Have you heard of the 10,000-hour rule?

In order to become an expert in a certain field and achieve the leap from ordinary to extraordinary, ten thousand hours of training is a necessary condition.

After ten “failures” in making pour-over coffee, I decided to find out why.

At that time, I had paid attention to the water-to-powder ratio, water temperature control, extraction time, grinding degree, etc., but the most unsatisfactory thing was the poor water flow control when pouring water.

Watching the hand-brewed coffee video, the water flow speed is uniform and the water flow size is constant;

Look at the water flow from my hand, sometimes big, sometimes small, and sometimes intermittent.

Is it necessary to improve water flow control? How to improve water flow control?

I checked online again and was quite disappointed.

The argument on the Internet is actually: buy a good kettle, brew more times, and practice makes perfect?

Water flow size vs coffee taste is actually a detail that cannot be ignored:

If the water flow is too strong, it will destroy the structure of the coffee powder layer.

The water flow is too thin and weak, and it cannot penetrate the coffee powder layer;

The water flow is erratic and the coffee particles will touch the water unevenly.

In all of the above situations, the overall flavor of the coffee cannot be presented:

Insufficient extraction

Over extraction

Uneven extraction

The unsatisfactory results of ten cups of hand brewed coffee made me believe that besides wasting the coffee beans, I might not get the desired result even if I repeated it ten more times.

The 10,000-hour rule comes from the best-selling book "Outliers" by American writer Gladwell.

However, he also mentioned that the academic tradition of this law originated from the research discoveries of two scholars forty years ago.

I had already followed the clues and followed the research of these two scholars, and finally found their academic successor, psychologist Anders Ericsson.

His theory is more reliable:

The way to go from a novice to a master is not through repetitive practice, but through deliberate practice.

The core of deliberate practice:

Targeted and targeted

Focus

Timely feedback and proactive adjustments

Step out of your comfort zone

In short, only by targeting problems, finding the right mentor, and benchmarking against the best can we make further progress.

When playing hand pumping, you should also practice this deliberately.

Reflecting on it, my problem is that even with a good kettle, I can't pour out an even and long stream of water.

So, I became a disciple and immediately got two major tips:

1. The amount of water in the pot should not be less than two-thirds of the pot body;

2. Don’t fill the water with your hands, but use the strength of your arms.

The first problem is easy to fix, but the second problem requires practice.

How to practice?

1. Fixed-point water injection:

Place the V60 filter cup and sharing pot upside down without adding coffee powder; then use the spout of the pot to aim at the middle point of the leaking mouth of the filter cup and continue to pour water, first ensuring that the water flow is 90 degrees to the surface of the pot, then ensuring that the water flow is continuous, and then change the water flow size.

After practicing for a few pots, the water still couldn't drip at a uniform rate, and the hand holding the pot was still shaking.

You have to practice.

2. Water injection in a circle:

Turn the kettle body, let the water flow through the spout, and pour it in a circle along the wall of the filter cup at the water outlet, in a clockwise, counterclockwise, thin water flow, medium water flow, large water flow...

After practicing a few pots, the place where the water drips is sometimes high and sometimes low, while the wrists, arms and shoulders are still competing with each other.

You have to practice.

3. Timed water injection:

Turn on the small electronic scale, put on the hand-washing device, and fill the specified amount of water within the specified time...

After practicing for a few pots, the water flow was still unstable and my hands and eyes were still not coordinated.

You have to practice.

It is said that it is easy to learn how to make hand brewed coffee. In my opinion, if you don’t want to be particular, everything will be easy. If you want to be particular, there is no end to learning.

However, this sense of achievement in my heart comes continuously as I settle down and study hard.

This is an unexpected benefit from practicing hand pouring.