Pu’er Coffee

 The coffee we drink is, at its core, water that has dissolved the flavorful compounds inside coffee grounds. In fact, more than 98% of a cup of pour-over coffee is water. We spend so much time chasing the best origins and growing regions, the most suitable processing methods, the perfect roast profiles, and the most precise brewing techniques—yet all of these efforts ultimately rely on water to carry the coffee’s flavor. If we overlook the foundational role of water, everything else can easily fall apart. **No.1 Water Plays Two Core Roles in Coffee Brewing: Extraction and Flavor** Water is responsible for extracting soluble flavor compounds from coffee grounds, and it also makes up the body of the final beverage itself. The chemical composition of the water directly influences what ends up in your cup. **No.2 The Soluble Compounds in Water: Alkalinity and Hardness** Water contains both negatively charged ions and positively charged ions. The concentration of negatively ...

 There are many reasons why we might fall in love with a cup of coffee. It could be its rare and complex flavor profile, a rich and weighty mouthfeel, layered and evolving notes, or even the story behind where it comes from. Beyond these, there are also some more niche reasons. For example, I have quite a few friends who judge a coffee by one key word: “clean.” Here, “clean” doesn’t mean visual clarity, nor does it mean a coffee with low flavor complexity or “nothing going on.” Instead, it refers to a cup that is free of any unpleasant off-flavors, with flavors that are well-defined and easy to distinguish. It may sound simple, but achieving this level of cleanliness actually places very high demands on coffee quality. From growing and processing to roasting and brewing—in short, every step from seed to cup needs to be handled with great care. Before the concept of specialty coffee became widespread, exported green coffee was often processed in rough, unsophisticated ways by local...

 After customers buy coffee beans in the shop, they often ask me about recommended brewing parameters—water temperature, grind size, and, of course, the coffee-to-water ratio. Whenever I mention a ratio of 1:15 , some people are surprised. That’s because most cafés on the market tend to use 1:16 when brewing pour-over coffee. Just yesterday, someone said to me, “I see everyone using 1:16. I thought that was the best—like the golden ratio for pour-over.” And to be fair, from a certain perspective, 1:16 really can be called a golden ratio . We know that coffee contains a limited amount of soluble material—only about 30% of the bean’s weight . Based on this fact, Dr. Ernest Lockhart conducted a series of studies and found that the coffees most people enjoy tend to fall within a specific range of strength and extraction : Total Dissolved Solids (TDS): 1.15%–1.35% Extraction Yield: 18%–22% Any brew that lands within this range is known as a Golden Cup extraction , and the coffe...

 When it comes to flannel filters, many coffee lovers may have only seen them in Japanese movies or through videos by Japanese baristas. Compared with the common paper filter and dripper combo, the flannel filter is far less popular outside of Japan. Most people’s first encounter with it comes from Japanese coffee culture itself. That naturally raises the question: why do Japanese people love brewing coffee with a piece of flannel cloth? What makes coffee brewed with flannel so different from coffee filtered through paper? What’s Special About Flannel Filters? If you’ve read my posts before, you’ve probably seen me mention this: flannel filters produce coffee that’s richer and more aromatic . The reason is simple — flannel doesn’t filter out oils and insoluble compounds as thoroughly as paper does. Flannel is a soft, fuzzy fabric that originated in Wales, England. Since its invention, it’s been used in countless applications thanks to its versatility. As a coffee filtration tool,...