Pulse Pour Meets Agitation: Stagg [X] Dripper Recipe

When tending a campfire, you want to add enough wood to keep the heat consistent but not too much wood that the flame gets out of control. Hello, engulfed marshmallows! Just like feeling warm and cozy around a bonfire, temperature stability is also the key to the pulse pour agitation brewing method. Smaller pours not only keep the slurry temperature steady throughout the brew, but also keep your coffee bed at the same depth. Both of these things lead to even extraction and consistent results, especially when using older coffee (more than two weeks off roast) since these beans tend to brew faster and have a quicker draw down time. 

The Tools

Stagg [X] Pour-Over Dripper
Ode Brew Grinder
Stagg EKG
Carter Wide Mug
Coffee To Brew
Scale

The Ingredients

20 grams of coffee ground at 3.2 setting on Ode
340 grams water at 207°F

The Recipe

1) Place the paper filter in the dripper, place the dripper on Carter (or a carafe), and with your Stagg EKG gently add around 30 grams of water to pre-wet the filter. Dispose of the water after it has all run through into Carter.

2) Add 20 grams of ground coffee to the dripper and shake the dripper gently to level out the coffee bed and evenly distribute the grounds.

3) For the first pour (aka The Bloom), pour 60 grams of water in small concentric circles moving from the center to the outside of the coffee bed. Avoid pouring on the walls of the filter and focus on pouring directly onto the grinds. After pouring, lift the dripper and give it a gentle swirl, then return it to the carafe. This agitation will help to insure that all of the coffee grounds are exposed to water.

4) For our second pour, we're going bigger. At 40 seconds, add a 100 gram pour in the same fashion as the first. When finished, lift the dripper and gently swirl. This agitation is going to serve the same purpose as before while also preventing any of those pesky grounds from getting stuck to the sides of the filter.

5) Be sure to not let the bed dry out. While there is still a small pool of water on the coffee bed, start the first of three more pulse pours of 60 grams each. Each consecutive pour happens right before the bed goes completely dry.

6) At the end of the third and final pulse pour (the total weight should be 340 grams), lift the dripper (don't swirl, just lift!) and set it back on Carter. This will cause a sediment effect and even out the coffee bed much the way that we did with the shaking of the dry grounds. The purpose behind this final agitation of the coffee slurry is to promote an even flow through the bed on the final draw down and eliminate any pockets or craters in the coffee bed, which would cause the coffee to extract unevenly and potentially affect taste.

7) Drink straight from your Carter and go. 

Photography: @bychloewen