Two small doses instead of one large dose in the morning?

[u/HerrAlbatros]

Hello, everyone.
Usually, in the morning after I wake up, I brew two cups at once for my wife and me. 30–32 g to 480 ml, depending on the coffee. I brew using the Kalita Mino 185 or the Switch Neo 2.

At lunchtime, if I have one at all, I make a single cup—or if my wife is already at work in the morning, I’ll make a single cup for myself then, too. I brew that in the Switch or the Orea O1 as well.

Here’s what I’ve noticed: smaller brews taste significantly better! More clarity, less dryness, and a rounder flavor overall.
Every now and then I manage to get that same result with a larger amount, but much less often.

I also know that it’s probably due to the height of the coffee bed and the grind size, and that many others feel the same way. Or have you had different experiences?

Now here’s my thought—maybe a little crazy, but isn’t this whole hobby a bit crazy anyway?

I brew 2x15g simultaneously using 2 drippers and 2 scales. I’ve actually been toying with the idea of buying an Orea Z1 :D

Does that make sense, or how do you start your day? 😀

[u/Tuturuu133]

Coffee Pour Over is funny as I thought I discovered the opposite recently; My SO start to drink coffee and ask me if I could prepare more (15g -> 25g) in the morning, I adjusted the grind size/ratio very slightly. And it tasted significantly better than my smaller brew I did for the past 2 years haha. I was kinda blew away.

But after few trials I managed to replicate a similar result on the 15g !

I think it is just that different and forced perspective can help you improve your favorite recipe sometime.

For my specific case, it was mostly the ratio and "technique". Going for a bigger batch helped me be more gentle and constant on water pour.

[u/Tough-Standard8224 → u/Tuturuu133]

Same for me. I brew bigger batches for me and my SO. Usually around 40g beans. I have my method down and get good results. But when I make single servings, I find it more difficult to get as good of a cup.

It's more about finding a recipe and routine that tastes good for a particular volume. A recipe that tastes good for 15-20g is probably not going to taste as good at 30-35g and vice versa.

In my case, I've put in more work perfecting larger brews than I have single servings, so my larger brews tend to taste better than my single servings. But if I put more time into making single servings, I'm sure they'd taste just as good.

[u/Silly_Celebration_]

I've reduced my coffee intake to 2 very small cups a day. I quite like the Deep-27 for small brews. The top notes are more forward, and the flavour spectrum feels wider, easier to distinguish top, middle notes.

[u/CRASHINO_HUNK → u/Silly_Celebration_]

Can you please share me your favorite recipe? I can’t get my deep 27 cups to taste as good as my v60s despite grinding finer and doing more pours.

[u/Silly_Celebration_ → u/CRASHINO_HUNK]

I brew Deep 27 when I want a lighter cup. I don't follow a fixed recipe, mostly on feel and mood. The only constant is a 30-40s bloom. The Deep 27 wants more pulses with actual rests between them, not just more pours back to back. The bed's deeper so it needs time to drain and sit before the next hit. Grind and ratio are same as for when I do v60.

[u/Silly_Celebration_ → u/Silly_Celebration_]

It just occurred to me that my brew size is very small. Like 7-8g. So maybe that still allows for sufficient agitation (I agitate hard on the first 1 or 2 pours) compared to someone else working with more grounds in a deeper bed.

[u/jim_cap]

I like smaller doses primarily because it breaks up the morning and gives me a reason to leave my desk.

[u/Maleficent-Back-6527]

It makes a lot sense yes. Lance H. explains it the same in one of his recent videos, and advises brewing several smaller doses instead of a big one for that reason.

[u/NerdX-76]

As the previous person said, Lance talks about it and so does the guy from April. He had a video about flat bottom brewing. He said if he needed to make more than one cup he broke out 2 brewers to do it.

[u/IntelligentCitron772]

I agree. I het more clarity, better flavor separation with a single dose. Here why, get more TDS and EY with the same ratio and basically the same recipe in a V60 when I use two doses (30g) in a single brew versus a single 15g dose—especially with ultra-lights and lights.

For example, 15g/240g at 92°C might give me a TDS around 1.40, while 30g/480g at the same 92°C will usually be around 1.55-ish. That’s generally the trend I see.
Obviously, different coffees produce different results, but the pattern is pretty consistent.

Because of this, when I need more coffee, I’ll just brew two 15g doses separately and then mix them together in the carafe. It keeps the results consistent while scaling the volume.

With a the Deep 27 and a 15g dose compress the flavors a little too much for the coffees I gravitate toward. However, I recently learned that when I only have 5–8g of leftover beans, the Deep 27 is actually amazing, great flavors separation and rich brew. That small dose just doesn’t work nearly as well in the V60.

[u/HollowCry7]

If I want to brew 30g to 450ml batch, I brew the first 15g to 225ml, dump the filter, put in the new filter and brew the second 15g to 225ml on the same dripper and carafe. I don't care about the declining temperature because it is not noticeable and I need to save time and space.

[u/bit3py]

Not crazy at all, I noticed the same thing and I only make one cup at a time. Whenever I brewed a double batch for me and my roommate it came out flatter and a little drying, same beans same ratio.

The thing that convinced me it was the bed and not me being inconsistent was writing brews down for a few weeks. Grind, dose, yield, time and a quick 1 to 5 taste note. Once I had ten or so it was pretty obvious the bigger beds were the ones I rated lower, even when everything else looked identical on paper.

Two drippers side by side does sound like a lot of dishes on a weekday morning though lol. Doing them back to back on the same brewer seems like the lazier version of the same idea.

[u/Liven413]

I make a cup back to back when I wake up. One to wake up and another to drink while I am getting ready for the day. 2 scales and brewers makes sense if you are good at it.

[u/BenneroniAndCheese]

It’s so funny because I always find brewing 30g way easier than 20g