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But like all great things, it’s never as simple as it looks. There are many who say that a truly smooth,
consistent cup of coffee requires agitation.
So what is agitation? How do the experts advise agitating your filter coffee? And most importantly,
does it guarantee a better cup? Let’s find out.
What Is Agitation?
Let’s start with the basics. We know that the filter process has two steps: one, wet ground coffee with
a small amount of hot water so it blooms for approximately half a minute; two, continue to pour the
remaining water over the grounds so that coffee slowly drips into our collecting vessel.
But then there’s agitation (also called turbulence). It’s kind of like having a younger sibling prod at
you while you’ve got stuff to do – but not quite as negative. Oh, and you’re the sibling.
Simply put, agitation is a mild disturbance – hence the term “agitation” – of the coffee grounds during
the brew process. There are many ways to agitate coffee, all with their own advocates. Before we look
at how to agitate, let’s look at why you’d want to.
One common issue that can occur in filter (and espresso) coffee is channeling. Water always takes the
route of least resistance. Therefore, if the coffee grounds are unevenly piled or unevenly soaked, the
water will create channels through the grounds. It will extract the coffee near the channels more than
the rest.
Channeling can be exacerbated by pouring water too quickly or in an irregular motion. For example,
this can leave coffee grounds “high and dry” on the filter, where they can’t be extracted. Some people
also find that pulse pouring (i.e. doing several small pours instead of long ones) can help avoid these
high-and-dry grinds.
Agitation, on the other hand, will disperse grounds and, in doing so, help ensure even extraction. Of
course, it’s not the only factor that is important for consistency. If you want to make the same great-
tasting coffee every day, try to also standardize your dose, brew temperature, brewer and filter choice,
direction and rate of pour, water quality, grind size, and brew time.
You’ll also hear people talk about a flush. This means pouring the last milliliters of water along the
very edges of the brew, where it can “flush” any high-and-dry grounds back into the mix.
Agitation can also happen through other actions such as tapping the dripper, swirling the brew,
controlling the rate and heaviness of pouring, and more.
Shortly after winning the World Brewers Cup Championship in 2012 with a V60, Matt Perger shared
the video below breaking down his technique. You’ll notice he stirs the bloom (“stir it like a bandit”),
controls the direction of his pours (ever-expanding concentric circles), uses the force of them to prevent
high-and-drys, pulse pours, and finishes by lifting and tapping the V60 to create a level bed with
minimal clumps.
You’ll also have noticed that he refers to a Rao Spin – something that causes the water to spiral in the
brewer and more evenly soak the water. As you might have guessed, it’s named after Scott Rao.
While Rao didn’t invent the technique, it’s based on his work and he’s also endorsed it. In his words,
“it minimizes channeling during the final drawdown and creates a flat spent bed every brew. It’s so
good, I wish I had invented it.”
It’s also possible to manually create a Rao Spin through slightly agitating the dripper. Here’s a seven-
second video from Rao that demonstrates this:
The wonderful thing about third wave coffee is the ability to experiment. So jump straight in,
experiment with agitation, and see if it works for you.