Pour-Over Coffee 4:6 Brewing Method World Barista Championship Hand-Ground Coffee Brewing Steps

Many coffee enthusiasts have heard of the "4:6 Brewing Method," where coffee professionals and fans often mention that this extraction method produces coffee that is notably sweet and rich. However, few share what exactly the "4" and "6" represent, or what the purpose of this brewing method is... This has led many coffee lovers to brew a "failed" cup of coffee without understanding the principles.

What is the "4:6 Brewing Method"?

The 4:6 brewing method was developed by Tetsu Kasuya, the 2016 World Brewers Cup Championship (WBRC) winner, and was the brewing technique he used during the competition. Many people assume that the 4:6 method simply divides the total water injection into two stages - with 40% of water poured in the first stage and the remaining 60% in the second stage... This is not the case!

According to Tetsu Kasuya's explanation of his 4:6 brewing method philosophy, he divides the brewing process into five water pours. The first and second pours deliver 40% of the total water volume, and this stage determines the overall aroma and flavor direction of the coffee, while also achieving balanced extraction of sweet and sour compounds. The third through fifth pours deliver the remaining 60% of the total water volume, and this stage determines the overall texture and body of the coffee - essentially its richness and thickness.

This extraction method cannot make all coffee taste better, but it can enhance the sweetness and body of most coffees, especially light to medium roast beans. For coffee beans typically rich in floral and fruity aromas with bright acidity, achieving a substantial texture while maintaining balanced sweet and sour notes is indeed challenging. Often, when coffee has good sweet-sour balance or bright acidity, the mouthfeel tends to be somewhat thin; conversely, when coffee has a substantial texture, the sweet-sour balance may become disrupted or develop astringent qualities. For medium-dark to dark roast coffee beans, using the 4:6 method can easily backfire.

Using the 4:6 method requires pairing with a V60 dripper, controlling the extraction of compounds at each stage through segmented pours, allowing the acidic notes (main coffee flavors), sweetness, and body of light to medium roast coffee to be fully expressed.

How to brew with the "4:6 Brewing Method"?

The V60 dripper is recommended because its spiral rib design creates ventilation channels between the filter paper and cup walls, accelerating water flow. The large dripper aperture design prevents coffee grounds from easily causing blockages. Since the 4:6 method involves multiple pour segments with a longer total extraction time, it needs to be paired with a fast-flowing dripper to better ensure that flavor compounds are not over-extracted.

FrontStreet Coffee used sun-dried Red Cherry coffee beans from Yirgacheffe for this brewing demonstration. The brewing parameters were: 20g of coffee grounds with a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio (20g of coffee with 300g of hot water), and a brewing temperature of 91-92°C. The coffee grind size also needs adjustment! For most light to medium roast coffee beans, FrontStreet Coffee typically recommends a fine sugar grind size (80% retention rate on Chinese standard sieves), but the grind size for the 4:6 brewing method cannot be fine! FrontStreet Coffee recommends using a coarse grind similar to raw sugar size (50% retention rate on Chinese standard sieves).

For this brewing session, the total water volume was divided into 5 equal pours of 60g each, with each pour taking 5-6 seconds. Start the timer and begin the first circular pour of 60g; when the timer reaches 0'45", perform the second pour, again with 60g in a circular motion (total water now 120g); when the timer reaches 1'30", perform the third pour, continuing with 60g in a circular motion (total water now 180g);

when the timer reaches 2'15", perform the fourth pour - yes, another 60g circular pour (total water now 240g); when the timer reaches 3'00", perform the fifth pour, adding the final 60g in a circular motion and wait for the coffee extraction to complete, with a total extraction time of approximately 3 minutes and 20 seconds.

The Variability of the "4:6 Brewing Method"

The water volumes for each pour segment in the 4:6 brewing method are not fixed. Following the philosophy of "40% determines flavor, 60% determines texture," we can adjust the water volume of individual pours during the flavor extraction stage to enhance acidity or sweetness. Pouring 70g in the first segment and 50g in the second will make the coffee's acidity more pronounced; pouring 50g in the first segment and 70g in the second will make the coffee's sweetness more prominent.

During the bloom stage, coffee typically absorbs only about twice its weight in water. If too much water is poured in the first segment, some water will quickly pass through the coffee bed into the server below. This dripping coffee liquid is in an "under-extracted" state: acidity has been extracted but sweetness has not. Don't underestimate these few drops of coffee liquid - their concentration is sufficient to noticeably enhance the overall acidity of the coffee.

During the texture stage, you can control the release of body-enhancing compounds by increasing or decreasing the number of pours. Typically, by the texture stage, most of the coffee's main flavor compounds have already been extracted, and what's released in this stage are mostly bitter compounds, which, in appropriate amounts, can increase the overall body/substantial texture of the coffee. If you want a lighter body/more refreshing coffee overall, you can reduce one pour segment (dividing into two pours of 90g each; the entire brewing process would have four segments total); if you want a more prominent body/more substantial coffee overall, you can add one pour segment (dividing into four pours of 45g each; the entire brewing process would have six segments total).

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style). For more specialty coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: kaixinguoguo0925

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