You often hear the terms ‘drip’ or ‘filtered’ coffee when referring to black coffee. This definitely leads you to question if those are two different types of coffee or are they the same thing?
Drip Coffee Vs Filtered Coffee
The two terms, drip and filtered, are usually used to refer to the same thing: Coffee that has been prepared with a ‘drip brewing method’, and those usually use a filter, making the coffee ‘filtered’.
Drip Coffee Methods:
Pour-Over Manual Dripping:
The most common form of drip brewing is when you put ground coffee into a paper filter in a cone placed over your cup or carafe, and then hot water passes slowly through the grounds. This is called ‘pour-over’ coffee, and famous tools for this method include: Chemex and Hario V60 Dripper. Because these tools use a filter as an essential part of the brewing, it is considered filtered coffee.
Automatic Drip Coffee Makers
These are also referred to as ‘filter’ coffee makers. It’s the traditional drip machines that most of us have used to make a pot of coffee. Like other dripping methods, this coffee maker requires that you use a filter that will catch the grounds and coffee sediments as the coffee brews.
So, like manual drip brewers, automatic coffee makers are also considered ‘filtered coffee’.
Pour Over vs Drip Coffee
Like I mentioned above, Pour-Over is a type of manual brewing method used to make drip coffee. Pour-Over is a ‘brewing method’ while ‘drip coffee’ simply refers to the fact that the coffee has been made using a drip style method.
But I also know that many people refer to ‘automatic brewing’ as drip coffee, so this question could also mean, what’s the difference between pour-over coffee and automatic drip coffee?
The biggest difference between the two, is that one requires manual operation while the other uses an automated process. With pour-over brewing, you have to carefully measure out grounds and water temperature and time, while automatic drip machines do all this work for you. So if you’re looking to have more control over your coffee, a manual brewer is the way to go. But if you’re looking for a more convenient and fast option, an automatic drip coffee maker is your best bet.
Taste:
When doing pour-over, you are in control of every aspect of the brewing process: water temperature, water flow speed and brew time. These aspects affect the taste of your coffee to a large degree, which means, even if you are using the same coffee beans, you can get different taste and notes of your brew, by simply playing around with your brewing technique.
But when it comes to automatic drip machines, there’s not much you can do or change. The machine is set to a certain standard that doesn’t allow you to control the brewing process. This means, your cup of coffee from this type of brewer will taste more consistent with each brew, but the taste won’t be as interesting or complex as pour-over brews.
Time:
While pour-over can produce a better and more complex cup of coffee, it’s a bit of a time consuming process when compared to automatic dripping.
Pour-over brewers require you to grind your beans and time the whole process correctly, while automatic drip machines just need you to fill up the water reservoir, the coffee ground basket and hit a button.
So pour-over isn’t the type of method to use if you’re someone rushing to work in the morning, or need to wake up to a pot full of coffee ready for you.
Which Is Better? Pour-Over or Drip Coffee Maker?
It’s important to note that, all of these refer to the same thing: pour-over, is the same as drip coffee, and they’re all ‘filtered coffee’.
Pour-over as a method, is a great way to prepare coffee, if you have the time. By learning different techniques, you can really develop a new taste for coffee that an automatic machine can never achieve.
On the other hand, automatic drip machines are convenient and great every day tool. While it’s true, you don’t have much control over the brewing process, it’s also great that they’re programmable and can have your coffee ready for you whenever you need it.
Conclusion
To sum it up, ‘drip’ and ‘filtered’ coffee are terms that are often used interchangeably to refer to coffee brewed with an automatic machine. While ‘pour-over’ is a manual brewing method, the coffee produced from manual tools are also considered filtered coffee.
When it comes to deciding which one is better, that all depends on your own preferences. If you’re someone who has the time and wants to explore different taste profiles in their coffee, pour-over is the way to go. But if you’re someone who needs that convenience and reliability, an automatic drip coffee maker is the perfect option.
If you’re worried about the coffee being filtered or not, rest assured that all of these brewing methods require paper or other type of filtration that holds the grounds and filters out coffee oils and sediments that could be harmful or cause your coffee to taste bitter.
