# Brewed Coffee Basics - help please?



## Mm391 (Apr 19, 2020)

Maybe this question has already been asked, if so, maybe someone can point me in the right direction. 

I have been trying various Brew regimes and struggling to get a decent cup. I have asked for advice on this forum and it has all been extremely helpful. The suggestions generally tend to be about dividing the pour up into evenly spaced intervals/amounts of water. I assume the main outcome is to control the flowrate of the water passing through the coffee bed, thus altering the level of extraction from the ground coffee with minimum agitation from the pouring of the water from the kettle. Is this correct? 

Following on from this, why is it suggested to pour in the centre of the brewing coffee/filter if there is standing water in the filter, as opposed to concentric circles?

Finally, if we were to take the regime of 6 pours of 35grams of water, spilt equally every 20 seconds and taking 10 seconds to pour 35g, and we were not able to adjust grind size, how would you alter the regime based on the brew being too bitter? On the other hand, how would you adjust the regime based on the coffee being too sour? How would this regime differ from just a continuous careful pour of all your brew water in one go?


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Mm391 said:


> Maybe this question has already been asked, if so, maybe someone can point me in the right direction.
> 
> I have been trying various Brew regimes and struggling to get a decent cup. I have asked for advice on this forum and it has all been extremely helpful. The suggestions generally tend to be about dividing the pour up into evenly spaced intervals/amounts of water. I assume the main outcome is to control the flowrate of the water passing through the coffee bed, thus altering the level of extraction from the ground coffee with minimum agitation from the pouring of the water from the kettle. Is this correct?
> 
> ...


Yes, the idea is to control the flow rate from the kettle (not through the bed...this will vary and that is normal).

Agitation needs to be enough to allow the water to permeate the bed & wash everything through, but no more, because agitation will make even normally extracted brews bitter, powdery, chewy & silty (silt does not count to extraction).

Once you have standing water, the coffee particles will be suspended in the liquid and will wash out without the need for additional agitation from spiral pours.

If you stick to a specific regime of pours, then you have to adjust grind size to steer extraction. Equally, if you can't adjust grind size, you then alter the pour regime.

"Too bitter" is a bit vague, there is no one cause for bitter coffee. We need to differentiate between the smoky drying bitterness of over-extraction, bitterness from excessive silt (at any extraction, which is charred/powdery), bitterness from a slightly low extraction (dull lacking sweetness & woody) and bitter coffee from buying bitter coffee.

To sour is usually under-extraction, causes for this would be pouring at too fast a rate at a given grind size, or grinding too coarse at a given pour rate. The trouble with slowing down the pour and keeping it continuous is that it is hard to gauge where you are over the whole pour, without the need to speed up/slow down to meet timings. Continuous pouring over a long period will likely lead to a silty, bitter brew, but might work OK at a fine grind/faster pour regime.

You are very, very unlikely to suffer both over-extraction and under-extraction at a given grind size & pour regime.

Thus far, we are talking about concepts, it would be much more informative & quicker to troubleshoot if we talked about specific brews: grinder, setting, dose, taste & brew time (for a broad reference only), with a couple of coffees at least (brew by brew). Maybe a video would be helpful.

It should only take 3-5 brews to get ball-park.


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## Mm391 (Apr 19, 2020)

Amazing and just what I was after. Thanks @MWJB I have said before I will do some videos of my brews but just haven’t got round to remembering to do it. I plan to video a couple this weekend and then post back here with my findings.


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## Mm391 (Apr 19, 2020)

My first attempt at a video.

01 V60
Coffee: Basha Bekele
Roasters: 39 Steps
Dose: 15g
Brew Water: 240g just off the boil.
Time: 3.29
Grind setting: 65 (Niche Zero) although have just been given a Comandante as a gift so will be switching to that soon for Brewed coffee.

40g bloom for 30 seconds and the 4 x pours of 50g of water getting it in within 20 seconds, every 30 seconds.

I can taste some sweetness to the coffee but there doesn’t seem to be anything else, almost a little empty. There is a lingering aftertaste of maybe smokey or an ever so slightly burnt flavour (not bitter), but seems to be no acidity or fruity notes.


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## GrahamSPhillips (Jan 29, 2021)

Lots of the aficionados recommend a 2 minute bloom and a socalled "RAO" swirl perhaps?


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Thanks for that.

Your swirling a lot at the start and you poured in spirals continuously. I wouldn't do either of these, I suspect your burnt flavour is too much silt getting in the cup from too much agitation and/or low side of normal extraction. Try to pour more in the centre and keep the spout as low as you can.

It would be good to have a taste score as well as perceptions, as this is easier to track improvement (or otherwise) across coffees. Also it's a good idea to dial in with a couple of different origin coffees, just as a sanity check. I score out of 9 (so 5 is neutral), but go with what is intuitive to you. "Empty" doesn't really make sense or tell me anything.

So to the video:

Your pours are faster than you suggest, the last pour is 20s, the rest are 10s. Try and slow the pour down, let the water drip straight down from the kettle spout, rather than stream out in an arc.

I made last water in 2:20 (note this for brews) and the brew end at dry bed 3:09.

Overall, I'd go coarser (less need to swirl/stir bloom) & smaller pulses. For example I'm brewing at 94.5 on my Niche. Otherwise, I'd pour more like 20g every 20s (10s each) at my grind setting. No faster than 40g 30s (15s each of pouring) if you grind a bit finer than me.

I tend to brew at more like 1:15.

Keep at it and report back.


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