The pour-over coffee is excellent! You can watch the water flow from the hand brewing elegantly stay, and the well-brewed coffee is like a crystal-clear liquid. The best thing is that anyone can brew it at home.

But it looks great but not as simple as it looks. In addition to the common variables such as water temperature, powder-to-water ratio, and grinding thickness, there are also variables of stirring. So what is stirring? What do the experts say about the blending of pour-over coffee? And most importantly, does it really taste better? RoasterCoffees provides more coffee brewing guides, and welcome to visit to help you do better in your daily coffee time.

Let's start with the most basic. We all know that there are two procedures in the process of hand brewing: first, soak the coffee powder with a small amount of hot water and wait for about half a minute to achieve the effect of steaming; The water is poured onto the ground coffee, allowing the coffee to drip slowly into the receiving container.

But there is still stirring during the process, just like when your younger siblings appear next to you to make trouble with you when you are very busy, but it is not as negatively described, and in fact, you are playing the role of younger siblings when you make coffee.

Simply put, stirring is a gentle distraction during the brewing process. There are many forms of stirring, and each has its own reasons. Before we look at how to stir, let's look at what you want to achieve.

We're all trying to get the best flavor out of our coffee, which means we need to get consistent extraction results. If the extraction rates of the powder in the different sections of the filter are different, you won't be able to manipulate or replicate the flavor in the cup. Your coffee will have a mix of under-extracted (sour) and over-extracted (bitter) flavors, as well as well-extracted flavors like sweetness and a good mouthfeel.

A common issue in pour-over or espresso is the channeling effect, the water will always flow where there is less resistance, so if the coffee grounds are not evenly stacked or steeped, the water will create channels in the coffee grounds, which will allow the coffee closer to the channel to be extracted more.

Channeling can be caused by too fast or erratic filling, for example, this can leave a high and drywall of coffee grounds on the filter paper, and these are the parts that cannot be extracted. Some people also use the drip irrigation method (using multiple small injections instead of long injections), which avoids the appearance of this powder wall.

In other words, stirring will disperse the coffee grounds and ensure a uniform extraction, which is certainly not the only reason for maintaining a consistent extraction. If you want to make your coffee taste the same every day, try to standardize your brew parameters, including powder volume, water temperature, brew filter, injection path and speed, water quality, grind size and brew time, etc.

There are several ways of stirring, the most common of which is stirring, which is recommended by some coffee experts, such as Matt Perger, and well-known barista Scott Rao. You can stir the coffee grounds directly after the pre-wetting, at the beginning of it has begun to bloom, or later in the brew.

You may have also heard of stirring, which means that at the end of the filling, the water is poured to the rim of the filter cup, from which the top layer of coffee grounds is reintroduced into the coffee liquid.

There are also several forms of stirring, such as dripping water, side swirl, controlling the flow rate and quantity of water, and so on.

What Techniques Do Experts Use?

Matt Perger and Scott Rao mentioned above, let's take a look at what they use here.

With the Rao Spin, the water spins in a spiral while brewing, thus allowing the water to descend more evenly, and the name comes from Scott Rao.

Even though Rao is not the inventor of this technique, it is a technique developed in his work, and he supports it. Rao says, "This technique minimizes the channeling effect at the end of the brew, at the end of each brew. Creating a flat bed of powder is amazing. I wish I had invented it." Rao Spin can also be created by gently shaking the filter bowl. When brewing a better daily coffee cup, remember not to over-consume caffeine, which is generally recommended to avoid by using an easy and quick caffeine calculator to calculate your daily caffeine consumption.

You can try all of the above, whether you are a barista, a coffee lover, or just a beginner, stir during the brew, try again without stirring on the next brew, and then test the difference for yourself, or It's to share with friends and show it to your guests.

Find the differences, taste the subtle changes in the coffee, and vary the grind size and brewing technique, then figure out the best way to replicate and keep the brewing results consistent.

The best part about third-wave coffee is experimentation, experimenting with stirring, and seeing if it works for you.