I Regret to Inform You That You’re Using an Inferior Pour-Over Coffee Brewer

Coffee is the original biohack and the nation’s most popular productivity tool. As we adjust to the changeover to daylight saving time, the caffeine-addicted WIRED Reviews team is writing about our favorite coffee brewing routines and devices. Today, director Michael Calore expounds on his love for the Kalita Wave. Look out for other Java.Base stories about other WIRED writers’ favorite brewing methods.

Pour-over coffee has a reputation for being fussy. That’s well earned; if you’re using one of the popular pour-over brewers like a Chemex or a Hario V60, you have no doubt spent a good deal of time on trial and error. If you don’t dial in the grind size, heat your water to the correct temperature, or maneuver your kettle in a perfect spiral to evenly soak the coffee, it's easy to end up with an underextracted or acidic mess. It can force you to abandon pour-over altogether and go make amends with your Moccamaster.

There’s a better way—a method that is not only foolproof and requires almost none of that fastidiousness, but also results in a spectacular cup of coffee every single time.

I’m talking about the Kalita Wave, which has long been my favorite way to make coffee. This brewer, born in Japan a couple of decades ago, looks a lot like those other pour-over drippers. But where other brewers’ paper filters are cone-shaped, a Kalita’s filter ends in a 2-inch-wide flat bottom. Instead of letting coffee flow out through one rather large hole at the bottom of the filter, the Kalita drips coffee out more slowly through three small holes.

It’s a style of brewer called a flatbed, so named for that flat-bottomed filter. Kalita isn’t the only one—other notables include the Orea, the Timemore B75, and the December Dripper, a Kalita-style dripper with an adjustable aperture—but flatbeds have earned a sparkling reputation among both serious baristas and people who just want to make a good cup of coffee without feeling like they’re trying to win a blue ribbon at the science fair.

The trick is in the design. That flat bottom lets more of the coffee get fully saturated by distributing the water more evenly among the grounds. You can properly saturate your coffee in a V60 if you pour carefully, but with a Kalita Wave, since more of the grounds are collected at the filter's flat bottom, it’s easier to evenly wet them. The three small holes control the flow, restricting it just enough so the coffee is suitably extracted before it drips out.

The filter's wavy design makes it so the paper barely touches the side walls of the dripper. This keeps heat from transferring to the metal dripper, so the water—and your resulting coffee—stays the right temperature. (You've probably clocked that, yes, you will need special filters, but the cost is comparable to cone-shaped V60 filters: about 12 or 13 cents each.)

The upshot here is that anyone can make a reliably delicious cup. You'll get a full-bodied and flavorful brew even if you don't pay close attention to variables like grind size, water temperature, and saturation. It’s more forgiving on beans, too; the same coffee that can taste acidic in a V60 is mellower and noticeably sweeter in a flat-bottomed brewer.

Kalita Waves come in two sizes: 155 and 185. That number denotes the size of the filters. If you drink more than a single, 335-ml cup of coffee at a time, then there's no reason to get the smaller one. Go with the larger 185. I use the bigger boy to brew 500 or 600 ml of coffee every day and the results are always the same, always delicious.

For years, I’ve been using a classic, stainless steel Kalita 185, the valedictorian prom king of flatbed drippers. It does occasionally clog. A wet filter loaded up with water and soggy grounds can sag, and though there's a little platform for the filter to sit on at the bottom, a really saggy filter can sag enough to cover one or more of the holes, sloooow the drainage down, and serve up some overextracted muck. Clogs only happen once in a blue moon, though, and I like the durability and simplicity of the metal design, so I still recommend it—especially to people who are new to Kalita brewing, since it’s a low-cost and low-fuss route to lotusland.

But a more recent favorite has emerged. Last year, Kalita released a mino ware version of the Wave. This is a handsome style of Japanese ceramic with a rough glaze. The redesigned filter platform at the base of the brewer pretty much solves that saggy-cloggy problem, and it has larger holes that drain a little faster, which is helpful if your brew sizes trend large.

There's also a high-gloss ceramic version with a texture and look that resembles a classic diner-style coffee mug. It also has the larger holes. While these ceramic babies are super pretty, they’re more fragile. One drop and you could be out $30. Same with the all-glass versions.

So if you’re a klutz like me and you want a premium brewing experience, stick with the indestructibility of stainless steel, but consider upgrading your choice to Kalita's Tsubame dripper. It's a bit more costly, but it’s handmade from heavy-gauge steel, has the best handle of any Kalita, and looks goddamn gorgeous. Also, it has a no-clog design, and it delivers those same consistent results.

I’m not going to talk you into throwing away your V60. I still have mine and use it occasionally. My advice is just to add this to your lineup. See how good the coffee tastes. As you experiment with your Wave brewer, I wager you'll find yourself reaching for it more and more often. Soon, you'll be reaching for it every day.