How to make a killer filter brew coffee at home.

Beautiful design is not only stunning to look at, but it also can serve a functional purpose that improves both the experience and the outcome. This is definitely the case with the filter papers used with the Kalita Wave. These filter papers concentrate the hot water over your freshly ground coffee for an exceptional brewing experience. And the Kalita Wave is so flexible that you can use it at home or on the road. I take mine camping all the time! I recently filmed a What Would Dom Do episode on how I brew my filter coffee at home. In the video I walk you through, step-by-step, how to make a killer filter brew. And for your convenience after the video I have included all the notes from the show.

The show (and notes)

Equipment

• Kalita wave dripper
• Wave filters
• Spoon or paddle for stirring.
• Timer
• Scales
• Kettle
• Fresh roasted white horse coffee
• Grinder

You can get all you need at our online store here

Grinding

• Suggested grind size on a Porlex Grinder is setting number 6.
• Suggested grind on a Baratza encore is number 10.
• If you are using a v60 I would recommend 1 notch coarser as the corrugated filter accentuates water to coffee contact time and you will need to be 1 notch coarser to avoid over extraction.

Brew Ratio

In the video I use one of my favourite recipes, which is a little weaker than normal. I use 15g of coffee to 300g of water. However if you prefer stronger brews you can brew at the standard brew ratio of 18g to 300g. The total brew time for this brew recipe should be between 90 seconds and 2 minutes.

Brewing

Preheat filter paper and range server, this maintains temperature of brew water and maintains brewed coffee temperature for a better drinking experience. I don’t know anyone that likes lukewarm coffee. After the water has passed through the filter remember to empty this water from the carafe or cup so you can start brewing. Put ground coffee in the filter and settle. Then tare scale and start timer.

The Pour

 Bloom and pre-infuse coffee with hot water. I commonly use two, sometimes three times my dry coffee dose to hot water to pre wet the coffee. For eg: my dose was 15g of coffee to 30g of hot water for the bloom. After the initial pour agitate the coffee by stirring. It’s great to agitate your coffee for as long as possible, but take note that we want to be pouring more hot water at the 45 second mark. Also a pro tip is to not allow all of the water to pass through the bed of coffee before adding more water. Even if you have to start pouring again at 30 seconds. This is fine as long as you have ensured that all the coffee is wet and there are no dry pockets in the brew. This ensures that the remaining brewing of the coffee is consistent and we've given the coffee the best chance to be brewed and extracted by the water. Always pour in a steady motion, not slow, not fast, but steady in a circular pattern. Try not to pour in the centre of the cone as the water will pass through faster. Also don’t pour on the wall of the cone as the water hits the wall and runs down the side around the coffee. When you have added all of the water for the recipe just wait and enjoy. The total brew time for this brew recipe should be between 90 seconds and 2 minutes. If you are timing your extractions, use this as a final parameter for judging your extractions. Sometimes it’s difficult to know whether you are too fine or coarse and time is a good expression of what is happening. In this case if the brew took 60 seconds I would recommend a finer grind, and if it took around 2.5 minutes I would advise to grind coarser. I hope you enjoy your delicious filter brew and the video of how I like to make it at home. Dom