The 4:6 method, explained.
Tetsu Kasuya won the 2016 World Brewers Cup with a V60 recipe that does something no other recipe does: it separates the two things you actually want to control, and gives you a dial for each.
The idea in one paragraph
Divide your brew water into two parts — the first 40% and the remaining 60%. The first 40% sets the balance between sweetness and acidity. The last 60% sets the strength. Change one without touching the other. That is the whole method, and it is why it survives as a teaching recipe long after most competition routines are forgotten.
20 g coffee, 300 g water (1:15) · coarse grind, coarser than you would normally use on a V60 · water at 92–93 °C · five pours, one every 45 seconds · finished around 3:30.
The pours
| Time | Pour | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | 60 g | 60 g |
| 0:45 | 60 g | 120 g — end of the 40% |
| 1:30 | 60 g | 180 g |
| 2:15 | 60 g | 240 g |
| 3:00 | 60 g | 300 g |
Let the bed draw down between pours. If it hasn't cleared by the time the next pour is due, your grind is too fine for this recipe.
Dial one: sweetness against acidity
The first two pours make up the 40%. Their total stays at 120 g — what you change is how it is split between them.
| Split | Result |
|---|---|
| 50 g then 70 g | Sweeter, rounder, lower perceived acidity |
| 60 g then 60 g | Balanced — start here |
| 70 g then 50 g | Brighter, more acidity, more clarity |
The rule to remember: a smaller first pour gives you more sweetness, a larger first pour gives you more acidity. On a washed Ethiopian that is already screamingly bright, go smaller. On a sleepy washed Brazil that tastes flat, go larger.
Dial two: strength
The remaining 180 g is where you set concentration, and again the total does not change — only the number of pours it is broken into.
| Pours | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 × 180 g | Lightest, most tea-like |
| 2 × 90 g | Medium body |
| 3 × 60 g | Strongest, fullest body — Kasuya's own |
More pours means more agitation and more contact with fresh water, so more extraction. Fewer pours means a gentler, lighter cup.
Why the grind is coarse
Five separate pours add up to a long total brew time, and a normal V60 grind would over-extract badly by the end. Going coarser buys back the time. If your brew is finishing well past 3:30, or the bed is stalling between pours, coarsen further before you change anything else.
Common ways it goes wrong
- Grind too fine. The single most common fault. Long draw-downs, harsh finish, brew running to 4:30 or beyond.
- Pouring too fast. Each 60 g should take roughly 10 seconds. Dumping it in floods the bed and destroys the control the method is built on.
- Chasing both dials at once. Change the 40% split or the number of 60% pours — not both. The entire point is that they are independent.
- Scaling badly. Keep 1:15 and keep the percentages. For 15 g use 225 g water, so the 40% is 90 g and the 60% is 135 g.
Coffee Aeye ships the 4:6 method as a guided brew: it works out the pour weights for your dose, counts down each 45-second interval, and shows live weight from a Bluetooth scale so you can see each 60 g land. Rate the cup afterwards and it suggests which dial to move next time. Get it on Google Play.