Stop Brewing Bitter Coffee! (Do This First According To A Champion) @simon_gautherin

Main ideas / concepts (what the speakers are teaching)

• Goal in competition brewing: prioritize “clarity.”

  • The brewer’s aim is a cup that tastes like what the taster describes (high clarity), rather than a cup that contains everything extracted from the coffee.

• Not all extracted compounds are desirable

  • Pushing extraction “too far” increases undesirable flavors (e.g., bitterness and dryness/stringency).
  • Even if extracting more creates a wider range of compounds, that can reduce clarity and increase “complexity” in a way that works against judges’ perception of distinct, clean flavors.

• Narrow the spectrum of extracted compounds

  • The brewer argues that less diversity of compounds = more clarity.
  • Analogy: apple vs. apple + orange vs. mixing many fruits
    • A single fruit flavor is easy to identify; many mixed fruits make it hard to pinpoint specifics.

• Key innovation: remove both ends of extraction

  • They don’t just remove the “last part” (over-extraction); they also remove the first part because it can contain harsh or less pleasant components.
  • The first portion is described as potentially very sour/salty and also bitter, and can be “not as good” than later liquid.

• Why discarding the first portion helps

  • They claim caffeine is very soluble, so it can extract early.
  • Removing the first ~10 g is said to:
    • reduce some caffeine
    • reduce undesirable acids
    • make the cup sweeter, less sharp, less salty, and more balanced

• Clarity relates to judging

  • Better clarity is tied to better performance: judges assess both taste quality and presentation, and clarity improves score potential.

• Brewer choice rationale (why a Pulsar-style brewer)

  • Chosen for specific control features needed for the method:
    • Ability to switch between immersion and percolation (via a valve).
    • A shower screen to disperse water evenly into droplets (reduces agitation, which reduces bitterness/stringency and improves flavor clarity).
    • A design with no uncontrolled bypass to improve consistency.
      • They allow intentional bypass (e.g., manually adding water) if it can be measured, but avoid uncontrolled bypass typical in some setups (like water moving around the sides in V60).

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Method / instructions described (competition-style workflow)

Core principle

• Use immersion/percolation control, then discard the first portion to remove early harsh/less desirable extraction.
• Keep the time for the “immersion hold” relatively constant, then adjust other variables as needed for different roast profiles.

Equipment / setup requirements

• Brewer that supports:
  • Valve to control immersion vs percolation
  • Shower screen (optional aftermarket screens can work on other brewers)
  • No bypass design for consistency
• Scale that tracks two metrics simultaneously:
  • weight of water poured into the brewer
  • yield (weight of liquid collected in the decanter)

Recipe and steps (as given in the subtitles)

Dosing

• Grind coffee: 14 g
• Water: total brew described using two main pours of 100 g each (with an intermediate discard step).

Start timing

• Start the timer when the first drop of water hits the brewer.

Initial setup

• Ensure the valve is closed (horizontal = closed, vertical = open).
• Place a small cup to catch the discarded early portion (~10 g).

Pour #1 (immersion while valve closed)

• Pour 100 g water.
• Open the valve after the first 100 g is poured.
• Collect exactly 10 g yield (the first portion), then discard it.

Wait / immersion hold

• After discarding the first 10 g, return the decanter and reset/tare the scale.
• Wait until 1 minute 20 seconds (they reference “all the way to a minute 20”).
  • Timing guidance from testing:
    • around 1:10 may be not strong enough
    • around 1:30 starts to get a bit of bitterness

Pour #2 (percolation / remaining brew)

• At ~1:20, open the valve and pour another 100 g.
• Again open as needed to run the flow; monitor the yield.
• For their setup, it “finishes at around” 2 minutes total.

Target yield

• Example target mentioned: ~140 g total yield (for the recipe discussed).

Adjustment guidance

• The principle is described as working across many coffees (not only naturals or specific varietals like “geishas”), because:
  • the first part of extraction is typically less tasty than what comes later.
• Timing may be adjusted depending on:
  • roast profile
  • coffee-specific behavior
• However, they prefer to keep the immersion/hold timing constant and change other parameters as needed.

Evaluation tip (taste the discarded portion)

• Taste the discarded first 10 g and compare it to the retained portion.
• This helps show why it was removed:
  • sometimes it’s simply “worse”
  • sometimes it’s “really good,” but for their world-championship coffees it was not as good as the later portion
• Practical conclusion:
  • adding the discarded fraction would worsen the average cup because it tastes worse than the better part.

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Speakers / sources featured

• Simon Guntherin (also referenced as Simon Gautherin due to subtitle error) — runner-up, 2026 World Brewers Cup champion (as stated in subtitles)
• Interviewer / second speaker (unnamed in the subtitles) — asks questions and prompts the explanation