In 2016, a relatively unknown barista named Tetsu Kasuya walked onto the World Brewers Cup stage in Dublin and changed pour-over forever. His winning recipe — now known as the 4:6 method — is the rare brewing approach that's both championship-grade and genuinely simple to learn at home.
What makes the 4:6 method special isn't the gear or the precision. It's the underlying insight: you can independently control the sweetness and the strength of your cup by splitting your pours into two phases.
"The first 40% of water determines taste. The last 60% determines strength." — Tetsu Kasuya
The Theory in 60 Seconds
The 4:6 method splits your total water (typically 300g) into two phases:
- The first 40% (120g) is divided into two pours. These early pours pull out the acidity and sweetness from the coffee. The ratio between these two pours controls how sweet vs. acidic your cup tastes.
- The remaining 60% (180g) is divided into three pours. These later pours determine the body and strength. More pours = lighter cup. Fewer pours = stronger cup.
That's the whole framework. Five pours, two phases, and a recipe you can tune in either direction depending on the bean.
The Standard Recipe
- Coffee
- 20g (medium-coarse grind, similar to coarse sea salt)
- Water
- 300g at 92–94°C
- Ratio
- 1:15 (coffee to water)
- Brewer
- Hario V60 02 with paper filter
- Total time
- 3:30 – 4:00 minutes
Step-by-Step: The Standard 4:6 Pour
Rinse your paper filter with hot water. Discard. Add 20g of ground coffee, level it, and place on your scale. Start your timer when the first drop of water hits the grounds.
Total drawdown should finish around 3:30–4:00. If it's much faster, grind finer. If much slower, grind coarser.
How to Tune the Recipe
Cup too sour? Make pour 1 smaller, pour 2 bigger.
Try 50g + 70g for the first 40% phase. This emphasises sweetness over acidity.
Cup too flat / not bright enough? Make pour 1 bigger.
Try 70g + 50g. This pushes acidity to the front of the cup — great for darker roasts that taste dull at the standard ratio.
Cup too strong / overwhelming?
Split the 60% phase into four pours instead of three (so 7 pours total). More pulses = a cleaner, lighter body.
Cup too thin / weak?
Split the 60% phase into two pours instead of three (so 4 pours total). Fewer pulses concentrates extraction and gives a heavier body.
Why It Works So Well at Home
Most pour-over recipes ask you to nail one variable perfectly. The 4:6 method is forgiving because it gives you two independent dials — flavour balance and body — that you can adjust without re-learning the whole recipe.
It's especially good for the kind of single-origin light roasts Bloom Daily ships from Jpresso and Richman, where the goal is to draw out floral, fruit-forward notes without turning the cup sour. Start with the standard recipe, then nudge the first two pours based on how the coffee tastes today.
One last note: weigh everything. The 4:6 method is built on precise water ratios. A RM150 brewing scale (we recommend the Timemore Black Mirror Nano in our shop) pays for itself in better coffee within a week.
Try the 4:6 with our Filter Roast subscription.
Single-origin light roasts curated monthly by your chosen roastery — built for pour-over.
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