What Is Drip Coffee?

What Is Drip Coffee And Is It Any Good?

You may not know the term "drip coffee," but you had drip coffee if you have ever drank coffee. Drip is mainly used as a way of distinguishing coffee from espresso. It's confusing, but all the confusion should clear up by the end of this article.

Drip coffee refers to the coffee's brewing method. In an automatic coffee maker, a heating element heats the water as it flows upwards to a showerhead it drips onto the filter full of ground coffee. The brewed liquid flows out of the basket into a carafe.

Naturally, you will have many questions about drip coffee if you have never heard of it before. This article will discuss the flavor of drip coffee and discuss how it compares to pour-over and other coffees.

What Is Special About Drip Coffee?

The paper filters for drip coffee trap oils present in espresso, percolator coffee, or French press. Unlike espresso, drip coffee depends on thermally induced pressure to bring it to the showerhead, and gravity pulls it down through the coffee grounds. As a result, it doesn't dissolve much of the coffee's soluble mass.

Drip coffee is the resulting brew of an automatic process. You put the coffee grinds in, pour the water in and press the button. Select the cups you want, set the timer, so the coffee maker stops blinking, and that's it. This brewing method is straightforward, affordable, and common among Americans where "drip coffee" is known simply as "coffee."

Is Drip Coffee Any Good?

Drip coffee can be good; make sure that you use freshly ground coffee beans. Drip coffee is often compared to pour-over, and drip coffee often falls short compared to the bold flavors of pour-over coffee. The pour-over process takes longer, enhancing the flavor as the water has time to extract the oils and flavors from the grounds.

Both can be tasty, and drip can be strong and bold. Instead, it's tasty and savory, well-bodied with a simple, smooth flavor.

Is Drip Coffee Better Than Instant?

Firstly, let's discuss what instant coffee is. Instant coffee is a dry form of pre-brewed coffee. It was invented to offer an instant alternative to the standard brewing process. As drip coffee is brewed from ground coffee, it involves extracting the coffee out of the beans and into your mug by adding hot water and percolating. You will have a brewed coffee and used grounds at the end of the process.

Instant coffee only needs the addition of water. There is no extraction time as it already went through the brewing process in a factory. Compared to ground coffee, instant coffee granules dissolve once the water is added, and there is no waste product at the end.

When it comes to the taste of both coffees, there is no comparison. Drip coffee is undeniably better than instant. One of the main reasons instant coffee tastes terrible is that it's often made with Robusta beans. As a result, a substantial amount of caffeine is lost during production, although Robusta's naturally higher caffeine content usually balances this out. However, this spoils the taste of the drink.

While you should only drink regular ground coffee, in certain circumstances like traveling or camping, there's nothing like the convenience of the powdered stuff. In addition, instant coffee won't go stale. Instant coffee also works well in cakes, marinades, and smoothies.

Is Drip Coffee The Same As Filter Coffee?

Drip and filter coffee are parts of the same process. Drip is a process whereby hot water drips through the coffee grounds to extract flavor. The filter is what holds the grounds as you drip the coffee through; the filter traps the grounds while letting the coffee through. Drip brewers are also filtered brewers as you drip water through the coffee grounds held in a filter.

The filtered process is involved in many brewing methods, so you must be specific to indicate the type of process:

• Pourover - hand-poured coffee through a filter

• Clever dripper - filtered coffee brewed by immersing grinds in water in a coffee maker that looks like a drip, but the water doesn't drip. Instead, a valve is released for the water to pour and drip through.

• Automatic- coffee brewed with an automatic coffee maker that drips through a filter

• Aeropress, Chemex, etc

Is There A Difference Between Pour Over And Drip?

Pour over and drip are similar in how you saturate the grounds with water then collect the liquid while it passes through the filter. However, one of the main issues with drip coffee is that you have little control over how the coffee maker brews the coffee.

The pour-over brew method offers you more control over the water temperature, the speed at which it goes through the coffee grounds, how much it makes, and brew time. As a result, coffee purists prefer this method to allow them more control over the resulting brew.

While the concept of these two brew methods is the same, the difference lies within the finer details of the brewing process and resulting product. Therefore, to decide which method you prefer, you must understand what makes them different:

1. Quality

The quality of coffee can be subjective as everyone has their preferences. Some people prefer a dark roast, while others prefer medium or light. The user has the freedom to customize to create the quality they want. Pour-over offers the most variety as it is an entirely manual process. However, the pour-over method requires a lot of skill and attention to detail.

The drip method is faster and more reliable, but it delivers an average cup as you have little control over the process.

2. Control

Pour-over offers the user more options than the traditional drip. With the electric drip coffee makers, you control the quantity and ratio of grounds to water, but nothing else. You will have no control over the water temperature, brew time, or pour speed.

With the pour-over method, the user is in charge of virtually every part of the process, and each variable makes a significant difference in the brew's taste and texture.

3. Time

Even though the brewing process takes almost the same amount of time for the two methods, pour-over needs more attention and preparation. When using a traditional drip coffee machine, you pour in the water, add the filter and grounds, push a button, and your coffee is ready for you after a few minutes.

The pour-over is by far more complicated. You must heat the water, put it in the filter and coffee grounds, and pour the water continuously over several minutes. As a result, this is a less popular method for individuals with limited time to make their cuppa.

4. Durability

Most pour-overs are made of stainless steel, ceramic, or glass, so they tend to last a lifetime if you take reasonable care of them and don't drop your device or break it.

Electric coffee makers are famously fickle, especially if you buy a lower-quality model, and they will only last a few years before you have to buy another one. If you want a coffee maker that will last a lifetime, pour-over is better.

5. Cleanliness

Coffee not only stains our clothes and teeth, but it can also stain the device you prepare it in. As most pour-overs are made out of ceramic, stainless steel, or glass, you must keep them continuously clean to prevent stains and build-up. In addition, these devices are usually only made out of one or two pieces of material, making them easier to clean.

These machines are difficult to keep dry as they are used daily. In addition, the continuous damp environment is ideal for bacteria to flourish. On the other hand, drip coffee makers can be a challenge to keep clean as the water and coffee go through numerous parts of the machine, so they require complete disassembly.

Drip Vs. Espresso

The main difference between drip and espresso is the brew method, as it has a significant impact on the final flavor profile of the drink. Espresso is a concentrated shot of coffee; thus, bitterness and acids are in higher concentrations.

Coffee flavors come through differently in drip vs. espresso; the reason for this lies in concentration. Espresso is nearly eight times as strong as drip coffee, and drinking a highly concentrated brew of the same coffee will pronounce certain flavors. The main components of flavor include acidity, sweetness, and bitterness.

Bitterness is another macro coffee flavor; in espresso, this will feature in much higher concentrations than in drip coffee. However, espresso extractions have a higher level of acidity. Therefore, acids will be the first to come through in both brew methods.

The best brew, be it espresso or drip coffee, should be balanced across the three elements; as espresso will always have a higher concentration of acid and bitter flavors, drip coffee will always be easier to balance out.

Final Thoughts

Drip coffee is mainly a way of distinguishing coffee from espresso, and it is so-called due to the way you brew it. Drip coffee needs thermal pressure to send it to the showerhead; gravity pulls it down through the grounds. This brewing method is easy, and there is less human involvement than other brewing methods.