Kalita Wave recipe and dial-in guide
Updated
A flat-bottomed dripper with three small holes and fluted filters. The flat bed extracts evenly and is forgiving of an uneven pour.
A starting Kalita Wave recipe
This is where Cuplift starts a new Kalita Wave brewer before it knows anything about the coffee. Once you add a bean, the recipe adjusts for roast, process and altitude, then learns from what you taste.
| Size | Coffee | Water | Ratio | Grind | Temp | Target drawdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 155 | 12g | 200ml | 1:17 | 660µm (Medium-Coarse) | 94°C | ~3:00 |
| 185 | 18g | 300ml | 1:17 | 720µm (Medium-Coarse) | 94°C | ~3:30 |
Grind is in microns because a click means something different on every grinder. 660µm is about 22 clicks on a Comandante C40. Filter: Wave Paper (x1).
Steps (155)
- Rinse filter
- Add 12g coffee
- Bloom with 30ml at 94°C, gentle swirl, wait 45s
- Pour to 120ml in slow circles by 1:15, at 0:45
- Pour to 200ml by 2:00, at 1:15
- Drawdown complete by ~3:00
Dialling in a Kalita Wave
The Kalita Wave is a pour-over brewer, which decides which changes are open to you.
- Time the drawdown. A bed that stalls or gushes is the first thing to fix, because the cup can't be judged on a brew that didn't flow properly.
- Grind is your main extraction lever — finer to extract more, coarser to extract less.
- Pour height stands in for contact time: a higher, more energetic pour extracts more.
- Temperature and water minerals come after, once grind has had its turn.
Whatever the problem, change one thing per brew. The dial-in guide covers the order to fix things in.