The Perfect Drip Coffee

There are all sorts of ways to make coffee. There is the drip, where you literally “drip” the water into ground coffee. There is the syphon, where the brewing method is the most aesthetic and definitely deserves its own column. There is also the French Press, where coarsely ground coffee is thrown into a cylinder of hot water, ‘pressed’ through a metal filter, and is sipped in a stylistic manner while your country surrenders to Germany. 

Anyway, currently the best way to make drip coffee is through the Japanese Hand Drip method. It’s A-bomb way to make coffee ;D. The original drip cone (and still the best) was made by Hario, a Japanese glass making company. A v-shaped filter paper is placed inside a cone of the same shape, and rinsed with hot water. The temperature of the water should be somewhere between 195 and 205 degrees, which is best for brewing great coffee. Rinsing the filter paper helps to wash off any paper residue, and more importantly, it helps to heat up the filter and the pot to the appropriate temperatures. One important rule of coffee brewing is that the temperature of the water should be as consistent as possible. 

Everything you need to make great hand drip coffee

Once the paper is throughly rinsed and the glass pieces heated, you throw in the ground coffee. The ratio of coffee to water can vary, but a good start is to use 7.5 ounces of water for 12 grams of coffee. If you like your coffee lighter, just know that it’s better to brew the coffee with more water than to add hot water to the coffee later. 

When you first add the water, pour just enough water to wet the coffee, and let it “bloom” for 45 seconds. If the coffee is fresh, you should see CO2 bubbles rising out of the coffee. If you really want to get the full taste of the coffee, I suggest waiting 90 seconds. Then, pour the rest of your hot water into the middle of the grind. Don’t pour too fast, because although some of the coffee will be floating around with the water, a careful pour will help to keep the coffee on the filter paper, thus ensuring that the water will pass through as much coffee as possible before passing through the filter. 

I think that a quality cup of coffee has three phases in taste. 1) right after it’s brewed, 2) at around 140 degrees, and 3) when the coffee has cooled down. Whether it be the science of it all, or just the way the human palate is, I think that coffee tastes, and smells the best at phase 2. 

All in all, a great cup of coffee is like a man women dream of... rich, hot, and can keep you up all night. LOL