Kalita Wave: what is this thing anyway?
The Kalita Wave is a dripper with a flat bottom and three holes. Sounds like nothing much, and yet it tastes different from a classic V60. The coffee comes out more chocolatey, sometimes almost dessert-like. The filter has a rippled wall too, so the water does not cling to the sides. Nerdy, I know, but it really does the job.
Kit and ingredients
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Kalita Wave 155 or 185. The size depends on whether you are brewing for yourself or for the room
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Wave filters, and do not economise here, the cheap ones come apart
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A grinder, hand or electric, as long as you grind fresh
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Scales. Sure, you can pour by eye, just do not complain afterwards
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Water at 93-95 °C, ideally low in minerals (Kryształ Beskidzki, a Polish low-mineral bottled water, or tap water through a Brita filter, whichever suits)
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Coffee roasted for filter. 18 g to 300 g of water is my sweet spot
(Yes, I know, 60 g per litre is straight out of the textbook. Relax, we are about to mess with it)
Which coffee for a Kalita Wave? Light roasts win
Ratio and grind
I run 1:16 to 1:17, because I like a lighter body. Grind? A touch finer than V60, coarser than a moka pot. Table salt, not icing sugar. If it runs through too fast, under 2 min 30 s, go finer. If the water sits there like a cork, go coarser.
(Aside: someone will tell you to buy a TDS meter. I say start with the taste, not the numbers)
Step by step
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Warm the kit
Rinse the filter with boiling water and tip the water out. You do not want that papery taste, honestly. -
Add 18 g of coffee
Zero the scales, or you will end up doing sums in your head and it will go badly. -
Bloom, 0 to 30 s
Pour twice the weight of the coffee, so roughly 36-40 g of water. Stir it with a stick so you do not leave dry patches. -
Main pour, 30 s to 1 min 30 s
Spiral your way up to 150 g. Slowly, no panic. The Kalita likes a steady pace. -
Top up, to 300 g of water
Around 1 min 30 s to 2 min. Keep circling and try not to dig into the bed. -
Total time
2:45 to 3:15. Any longer and you grind coarser or drop the dose. Shorter? You probably ground too coarse.
That is it. Pour it into your mug and you are done.
The usual ways to ruin it
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Channelling. The water runs down the side because you did not stir at the start.
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Sour as a lemon. Water too cool or the brew was too short.
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A bitter bomb. Ground too fine, extracted too long. Or the coffee is old, that happens too.
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Papery taste. You did not rinse the filter. A classic.
FAQ, or the questions that turn up on Instagram
Can I use tap water?
You can, but a jug filter will help, and in hard-water cities such as Warsaw it makes a real difference. Scale blocks the pores in the coffee and the flavour goes flat.
What if all I have is a cheap burr grinder?
It will do, but set it as coarse as it goes. If it produces dust, the Kalita will clog.
Is 15 g to 250 g of water fine too?
Of course. It will have less substance to it, but nobody is stopping you.
The lazy version
No scales?
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3 heaped spoons of coffee
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300 ml of water, up to the coffee mark on the kettle (yes, those exist)
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Pour half, count to thirty, pour the rest
It comes out surprisingly all right for something done by feel.
That is about all I have. Brew it, taste it, change something. If you find a better trick, tell me, because I would like to know.
