Melodrip Recipe for Conical Drippers Cafec Flower/Hario V60/Timemore Crystal Eye/Kinto Brewer)

Melodrip Recipe for Conical Drippers (Cafec Flower/Hario V60/Timemore Crystal Eye/Kinto Brewer)

What you'll need

• Bleached Filter Paper (Cafec/Hario 01 or 02 Size)
• 18g Dry Coffee Ground Fine
• 300ml Total Brew Water (~260ml-265ml Beverage Output)
• 205f/96c Water
• Melodrip and Glass Rod
• Scale (Acaia)
• PID Kettle (Fellow EKG/Brewista Artisan)
• Grind Adjusted to 3:30-4:30 Time
• Grind Adjusted to 1.45-1.60tds/21-23% EY

Simplest Version: 

The basic recipe starts with a 1:17 ratio and dividing the total brew water into 5 equal parts/pulses.  This can be scaled in any way, but we recommend using atleast 18g of coffee.  The recipe below is 18:300, so based on the formula above, you will use 18g dry coffee and 300ml total brew water (five 60ml pulses).  This formula is based on keeping MD Sprinkles to 3x the mass of dry coffee used.  

1. 60ml Bare Kettle (No MD) Spiral Pour Fully saturate coffee and wait 45sec.
2. Stick Stir 3x Insert stick to the bottom tip and gently spiral upwards to saturate and dislodge clumps.
3. 60ml MD Sprinkle to saturate the outer edge of slurry, then focusing on the center.
4. Stick Stir 3x Same as step 2.  Wait for the water to drop to the top of the brewbed before pulsing.
5. When the water level drops to the top of the brewbed, 60ml MD Sprinkle to saturate the outer edge of slurry, then focussing on the center.
6. Repeat until total brew water is 300ml or 265ml in the cup. If you want to add more water, keep your pulses at or below 3x dry coffee mass.  In this case refrain from pulsing more than 60ml.  *Note: Always wait for the water level to drop slightly above the brewbed before each pulse.

A Bit More Detail:

1. 60ml 205f Bare Kettle Pour starting from the outside (20ml) and focus majority of the pour in the center (40ml).
2. Inspect slurry for dry clumps and saturate by inserting stirring stick down to the center tip and slowly spiral outward along the walls being mindful of any resistance.  Wait until all bubble and slurry movement to subside (30-45sec.)
3. 60ml MD Sprinkle along the edges edges of the brewbed (20ml) and focussing majority of the sprinkle in the center (40ml).
4. Inspect slurry for dry clumps as Step 2 to disperse any remaining bubbles.  Wait until the water level drops to the top of the brewbed.
5. 60ml MD Sprinkle around the edges of the brewbed (20ml) then focusing on the center of the brewbed (40ml).  Wait until the water level drops to the top of the brewbed.
6. Repeat Step 5 two more times until pouring a total of 300ml.

Detailed Version:

Tool Prep.

Insert dry filter paper into the dripper, then use a spoon/MD/Glass Rod to hold the paper down onto the position.  Spiral Pour 20ml of hot water onto the filter paper and cool until vapor isn’t visible.  There’s an increased likelihood of paper taste transferred to your coffee if you immediately load the dry grounds.  You can blow directly into the dripper to increase the cool down rate of the paper.

Brewbed Prep.

1. 18g Ground Coffee into the dripper and level the grounds by shifting side to side.
2. 60ml Spiral Pour starting from the edge of the brewbed slowly into the center (~20ml), then focus the remaining pour in the center (Coin sized spiral ok too) (~40ml).

1. Inspect the saturation of the brewbed with the Stir Stick by inserting it down to the center tip of the dripper, slowly spiraling outward along the walls, feeling for any dry clumps or resistance.  At this point the brewbed is separated into a Foam Slurry floating above water, and a Medium to Fine Slurry accumulating at the bottom.  Since a large portion of the grounds are below the surface of the water, percolation is occurring through only a portion of the dose.  Wait until the bubble and height movement has subsided in the slurry (30-45sec).
2. 60ml MD Sprinkle around the edges of the brewbed (20ml) then focusing on the center of the brewbed (40ml).  Position the dripper as close to the brewbed as possible and always spiral pour onto the MD Dish.  At this point the bubbles from the Foam Slurry are gradually becoming dispelled allowing more of the grounds to settle and accumulate to the bottom of the dripper.
3. Stir Stick inserted into the bottom of the dripper and spiral outwards along the edges of the dripper to release and dislodge bubbles.  This step is crucial as remaining bubbles will deflect water from percolating through these areas of the slurry.  The slurry is now prepped for extraction.  Wait until the water level drops to the top of the brewbed grounds.  In conical drippers, water levels influence the rate of output flow, so use this as an indicator to start your pulses.  When pouring or pulsing based on time, the water level may not be consistent between each pulse, which can lead to a fluctuation of flow rates based on water level.

Extraction.

1. 60ml MD Sprinkle around the edges of the brewbed (20ml) then focusing on the center of the brewbed (40ml).  Wait until the water level lowers to the top of the brewbed.
2. 60ml MD Sprinkle around the edges of the brewbed (20ml) then focusing on the center of the brewbed (40ml).  
3. 60ml MD Sprinkle around the edges of the brewbed (20ml) then focusing on the center of the brewbed (40ml).

Done!

Notes.

This recipe is separated into two distinct sections the Brewbed Prep and the Extraction.  Although extraction is occurring from the moment coffee grounds come in contact with water, controlled agitation brewing requires that brewbed be treated much like a puck in espresso, where percolation is optimal when the particle distribution and interparticle distance is relatively homogenous, but not overly compacted – so there’s a balance to maintain flowrate without too much resistance which can cause Surface Runoff (Water infiltration rate is compromised and water drains over the surface or prematurely) or Channeling.  

The initial Brewbed Prep is a step which attempts to expel gases from the dry grounds with a quick delivery of heat and hydration to saturate the coffee. The following 60ml MD Sprinkle slowly reduce the Foam Slurry so grounds can settle gradually onto the grounds below.  The stick stir that follows is to dislodge any bubbles that may still be trapped within the slurry.  At this point stratification of particles continues to progress, rendering a high level of porosity in the slurry.  At this point, the porosity of the brewbed is optimal for percolation and ready for repeated pulses using MD.  

Note that this method is divided into two parts in which this first part “Brewbed Prep” is a simple equation of 3x the coffee mass for the bloom and a 3x coffee mass for the defoaming. 

The extraction phase is purely a Controlled Agitation percolation using MD Sprinkles.  With controlled agitation, all of the water applied creates a column of low concentration solvent that percolates through the entirety of the slurry, meaning that less particles are suspended while the water is draining and less fine particles are draining out with the fluid.

In comparison, when pouring with a bare kettle stream of water, a large portion of particles are suspended above the slurry as water continues to percolate through various bed depths throughout the slurry.  After the particles settle, they are also stratified in a way that creates a heterogeneous distribution of particle sizes with more compaction with reduced porosity throughout the vertical layers of the slurry, most notably the bottom tip.

Dialing in:

If too strong/bitter/astringency caused by a brewing defect (as opposed to roast style) you can grind coarser, drop the temperature, or tweak the recipe.   I recommend keeping all parameters the same and changing one at a time for simplified tracking. To tweak this recipe, I would first recommend tweaking the number of pulses in the second “Extraction” part.

Basic Recipe Structure:

Brewbed Prep: 3x Coffee Mass Bare Kettle Pulse>3x Coffee Mass MD Pulse>Stick Stir to Release Residual Bubbles.

Extraction: (Divide the remaining pulses into 3 equal parts)

Alternatively you can change this recipe by Dividing the Extraction into 2 Equal Parts. This increases the flowrate by applying a higher water level and should decrease your total brewtime. 

The main point to be mindful of is slurry resistance caused by decreasing porosity. This can either be caused by compaction of the grounds reducing drainage pathways, or simply the porosity of the filter paper being reduced by its overloaded capacity. The result is the infiltration rate of water is reduced and there’s a higher percentage of water that becomes premature “runoff” - over the surface of the slurry or out of the filter paper before percolating through an optimal amount of coffee.

Every technique in coffee brewing applied is only as effective as the one that precedes it.  Using all MD Sprinkles in the beginning without stirring will only render a slurry with bubbles and deflection paths where water will channel through inefficiently.   Swirling or Shifting 10x post blooming saturates the slurry very well, though for subsequent pulses, this will help with compacting the grounds for evenly distributed pathways though will also create resistance that can reduce flow rates especially when using finer grinds.  There is no optimal techniques, only techniques used optimally.