Kenya coffee?
-The surprising result was that the 2-minute bloom time with the Kenya coffee was considered the best in terms of taste, despite having the highest extraction. This was unexpected because typically a lower extraction would be associated with higher perceived acidity.
Why is it important to avoid 'high and dry' grounds during the blooming phase?
-Avoiding 'high and dry' grounds is important because these grounds are not properly degassed and can lead to uneven extraction. When the grounds are high and dry, they can cling to the sides of the brewer and not participate effectively in the filtration process, leading to an inconsistent and potentially lower quality cup of coffee.
What advice does Lance give regarding the number of pours and bloom time?
-Lance advises to lessen the number of pours and focus on the bloom time and how the grounds are wet at the beginning. This is because each pour can disturb the bed, potentially leading to clogging and longer draw downs, which can affect the taste of the coffee.
How does the age of the coffee beans affect the brewing process according to Lance?
-The age of the coffee beans affects the brewing process because as coffee ages, it loses CO2, which is important for extraction. Older beans require a finer grind to compensate for the reduced CO2, ensuring proper extraction and taste.
What are the different pour patterns that Lance mentions and what is their impact on brewing?
-Lance mentions three pour patterns: laminar pour, turbulent pour, and osmotic flow pour. The laminar pour is less effective at agitating the full bed, the turbulent pour introduces a lot of agitation and is effective for breaking down bubbles, and the osmotic flow pour has very shallow agitation, which is suitable for darker roasts to avoid over-extraction.
Outlines
π Optimizing Pour-Over Coffee with Variables
Lance Hedric discusses the importance of variables in dialing in the perfect pour-over coffee at home. He references his 'ultimate recipe' which is flexible with grind size and allows for adjustments in coffee and water ratios to achieve the best cup. Lance emphasizes the variability in grinders and how they affect the extraction process. He introduces a bloom experiment with two different coffees, examining the impact of bloom time on extraction and taste. The results show that increased bloom time correlates with higher extraction rates, but the optimal taste varies with the coffee's characteristics.
π Understanding the Science Behind the Bloom
This section delves into the science of blooming in coffee brewing. Lance explains that blooming is crucial for off-gassing the coffee grounds, allowing for efficient extraction. He uses visuals to describe how CO2 bubbles affect the coffee bed during blooming. Lance also addresses the importance of saturation and de-gassing, noting that different particle sizes require varying bloom times. He critiques no-bloom pour-over methods and osmotic brewing, advocating for a proper bloom to ensure even extraction and a cleaner cup.
π§ Pouring Techniques and Their Impact on Extraction
Lance explores different pouring techniques and their effects on coffee extraction. He outlines three methods: laminar pour, turbulent pour, and osmotic flow pour, each with unique agitation properties. The laminar pour is gentle and less disruptive, while the turbulent pour introduces significant agitation for better extraction. The osmotic flow pour is the least effective for agitation. Lance also discusses the importance of adjusting pour techniques based on the coffee's characteristics, such as decaf coffees which require different handling due to their lower CO2 production.
π Practical Brewing Tips and Conclusion
In the final paragraph, Lance offers practical advice for brewing, including the importance of bloom time, pour speed, and grind size. He provides specific brewing parameters for decaf coffee and discusses the challenges of long draw downs. Lance encourages viewers to experiment with different bloom times and pouring techniques to find what works best for their coffee. He concludes by inviting viewers to engage with the content, check out additional resources, and support his Patreon for more in-depth brewing content.
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Blooming
π‘Extraction
π‘Grind size
π‘Fines
π‘Pourover
π‘CO2 off-gassing
π‘Decaf coffee
π‘Stratified extraction
π‘Osmotic Brewing
π‘Brewing efficiency
Highlights
Introduction to the 'ultimate recipe' for pour overs that can be adjusted for different grind sizes and extractions.
The importance of understanding how your coffee grinder's output affects the coffee's bulk and extraction.
The impact of blooming on coffee extraction and how it can vary with different coffee types.
Experiments conducted with washed Peru and Nordic style Kenya coffees at different bloom times.
Findings that increased bloom time leads to higher extraction rates.
The washed Peru coffee showing significant differences in taste with varying bloom times.
Contrary results with the Kenya coffee, where a longer bloom time yielded a better taste profile.
The role of CO2 off-gassing during blooming and its effect on extraction efficiency.
Discussion on the stratification of coffee grounds during blooming and its implications for extraction.
The 'S Bloom' technique using colder water to maintain volatile organic compounds during brewing.
Practical advice on adjusting bloom time and pour technique for different coffee types and roasts.
The effect of pour speed and water flow on agitation and extraction in pour overs.
Recommendations for brewing decaf coffee with a focus on bloom time and pour technique.
Different pour techniques: laminar pour, turbulent pour, and osmotic flow pour, and their effects on extraction.
The importance of minimizing pourζ¬‘ζ° to reduce clogging and maintain consistent extraction.
Final thoughts on the significance of blooming, pour techniques, and their impact on the final coffee taste.
Transcripts
what's up everyone Lance hedric here and
today we're going to talk about some
variables to help you better dial in
your pors at
home now about a year ago I put out a
recipe that I referred to as my ultimate
recipe for por overs and it was kind of
a catch all that would allow you to use
whatever grind size and you can
manipulate the pores and the timing in
order to optimize your cup that recipe
is the only one still that I have found
where you can kind of replicate it
roughly and get a good experience now
the reason I say that is because all
these other recipes that you might see
are requiring a certain grind size
you're trying to match that grind size
of the recommended recipe but your
grinder May produce a lot more fines or
a lot less fines and so the bulk of your
dose may be quite a bit different it's
going to cause different draw downs and
overall different cup in the end so you
may not enjoy it even if it's a great
recipe for that person's
grinder I still use my ultimate recipe
pretty much every day and make minor
tweaks to it but I want to give you some
insight into how I make those tweaks
based off of a little bit more
data I was looking at the effects of
blooming on our extraction that's one of
the main things I tell people to play
with in that ultimate recipe my friends
over at Aram made this video so that I
don't have to so go check that out to
kind of understand pouring patterns and
the depths and whatnot we'll go over a
couple of them here but I mainly want to
focus on this bloomy
experiment I took a medium to lightly
roasted washproof ran coffee and I also
took a Nordic style lightly roasted
Kenya coffee I brewed them both three
different times at three different Bloom
times 30 second Bloom time a minute
Bloom time and a 2-minute bloom time
added no extra agitation I did two pores
50 g Bloom then a 200 g pore after the
200 g pore I didn't swirl or anything I
didn't want to add any agitation that is
difficult to
reproduce measured the extraction I
measured the time and then I also put it
to a blind triangulation I looked at
body sweetness balance bitterness and
acidity as we increase the bloom time
the extraction also increased now to the
washed Peru the differences were much
bigger than in the washed Kenya I could
speculate as to why that is but in
reality I think a lot of it just has to
do with different coffees different
densities different beans different
roasting profiles different ages off of
roast are all going to factor into how
it's affected over that
time maybe if there's more gas the
longer time will have a much bigger
effect on the extraction yield and on
The Taste profile than something with a
lot of lot less gas as I've preached
more extraction does not mean better
coffee I always like to kind of shoot
for more efficient extraction especially
an espresso because I find it usually
correlates with better taste we could do
a lower number but Implement more
efficient structures in order to improve
the coffee it tends to be that in po
overs we can have a lot more of a
stratified extraction while still
getting an incredibly interesting
complex delicious cup of coffee when I
was doing the Peruvian which was by
myself and I was blindly triangulating
it it was consistently the 30second
bloom that tasted the best and then the
one minute Bloom and then by far the
worst was the two-minute Bloom even
though the extraction was much higher
quite a bit higher it still just was not
tasting very good at all but when I went
to the Kenya and this is where I had Ugo
tasting with me we were pretty
calibrated on this and we consistently
thought that the two-minute Bloom was
the best it was very good it had the
most acidity every tasting for the most
part it had really nice balance really
nice sweetness now that was shocking to
me because I would have assumed that
even if a two-minute Bloom tasted better
the acidity should be the highest in the
shortest Bloom time because you would
expect a lower extraction to have a
higher perceived
acidity with 30 seconds on either one of
these coffees that wasn't nearly enough
time to off gas the coffee properly so
whenever I poured up a bulk of those
grounds were still floating at the top
of the surface and they clung to the
wall because they were kind of sticky
they still had stuff to give but they
stuck there and we call that high and
dry so as you look at these two-minute
blooms there was almost no high-end dry
because we gave it sufficient amount of
time to De gas so right when we poured
our second poure the ground sunk to the
bottom and began to do that filtration
it's so good
[Music]
at there's a lot to do with blooming
that we're not really taking into
account there are some Brews where
people are recommending to not bloom at
all which I have my issues with and
we'll talk about that here in a second
but in reality the bloom is doing a lot
of things it is off gassing not
degassing it's off gassing which is more
spontaneous mechanism and it is getting
the CO2 out of those grounds so that
diffusion the mechanism of extraction
can begin to occur efficiently the more
gas that resides in the coffee the more
difficult it is for extraction to
begin we actually have an image of CO2
Bubbles getting kind of Trapped in that
crust at the top this is during the
blooming you see the CO2 is trying to
get out but because there's kind of a
swelling of the bed a lot of it gets
trapped between that more tightly packed
crust that's being formed now that crust
in the swelling of the bed is not from
the particle swelling up in fact Dr s SM
has a post about this which I'll link
below what's happening is the bed is
increasing due to those CO2 bubbles
releasing out and they're getting caught
kind of into interstitial water there's
also the water that is spreading out the
particles so it's looking like it is a
bigger mass of coffee when in reality
the particles are the same size they're
just expanding due to that CO2 release
excavation let's now the idea of the
bloom is to fully saturate all those
grounds to fully Degas them prior to
moving on based off of your particle
size it might take a little longer for
the water to fully enter the grounds in
order to degas obviously with smaller
particles they Degas almost immediately
or they've already been degased after
you grind it with little tiny fines or
microparticles if you look at that image
that we have immediately you see that
there are fine particles lining at the
bottom of the Brewer as you're pouring
the fines that want to come out
immediately and sink to the bottom
you're mostly agitating those and
filling up your filter with that and you
could have a clogged Brew the more water
you use the more separate those fines
can get so if you do a massive Bloom the
smaller particles will slowly fall down
and you'll see almost a stratification
on the very bottom we have really fine
sediment kind of powder-like fins then
you see small particles above that then
medium particles and the ones that are
still floating are kind of the boulders
I just kind of stir the bloom and
immediately all the grounds fall down
because I physically allowed the release
of the CO2 this is similar in cupping
when you have the crust being formed
during that 4 minutes where you're
waiting right when you kind of Stir It
In order to get that Aroma to release
the the grounds settle to the
bottom so whenever you have a no Bloom
pourover unless you're adding a ton of
agitation and prolonging the contact
time of the coffee with a lot of
stirring you're going to have that issue
where the water is not going to be able
to really get into it it's also an issue
I have with osmotic Brewing which may be
great for dark roasted coffees because
you may not want to extract that very
much you are intentionally Brewing
really slowly with droplets to not
really break that crust which again is
probably helping with the taste of the
coffee so you don't get a lot of the
roasty flavors and you don't overe
extract that coffee to the point where
it tastes really
badly another big thing about the
grounds being high up and if you're not
blooming is that they are not
participating in the efficacy of the bed
filtration one of the number one things
that we can rely on in pourover and in
espresso is the efficacy of that bed of
coffee to filter out microfins and to
make a cleaner cup the more pores that
you do the more you disturb the bed the
more ejection of these particles can
make it through the filter and into your
final cup obfuscating your pallet and
making the taste a little bit worse we
don't want any of those microparticles
getting through of course it's
inevitable it's going to happen but we
want to lessen the amount as much as
possible also the more you pour the more
that you're going to clog up the pores
of your filter paper and you're going to
cause a longer draw down which can allow
for more stringency in your final
[Music]
cup the CO2 can actually be an inhibitor
to extraction and cause a lot of
channels upward because the gas wants to
keep releasing up so if we don't do a
good job blooming with every successive
pore there may be more and more of that
CO2 release and causing some channels in
your bed which can cause inconsistency
and maybe a improper tasting coffee now
when I say channels I'm not saying that
the whole time there's going to be this
big grout of water going through these
tiny holes that are going to show up as
little pinpoints in your bed that might
happen but in reality it's just causing
an issue and maybe the water wants to
have a higher turbulence through a
certain area due to the upward motion of
that
gas every time you pour the flow rate
matters every time you pour the amount
that you're flipping the bed and
discharging particles and filling the
filter with fines is going to change
based off of the D dynamics of the
grounds and how you dosed it into your
cup and how they're reacting to the
swelling up because of the CO2 because
of the age of the coffee and all these
different variables so instead of
messing with all of that a very
pragmatic and and and I think sound
advice to you would be to lessen the
amount of pores and just focus on that
bloom time and how you're wetting all of
those grounds at the
beginning a lot of people think once the
bubble stop popping the co2's all been
released which isn't really the
case now in a recent video I talked
about what I called the S Bloom which is
using colder water to bloom your coffee
in order to maintain some of those
volatile organic compounds that are
likely released whenever you're brewing
with really hot water it's kind of a
double-edged sword you want to have that
CO2 All released quickly and you want to
wet all the coffee as quickly and as
efficiently as possible but when you're
using colder water it's harder for the
water to enter the grounds and to
release that CO2 so you may need to
elongate your Bloom time in order to get
the full effects of that otherwise you
may have a lowered extraction and it may
not take as good as with that Kenya
likely a colder Bloom with the same time
parameter may not have been as good if
it wasn't efficiently getting inside and
degassing the coffee as spontaneously as
95 or 96Β° water could do now this also
plays largely into how you should brew a
decaf through the decaffeination process
it loses a lot of the ability to create
carbon dioxide now maybe Dr Smur can
speak more on this but what I do notice
and know is even with a freshly roasted
decaf you're not getting much of a bloom
and in espresso you don't get much
pressure and you have to go really fine
that's why you notice as a coffee ages
you have to go finer and finer and finer
because the carbon dioxide is off gasing
you don't have as much so you need to go
finer decaf coffees they have a ton of
fines and you probably notice it more in
pour-overs than you do in espresso the
bloom is not as important to have a long
Bloom with because you don't need to get
rid of CO2 it's pretty much all gone you
do a short Bloom and you can continue
your
Brew
there are different ways that you can
pour I'll show three right here though
you have a laminer pour which tends to
not be as effective at agitating the
full bed unless you pour incredibly fast
which you would need like a brewyet or
something with a wider spout but pouring
with laminer flow kind of gives a
pointed agitation and isn't as good as
catering down oxygen bubbles to really
disrupt and make turbulence in the
bottom of the bed that doesn't make it a
bad way to pour but it's something to
kind of understand so that's what the
lamin or pour looks like in water you
don't really see anything happening
though there's obviously motion going
on the second would be a turbulent pour
this is pouring just below the breakup
point so a breakup point is when you
pour with your Kettle and the stream
begins to break up if you go to where
the stream it just about is is to break
up but isn't and so it hits the water
and then it kind of breaks up underwater
you're going to introduce a lot of
turbulence deep down in the bed this is
incredibly effective to really agitate
that coffee and to bring down those
bubbles and to really Force just a full
agitation of that bed it's the most
effective way of doing
it Third Way of pouring which is
something else that is from the osmotic
flow is kind of tilt your Kettle and and
let it kind of uh have the breakup point
before it hits the bed those water
droplets since they've broken up they
lose a ton of their energy on the impact
of water and they have just very shallow
agitation now in the water that I'm
showing here it looks like it's going
deeper than it actually would if it was
coffee there with coffee the impact
would make it even lower and it would
barely agitate below the surface
it's not a great way to really pour
unless you have a Darkly roasted coffee
and you don't want much agitation and
you do want undere extraction of some
parts of the bed to make it more
palatable and more
balanced I would recommend considering
whether you want to do a laminer pour or
you want to do a turbulent pour and how
fast you're wanting to pour it I make
these decisions when I'm doing my bruise
so with a decaf coffee I'm not doing a
heavy turbulent flow I'm probably doing
a laminer with a slight Circle I'll put
in 18 G of coffee to 260 g of water
heated at 90 C I'll do my Bloom and I
usually do a bloom a little slower I
don't want the water to go all the way
through immediately I want it I want the
bed to absorb as much as possible use as
little water as possible in order to
fully saturate that bed and allow that
off gassing so that the diffusion can
begin to occur then my second pour maybe
after 30 seconds not going super fast
making sure it's laminer so I'm not
introducing a ton of that deep agitation
because I don't want all those fines
which there's a lot in decaf to clog my
filter and extend the draw down I want
my draw Downs in less than 3 minutes
ideally with a decaf I don't swirl it I
don't touch it I let it draw down other
coffees with the same pore setup I may
do a similar bloom again I don't want
the water to go through quickly so I
don't blast it so that it'll start
bypassing immediately causing a ton of
liquid to go in and I kind of just stay
in the center until it starts to move
out and then I might do one little pass
around the edges to ensure full
saturation but around those edges that's
such a small percentage of your bed you
want to focus on the center honestly
similar with these that still have high
angles the only difference would be a
full flat where it's like a puck like
the next
level if we were to have a cross-section
of this the bottom middle would not be
moving at all we'd have a ton of flurry
and action up at the top and we'd likely
be shooting a lot of the water through
the side and down to the bottom with
partial bypass which is not ideal and
can make coffee Brews really
inconsistent you can easily test this by
doing a bloom pour around the edge
before you hit the coffee and you'll see
Clear Water essentially make it through
and that's because it's very easy to go
around that filter it's much easier than
going through the bed of coffee that has
all the CO2 wanting to fight
you with flat bottom Brewers obviously
it's a little different to go all around
the edges though I wouldn't recommend if
you're using ruffled filters cuz that
again can promote a lot of that
bypass I suggest doing a coarser grind
size and keeping the water column very
low you want that water column low so
that there's not as much time for the
water to go around and do doing multiple
pores the issue is you can have clogging
unless you drilled extra holes in your
khita or if you have something like the
SS where the bottom is pretty open or
the Ora or something along those lines
Bypass or partial bypass are not
necessarily bad if it was I would always
use a no bypass Brewer I actually prefer
V60 bruise to most anything and I think
it's because of that stri toied
extraction but you need to have it in a
way that's more consistent and more
predictable so that you aren't you know
playing with a million variables that
are difficult to control
I pour it all in yes it's going to
promote more bypass in something like
this cuz the higher up the water level
is the more potential it has of going
around but also if you pour just one
time that bed settles almost immediately
and all that water is going to go
through that bed as evenly as it could
and the bed's going to act as another
filter you can still get really high
[Music]
extractions pay attention to your pore
the speed and whether it's turbulent or
laminer and how that can affect your
extraction if you're using light coffee
that's harder to extract or dark coffee
that's easy to extract pay attention to
if the grounds are settling or if you
have a ton of high and dry which can
really tell you a lot about the amount
of carbon dioxide in your coffee and pay
attention to the amount of finds that
whatever coffee you're using might
produce like a decaf or washed Ethiopia
the issue with long draw Downs is
there's more chances for channeling and
there's more chances for heterogenous
extraction there's more chances for
astringency I hope that this video has
helped F if it was confusing feel free
to watch it again if not I'll answer
some questions down the comments below
again all the data I discuss is in the
caption right below you can go check
that out to see about those scores the
sensory scores as well as the extraction
numbers and things like that to kind of
verify for yourself what's going on I
would love if you played around with
this at home you'd be surprised what
even 30 seconds of a bloom can do to a
brew maybe try a five-minute Bloom you
know play around with whatever you have
check out my patreon below if you would
like to support the channel where I do
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and yeah check that stuff out hope you
brew something tasty today and cheers
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