Two years with the Kalita Wave
I bought the Kalita in a sale in October 2024 because the V60 kept giving me cups that tasted different every morning, and I was tired of blaming the beans. Two years later it's still the brewer I reach for on weekdays, so I figured it deserves a proper write-up instead of the half-sentence it got in the gear page.
The short version: it's boring, and boring is the point. Three small holes and a flat bed mean the water sits with the coffee for roughly the same time no matter how sloppy my pour is. I can talk to someone in the kitchen while brewing and the cup comes out fine. With the V60 that never worked.
What I actually do
15 g of coffee, 250 g of water just off the boil (my kettle says 94°C by the time it hits the bed). Grind is 22 clicks on the Comandante, which is coarser than most recipes online suggest. Bloom with 40 g, wait 40 seconds, then pour in four roughly equal pulses every 20–25 seconds. Total time lands around 3:15. If it runs past 3:45 I go two clicks coarser next time and stop thinking about it.
I don't swirl, I don't stir, I don't do the Rao spin. I tried all of them for a month and couldn't reliably taste the difference in a blind test my partner set up for me (I got 5 of 9 right, which is a coin flip with extra steps).
The annoying parts
The filters. Wave 185 filters are not available everywhere and the cheap knock-offs collapse on the sides. I order three packs at a time now. The stainless version also scratches easily, mine looks like it's been through a war, though that doesn't affect anything.
It's also a bit forgiving in a way that flattens some coffees. A really floral Ethiopian tastes better, more defined, out of the V60 when I get the V60 right. Which is maybe once a week.
Would I buy it again? Yes. Would I tell someone to buy it as their first brewer? Also yes, probably over anything else, except maybe a Clever if they want zero technique at all.