How to Brew with a Kalita Wave
A flat bed and three small holes instead of one big one, which takes most of the pour technique out of the equation. The dripper that is hardest to ruin.
At a glance
- Coffee : water
- 1:15.5
- Active time
- 2 min
- Total time
- 6 min
- Makes
- 1 large cup
- Serve
- Hot
- Kit
- Kalita Wave 185
Ingredients
Note: The fluted wave filters are specific to this dripper. A flat-bottom basket filter is not the same thing.
Method
-
Rinse and load
Sit the wave filter in the dripper, rinse it through with hot water, tip the water out. Add the coffee and shake it level.
-
Bloom with 50 g
Pour 50 g over the whole surface and leave it. No swirl needed: the flat base wets evenly on its own.
Bloom 40 seconds -
Pour in pulses
Add roughly 60 g at a time in small circles in the middle, waiting until the water has almost drained before the next pour. Four or five pulses gets you to 310 g.
Keep the pours small and central. The flutes keep the grounds off the wall without any help from you.
-
Let it finish
Total time should land between 3:00 and 3:30. The bed will be flat and even when it drains, which is the sign the extraction was too.
Finish by 3:30
Why this works
A cone concentrates coffee at the point, so the water at the bottom passes through far more grounds than the water at the edge. The Wave's flat base spreads the bed to an even depth, so every path through it is roughly the same length. That is the whole design, and it is why the Wave is so much more forgiving of a sloppy pour.
The three small holes restrict flow in a way a single large hole does not, which means the dripper sets a good part of the brew time rather than leaving all of it to your grind. You get a narrower band of outcomes: harder to make something exceptional, much harder to make something bad.
The flutes are structural. They hold the paper off the metal so water can move down the sides, and they stop the filter sealing itself against the wall. They also mean grounds never stick high and dry up the edge, which is the usual failure in a cone.
Pulse pouring suits it. Because the bed is shallow and flat, repeated small pours keep the slurry at a consistent depth rather than flooding it, and that evenness is where the clean, sweet cup comes from.
Variations
- Single cup: use the 155 size with 15 g to 230 g.
- Stronger: 1:15 and one more pulse.
- Iced: 20 g coffee, 200 g water, poured over 110 g of ice.
Made it?
Ratings are the most useful thing you can leave. They tell me which recipes need another pass.
No ratings yet. Be the first.
Questions
Kalita Wave or V60?
The V60 rewards precision and gives you more room to tune a cup. The Wave is steadier and more forgiving. If your pour over results swing between great and awful, the Wave will narrow that spread.
Steel, glass or ceramic?
Steel is nearly unbreakable and loses heat fastest, so preheat it. Ceramic and glass hold heat better once warmed. The brew itself is the same.
Can I use a flat basket filter instead?
Not really. A flat basket paper has no flutes, so it seals against the metal and the brew stalls. The wave shape is doing a job.