Why Does the 4:6 Brewing Method Require Five Pour Stages?

Often, the fame of a work surpasses that of its creator—think of the Mona Lisa and da Vinci, or the 4:6 brewing method and Tetsu Kasuya. That's why whenever we mention Tetsu Kasuya, we always introduce him as the inventor of the 4:6 brewing method! Today, we're going to share... Tetsu Kasuya's 4:6 brewing method from the 2016 World Brewers Cup champion! (Just having a bit of fun)

The 4:6 Brewing Method

As mentioned at the beginning, the "4:6 method" is a brewing technique invented by Tetsu Kasuya. Due to its simple and easy-to-understand extraction principles and operation, the 4:6 method not only sparked widespread discussion offline after he shared it, but many competitors have also applied it in competitions! Tetsu Kasuya's brewing method has always revolved around the core concept of "anyone can brew delicious coffee," and the 4:6 method is no exception.

Since the concept includes "anyone," does this mean that even beginners can brew delicious coffee simply by applying the formula parameters? The truth is, yes, it is indeed the case.

20g of coffee beans, ground coarsely, with water at 92°C. Divide a single brew into five water pours, with each pour being 60ml. No fancy techniques, no stable water control skills needed, and no deep understanding of the coffee beans is required—you just need to apply this formula, and you can brew a cup of delicious coffee!

Why Five Water Pours in the 4:6 Method?

As we all know, the 4:6 brewing method requires 5 pours of 60ml of hot water! This is similar to how there are actually five members in the "Four Heavenly Kings," or how the "fifteenth moon is roundest on the sixteenth day"—so it's perfectly reasonable that the 4:6 method is divided into five pours! But actually, the 4:6 brewing method doesn't refer to four pours of 60ml of hot water.

Tetsu Kasuya explains the 4:6 brewing method this way: "Divide a single brew evenly into 5 pours, with each pour amounting to 3 times the coffee dose. The first and second pours account for 40% of the total water volume and determine the flavor direction of the coffee (the balance between acidity and sweetness). The third, fourth, and fifth pours account for 60% of the total water volume and determine the intensity of the coffee's mouthfeel (body)."

In other words, the 4:6 brewing method refers to the collective name for the first and second pours versus the third, fourth, and fifth pours. Because these two extractions need to express different things, Tetsu Kasuya named this brewing method the "4:6 brewing method."

Brewing Experiment

Next, FrontStreet Coffee will use the 4:6 brewing method to make a pour-over coffee and see how it performs!

Coffee beans used: Ethiopia Santa Vieni (Flavor notes: pineapple, citrus, guava)
Coffee dose: 20g
Grind setting: Very coarse, 50% pass-through rate on #20 sieve
Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15 (300ml of hot water)
Water temperature: 92°C
Brewing method: 4:6 brewing method
Dripper used: V60

As mentioned earlier, there are five pours in total, each 60ml! And between each pour, there's an interval of "45 seconds"! This interval includes the pouring time (about 6-8 seconds per pour), meaning from your first pour to the next pour is a total of 45 seconds! The timing for each pour is as follows: 0 seconds - 45 seconds - 1 minute 30 seconds - 2 minutes 15 seconds - 3 minutes.

The drip finished at around 3 minutes and 40 seconds. Compared to conventionally brewed Santa Vieni, this coffee had a richer mouthfeel. The pineapple and citrus flavors were well-expressed, and there was also a noticeable tea-like quality. Overall, it leaned toward a balanced profile!

The reason why you can achieve such coffee flavor by simply applying the formula is mainly because the very coarse grind particles increase our margin for error. Often, people over-extract easily due to grinding too finely, so Tetsu Kasuya thought of using a coarser grind combined with a longer extraction time. This way, you can have the highest error tolerance to get a delicious cup of coffee!

The reason why each pour interval is 45 seconds is because 40-45 seconds is exactly the time it takes for 60ml of hot water to drip through at this grind size and coffee dose. Pouring the next segment of water after the water flow has finished means the resulting coffee will be very stable (provided the parameters are correct).

Beyond the Formula

Finally, the 4:6 method isn't limited to just this extraction formula. You can also divide the pouring method and water amounts arbitrarily according to its extraction philosophy. Don't be constrained by the surface formula—the extraction philosophy behind the brewing method is what we should truly focus on!

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