1. Coffee beans

Mistake 1: Grindness
A good grinder can ensure that the ground coffee is uniform in thickness. If the coffee powder is not uniform and there are too many fine powders, the taste of the coffee produced will not be "pure" enough. What is the appropriate thickness of coffee beans for hand-brewed coffee? The answer: moderately ground, the size of a granulated sugar. If the coffee powder is too thick and the hot water flows too fast, it will be difficult to extract the aroma of the coffee. If the coffee powder is too fine, the filter will be easily blocked, resulting in the soaking of water and powder for too long, and the coffee will have a bitter and astringent taste.

Mistake 2: Freshness
Many people choose ground coffee for convenience, or grind a lot at one time and store them in the refrigerator. In fact, "freshly ground" is the first condition for good coffee, it guarantees the taste of coffee. When the coffee is ground into powder, the oxidation rate of the coffee powder will be accelerated, and the aroma will begin to disappear within 40 seconds. If the aroma of coffee powder is seriously lost, the natural coffee flavor will also disappear.

Mistake 3: Cloth powder
After the coffee powder is poured into the drip filter cup, it needs to be shaken gently to make it flat. This is a very easy to ignore step, or it is not advisable to use too much force and shake it too much. The flatness of the flour surface determines the uniformity of the steaming and extraction of the hand-brewed coffee, which directly leads to the taste of the coffee.

2. Water

Mistake 1: Water Quality
If you care about the taste, don’t ignore the water used to brew coffee. 98% of a cup of hand-brewed coffee is water, and the range of soluble substances (TDS) in water is preferably between 100-250ppm. It is not recommended to use pure water to make coffee. Coffee made with pure water often tastes dull and lacks layering. But don't use brand-name mineral water or bottled water. Once the water has a peculiar smell, it will be more clearly amplified and reflected in the coffee.

Mistake 2: Water temperature
Water temperature is also an important indicator that affects the taste of coffee. Too high water temperature will make the bitter taste of coffee stronger, and low water temperature will make the sour taste stronger. Recommendation: Dark roasted coffee beans are suitable for the temperature of 80-85 degrees, and medium and light roasted coffee beans are suitable for extraction at a water temperature of about 90 degrees.

Mistake 3: Water Flow
Whether the aroma and layering of coffee can be released to the fullest depends on the water injection. Common mistakes are: A. The injected water column is too large and the direction of the water column is too inclined, which will cause the water flow to punch a hole on the side of the powder layer and run away directly from the filter paper, resulting in insufficient coffee extraction. B. The water column is pulled too high, causing the water flow to destroy the coffee powder, easy to inject bubbles, and uneven coffee extraction. It will also cause the water column to contact the air too much, and the water temperature will be affected, so the water column must be as close to the coffee as possible. C. The water flow is unstable, and the water flow is suddenly large and small, sometimes rushing, and sometimes ticking and breaking, resulting in different degrees of soaking in each area of ​​the coffee powder, and the taste of the coffee will be affected.

Mistake 4: Water Quantity
Due to the different tastes of different people, the requirements for the concentration are different. The extraction concentration range is 1.15%-1.35%, and the water ratio is about 1:13 to 15. Some people use very little water just for the sake of richness, but it doesn't taste good. On the contrary, some people expect to use more water to extract more substances, but they do not know that the more the extraction goes, the weaker the extraction, and the final concentration is insufficient. Have you found your problem in these places? If you want to make a good cup of coffee, all aspects of the control must be very delicate! Diligent practice is also essential.

How to adjust the size of the water when pouring coffee by hand?
When brewing hand-brewed coffee, it will first go through the steaming stage, which takes about 15 to 30 seconds to allow the coffee powder to absorb water. The coffee powder that is saturated with water will expand and produce another aroma. The longer the steaming time, the coffee. The stronger the flavor will be, usually the amount of steamed water is twice that of the coffee powder. For example, for 30 grams of coffee powder, about 60cc of water can be poured to make the coffee powder fully absorb the water.

After the steaming is finished, the action of pouring water is carried out. Generally, it is recommended for beginners to use a hand-washing pot with a narrow mouth. The amount of water filling will not be too much and it is not easy to fail; at the beginning of water-filling, it is easy to extract coffee. If you are an ordinary hand-washing pot , Do not use too much water at the beginning, and use a large water injection at the end to avoid flushing out too many impurities. The ideal time for the entire water injection is about 1.5 to 2.5 minutes. If you want the coffee to taste thicker, you can slow down the speed.

How to master the direction and speed of water injection?

The direction of water injection can start from the center and go clockwise from the outside of the circle. Remember that the biggest impact is not to rush to the filter paper. In addition, when brewing coffee, there is another technique called water cut, which is to interrupt the water injection process. This action can make the taste of hand-brewed coffee not too heavy or too thin. For example, 360cc water can be interrupted when it is half 180cc. Wait until the water level on the ground coffee drops and then continue to add water, which can adjust the flavor of the hand-brewed coffee and make the taste stronger; in addition, when the water column is too large, the water must be cut off to avoid the taste being too weak, so cutting off the water can change the hand. The taste of the brewed coffee also adjusts the extraction rhythm. After steaming, the recommended number of times is twice.

What sounds easy and taken for granted can be done in a thousand ways. Just the gestures of pouring water and making circles can be divided into clockwise and counterclockwise, large and small circles, crosses, and M characters. In fact, it’s good to draw a talisman, or to draw a “gluttonous snake”. By pouring water into the coffee powder, I hope to wash out the taste of every grain of powder.

To use an analogy, coffee powder in a funnel is like tea bags in a bathtub. We fill the hose with water, hoping that each tea bag will "taste" evenly together. To do this, first wet all the tea bags at the same time. This is the goal of the first water injection (or "smouldering" that is not stuffy at all).

But if you magnify the funnel with a microscope, you will find that the coffee powder is different in size. It is equivalent to a tea bag in a bathtub, some as big as glutinous rice cake, and some as thin as dumplings. Even if the extraction is started on the same starting line, when the big one has enough flavor, the thin one has been overheated (overextracted). To avoid this phenomenon, in addition to a high-quality grinder, the only way is to use water to pull the larger coffee grains to taste as soon as possible before the fines are over-extracted.
So when the second water injection starts, the impact force is very important.