Why Does Pouring Structure Matter? | Coffee with April #198

This week, we're brewing the same coffee and using the same brewer for three brews, with one major variable change: pouring structure.

If you're curious, you can replicate the recipe featured in this video below:

12g Dose
200g Brew Water
92 Degree Water Temp
Grind Size: D50=µm737
Follow the pouring structures featured in the video

We're always interested in hearing what topics you're most curious to hear us discuss, and Patreon is a great way of reaching out to us if you would like to make a request.

We welcome your thoughts and feelings on the topics raised in this week's video, as well as other ideas you would like to see us discuss in the future. We really appreciate your feedback and support.

You can contact us or our collaborators using any of the channels below:

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Music by Andrew Blumhagen

Graphics by Chloé Shephard

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Produced by April Media - 2021

[mystrob]

Perfect timing! My plastic April Brewer and papers arrived today in Seattle. Cheers!

[cyrusfontaine]

Late to this party, but I've been realizing that starting with a center pour on my V60s and then circling out helps a lot with saturation, because that initial center pour gets deeper into the deepest part of the coffee bed. It also lets me use a bit finer grind, because it seems to lift the grounds up off the filter a bit, but others' experience may vary. All that to say, I like a little of both in my cone-shaped dripper too!

[Pseudosurfer]

Thanks for the information and for helping us brew better coffee at home.

[montagdp]

Nice video! I use a V60 rather than a flat bottom brewer, but I use some of the same concepts. I use multiple pours, sometimes circular and sometimes in the center, to control extraction and brew time. Some coffees produce a lot of fines and require some center pours to keep the drawdown time and bitterness under control, especially when using multiple pours.

[MrDistill]

Very interesting. I’m excited to get my hands on one in the US.

[braxtonjens]

I don’t have the April brewer, I do have kalita 155, 185 and a Blue Bottle Dripper.
This pouring structure you stick to is useful in these other brewers as well.

[tippykaffu]

I recently bought a new glass dripper from a certain manufacturer that you are VERY familiar with that allows even saturation no matter your pouring structure. I think this is a very interesting method that I want to try osmotic flow method which is very famous for having a good result but a super uneven extraction
I might give an update to this very soon with the different pouring structure.

I don't have an April brewer yet but my pouring technique is a zig zag technique which is easier than the circle pour but also gives even saturation.

[JackSmith-ltvz]

Hey, I’m enjoying the plastic April brewer, I noticed the air gap at the bottom is much more pronounced on the plastic vs ceramic, I’ve not noticed much difference in the cup however, but it being more durable and lighter is a good improvement. In terms of brewing I’ve given up on pouring onto the bed I find it muddies the flavour on a lot of my roasts, I use the gabbi b for a really clean cup, if it’s a really light roast I’ll still pour onto the bed to get more out of it, but I’m still playing around so it could all change.

[GoTellJesusSaves]

A very very simple thing that can be done if you're getting the flavor profile right, but strength is too much... just add a little brew water to the cup.
I ALWAYS have to do this anyway, as my palette cannot handle the the 1:15 - 1:17 brew strength.

Your brewed amount DOES NOT need to be the final coffee cup amount.

[dowhatIdo]

Hard pour on blooming phase also plays important part, at least on my xperience

[morganbakerable]

Finally snagged the plastic version of the April Brewer after seeing its available on this! I've been using your recipes on the Torch Mountain, but I wanted something plastic so I can more easily transport without worry of breaking, and also am curious how the flow differences are going to be. Excited to try it.

[thedesibarista]

How is it that you have so coarse grinds and still get a 3 min brew

[vizzo]

Hi, great study.Would love to see the results with a washed ethiopian coffee since this type of coffee tends to clog the water

[Mercura]

Hi, not sure if you will be able to read this still since this video is almost over two years old, but I was thinking, would it be possible to get the results of the circle and center pour technique with ONLY a circle pour technique but with a slightly courser grind? I'm asking this because while circle and center might be the best in this particular test, I think a constant circle pour might be much more repeatable across multiple brews, resulting in higher consistency as well throughout all the brews.

[_leoniden]

Hi Patrick, In the video you mentioned that you're not fond of using a small tap after the 2nd pour and I was wondering why. While I would have concerns in regards to clogging, it seems to me like an efficient option to tackle the issues created by high-rising grounds from a circle-pour, and allow a better extraction of these risen grounds.
Also, your main criticism of the circle-pour seemed to be due to too high extraction/contact time. Would it be an option to just ground coarser to get a cleaner, better cup using coarser grounds in the circle pour and how would the result differ from the circle+center pour?

[KingofHassi]

I still have no idea how you get a 3+ min drawdown on the April brewer with the 2 100g pour technique. I just can't get anywhere near that without near espresso-fine grind (which is clearly not what you're doing)

[mikedonovan]

So, i am not sure i understood : is the 50/50 pour the best method ?

[danknoize]

While being very interesting and somewhat helpful, this, like all brewing comparisons, fail to address the reality that changing one variable is not really a fair comparison of what that variable does. Rather, it provides an idea of what the variable changes. To optimize the change in one variable, other variables need to be adjusted.
I think many people don't understand this and think that, in the case of this video, Circle pour= good, Center pour= not good, Circle/Center pour= best, which isn't true and misses what I see as the useful information here-

With the given method/grinder/grind size/variables
Circle pour- highest TDS/Extraction
Center pour- lowest TDS/Extraction
Circle/Center pour- very high TDS/Extraction

nothing more, nothing less. An important point, while Extraction rises with a larger coffee/water ratio, TDS rises to a peak and then lowers with a larger coffee/water ratio (the peak being dependent on the grind size)

Thanks for the comparison and all your work
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[no_me_diga]

Dude, what's with you & the word "basically"? have you
counted yourself how many times you said that word in the video? 12 times dude ! is this the only word that you know? next time review your video first before release.

[dexterfernando]

We are excited in Plastic april brewers 💪 @gnadcafe