NextLevel Pulsar Recipes and Recommendations

 
 

As many of you know, the much-anticipated NextLevel Pulsar launched earlier this month. The Pulsar is a collaboration between Jonathan Gagné, astrophysicist, coffee nerd, and author of The Physics of Filter Coffee, and NextLevel, manufacturer of the LVL10, and now the Pulsar. When the first generation of such brewers hit the market, Jonathan dubbed them “no bypass” because, unlike most coffee drippers, these brewers do not offer the water a way to bypass the coffee bed. The Tricolate and LVL10 were the most prominent no-bypass brewers. After using those brewers for some time, Jonathan realized they could be improved by the addition of a valve to allow a the grounds to stay submerged throughout the bloom, and by changing a few other features, such as the shower screen. The result is a dripper that makes great coffee and even extractions incredibly easy to achieve.

By now the first customers should have received their Pulsars, so I’d like to offer some tips here. While there are myriad ways to use the Pulsar, I recommend this as a starting recipe and technique before trying variations.

What you’ll need:

 

Here’s a video of me making a Pulsar using this recipe

 

Recipe outline:

  • 25g coffee, ground coarser than for hand pour, finer than batch brew

  • Prewet with 75g boiling water

  • Bloom 45-60 seconds

  • Total brew time of 3:30-4:30

  • 17:1 ratio of water: coffee (by weight)

Technique

  • Grind 25g of coffee coarser than for pourover, finer than for batch brew

  • Boil water.

  • Set filter in base of Pulsar

  • Wet filter in Pulsar base with hot water, with valve open

  • Drain water

  • Mount barrel firmly on base, with threaded side of barrel down

  • Pour coffee in Pulsar

  • Shake Pulsar to level grounds, or use a WDT tool to stir and level grounds

  • Start timer

  • With valve open, pour 75g water just off the boil

  • Immediately close valve

  • at 45-50 seconds, Pour enough water to make slurry height 1cm above the grounds

  • Open valve

  • Pour in several short bursts. Attempt to maintain a slurry height of 1cm — 2cm during the entire brewing process

  • Swirl Pulsar gently, immediately after last pour

Notes and Pro Tips

I prefer water chemistry with approximately 100 ppm general hardness and 40 ppm alkalinity for most coffees

For the uber-geeks, an 800-micron PSD peak is about the right grind size for a 25-g dose

I recommend using no less than 20g; 25g—30g provides adequate bed depth to decrease risk of astringency

Use WWDT (Wet Weiss Distribution Technique) during the bloom to ensure even flow through the coffee bed

If total brew time is shorter than 3:30, grind finer

If total brew time is longer than 4:30, grind coarser

Short blooms seem to enhance clarity and aroma

Longer blooms seem to enhance body and texture


For an in-depth discussion of the Pulsar and more tips, please see Jonathan’s recent blog post

Scott Rao