What are the differences between pour-over coffee drippers: V60, Kalita, and Wave? Does the pouring technique need to change?

Pour Over Water Circle Techniques for Different Filter Cups

Recently, FrontStreet Coffee shared an article on how to brew coffee with an attractive coffee bed. Some newcomers to coffee brewing sent private messages asking FrontStreet Coffee: "Should the circular pouring route for a trapezoidal filter cup also be circular?" and "What should I pay attention to when pouring water into a trapezoidal filter cup?"

To accommodate new friends who are just starting with pour-over coffee and unfamiliar with various filter cups, FrontStreet Coffee would like to share the specific details of water circular pouring for different filter cups.

Why Pour Water in Circles?

Circular pouring is used to stir and scour the coffee powder layer with the water flow, assisting water in extracting flavor compounds from the coffee, ultimately achieving uniform extraction of the coffee powder layer. Key point: uniform extraction is our primary goal when pouring water in circles.

Currently, there are three main types of popular pour-over filter cups on the market: cone-shaped filter cups, trapezoidal filter cups, and flat-bottom filter cups. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will demonstrate using the V60 (cone-shaped filter cup), Kalita (trapezoidal filter cup), and Wave filter cup (flat-bottom filter cup).

1. V60 Cone-Shaped Filter Cup

As the "representative" of cone-shaped filter cups, the V60 is likely familiar to everyone. Looking at the filter cup from a side profile, the coffee powder layer in a cone-shaped filter cup forms a triangle shape, with the coffee powder layer becoming thicker closer to the central hole and thinner toward the edges.

Therefore, when using a cone-shaped filter cup for circular pouring, we need to start pouring from the center, slowly moving outward in a circular "mosquito coil" pattern. When reaching the outermost circle, we slowly circle back toward the center, repeating this cycle to achieve uniform extraction.

2. Kalita Trapezoidal Filter Cup

The Kalita filter cup is a classic three-hole trapezoidal filter cup. Observed from the side, it presents a shape that is wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, resembling a trapezoid. This design helps concentrate water flow, while the elliptical top provides a wider area to ensure even distribution of coffee particles, reducing stacking situations, unlike cone-shaped filter cups where the powder layer thickness varies significantly.

Because the trapezoidal filter cup opening is elliptical, making uniform pouring more challenging than with cone-shaped filter cups, the circular pouring mainly follows an "elliptical mosquito coil" pattern. Similarly, starting from the center, the "mosquito coil" route changes from circular to elliptical to achieve uniform extraction.

3. Wave Filter Cup (Flat-Bottom Filter Cup)

The Wave filter cup can be considered the "originator" of flat-bottom (or cake) filter cups, first designed and launched by Kalita Company (slightly later than the trapezoidal filter cup). The flat-bottom filter cup retains the circular opening like cone-shaped filter cups and features a special flat-bottom design, making the powder layer more uniform and consistent from top to bottom in the filter cup.

The flat-bottom filter cup requires specialized filter paper. Because its shape resembles a paper cup cake, flat-bottom filter cups are also called cake filter cups. The special filter paper shape weakens the effect of the filter cup's flow channels, which also increases our requirements for pouring. When circling, the water flow must not touch the concave filter paper to prevent collapsing the coffee powder wall.

Similar to cone-shaped filter cups, pouring starts from the center, slowly moving outward in a circular "mosquito coil" pattern, but the maximum circular route should be at the inner fold of the cake filter paper, finally slowly circling back toward the center.

What to Do With Unsteady Hands and Inconsistent Water Flow?

For newcomers to pour-over coffee, it's understandable that controlling water flow may not be perfect. If you want to reduce the impact of brewing techniques on coffee extraction, you can adopt a fixed center pouring method after the bloom. This uses water flow diffusion and soaking to extract coffee, requiring only focus on controlling the water flow size without worrying about unstable water flow causing uneven stirring of coffee powder, leading to uneven extraction.

The circular routes explained by FrontStreet Coffee here are mainly to help newcomers to pour-over coffee more quickly understand and familiarize themselves with their filter cups. In reality, there are too many classifications of filter cups from model to material. When your water flow practice reaches a stable and controllable level, you can advance to trying more different filter cups paired with different brewing techniques, experimenting to compare the specific differences of each filter cup, and summarizing your own understanding of filter cups.

Finally, FrontStreet Coffee believes there are thousands of ways to brew a delicious cup of coffee. As long as we study more and practice more, mastering various filter cups and techniques for pour-over coffee is not difficult.

FrontStreet Coffee

No. 10, Bao'an Front Street, Yandun Road, Dongshankou, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province

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