The Right Coffee Gear
For the best results, you need to start with the right equipment:
- Kalita Wave (obviously)
- Kalita Wave filters
- Good water
- Quality coffee grinder
- Coffee scale with timer
- Kettle
Making Better Coffee with the Kalita Wave
Let’s start with the wave – it comes in two sizes, the 185 and the 155. The 155 is a single serving brewer, but for the money, you are better off with the 185 which can do single serving and larger, or large single servings 🙂 Whatever size you choose, make sure you get the corresponding Kalita filters.
Step 1: Prepare the water
Start off by bringing your water to about 205 degrees. Alternatively you can bring your water to a boil, then remove from heat and let it sit about 30 seconds to a minute.
Step 2: Prepare the Kalita Wave coffee maker
Place the appropriately sized coffee filter in your Wave, then rinse it with with the hot water before you add the beans. This will get any loose paper residue off the filter and also heat up your coffee maker. Plastic coffee makers generally do not need to be heated up, but metal and ceramic makers and act as a heat sink and lower your brew temperature if not properly accounted for.
Step 3: Grind and add your coffee
Once you have heated the brewer, bring out about 18 grams of your favorite coffee beans and grind them evenly. You will want a medium coarseness as this is a flat bottom coffee maker brews slower than other pour overs such as the V60. Pour the grounds into the brewer and gently shake to make a nice even bed of coffee grounds.
Step 4: Prep your scale
Place your coffee maker and carafe or mug on your coffee scale and turn the scale on.
Step 5: First pour/bloom phase
Start your timer (or stopwatch if your scale doesn’t have a timer) and pour 60 grams of water over the coffee in a circular, swirling motion making sure that all of the grounds are evenly wet. This should take about 10-15 seconds. Wait until your timer reaches 30-45 seconds to give the coffee time to bloom – the coffee grounds will bubble and expand to let out carbon dioxide if they are recently roasted. You want to make sure all of the grounds are evenly wet, so some will lightly stir the grounds with a spoon or chopstick.
Step 6: Second pour
Once the bloom phase is over, add another 120g of water to bring the total water input to 180 grams and wait for the water to recede almost to the top of the coffee grounds without letting the coffee ground dry out.
Step 7: Final pour and serve
After the water has receded, add the remaining amount of water, approximately 108 additional grams to bring the water input up to 288g (16:1 water:coffee ratio).
The total brew time should take around 2:30-2:45.
From there all that is left is to serve, enjoy, and tag me on Facebook 😉