# Using the Kalita wave 155 vs the 185



## rgoodcoffee (May 25, 2016)

Hi all,

so ive just received the Kalita wave 155 in SS as a birthday present, which I'm excited to get started using.

HOWEVER, I'm just wondering how the 155 compares to the 185 if you were brewing for just one cup? From comparing the two brewers, they seem to have quite different shapes. The 155 version seems to have much more vertical edges than the 185, which is a lot more slanted.

Im only brewing about 14g of coffee to 230g water.

So my question is, would the extraction of the two brewers (155 and 185) differ because of the difference in shape? And would I be better off with a 185, or will the 155 suit my needs for a single cup?

My final question is this- how should I generally adapt my recipe from the v60 to the Kalita wave 155?

Thanks!!


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

For 1 cup brews, you may as well stick with the 155 if you are pouring in pulses.

Some have found longer draw downs on the 185. My 185 brews are just a tad longer than my V60s, about 20s.

Compared to V60, at same grind, I use half the number of pulses at twice the interval length. So my V60 could be bloom & 6 pours 20s apart, for the Wave it's bloom & 3 pours 40s apart.

I only spiral pour at bloom & early on, finishing with centre pours. I don't stir the bloom with the Wave, I just bloom & give the brewer a shake. When pouring, be gentle, just let the water fall straight down from the spout, don't blast the bed with a right hosing.


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## rgoodcoffee (May 25, 2016)

MWJB said:


> For 1 cup brews, you may as well stick with the 155 if you are pouring in pulses.
> 
> Some have found longer draw downs on the 185. My 185 brews are just a tad longer than my V60s, about 20s.
> 
> ...


thank you very much for the info MHWB. Have you found much different between the 155 and 185 in terms of extraction? It's pretty clear you can fit as much water in the 155, so you have to pulse it rather than pour it all at once. Thanks for the recipe ideas


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## the_partisan (Feb 29, 2016)

155 drains a little quicker than 185. Other than that there isn't really much difference. I prefer 155 because in 185 my brews sometimes "stall" i.e take over 5 min to complete and I find this quite annoying where I have to wait around for the water to filter through. Kalita in general I think is one of the more forgiving brewers and hard to mess up. You can also use a fairly coarse grind but still get decent extraction. My recipe is:

EK43S #12

16g in

fill up to 40g and shake

at :30 fill up to 150g in spirals and gentle shake

at 1:15 fill up to 260g pouring gently

Look for dry bed around 2:30-3

I use this recipe so I don't have to change grind size between this & my Moccamaster. If you want to use finer grind you can do a single continuous pour.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

rgoodcoffee said:


> thank you very much for the info MHWB. Have you found much different between the 155 and 185 in terms of extraction? It's pretty clear you can fit as much water in the 155, so you have to pulse it rather than pour it all at once. Thanks for the recipe ideas


Gave away my 155 a fair while ago, don't have any extraction data to compare.


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## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

I very recently replaced a Brewista flat bed dripper which was very similar to a Kalita 185 with a Kalita155. So, I'm still getting used to it.

I found the Brewista much more forgiving. The noticable difference is the drain time. The 155 drains like a tank in comparison. I find it very sensitive to brew time.

I do 13.5g coffee to 225g water and use the same grind as for V60. If the brew time comes in at 2:30 or more the results are good, but 2:15/2:20 are not. Can be very sour.

I could adjust grind but prefer not to. I haven't yet tried increasing the number of pours.

At the moment, I evaluate a coffee via V60 or immersion. If I notice a shorter than average drain time for these methods then I will avoid the Kalita 155. Longer than average then the Kalita is ideal. It is especially good for those beans that take can take ages to drain e.g. Yirgacheffe


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

I don't know if it helps but I enjoyed this 155 video just now, particularly the close


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## fluffles (Sep 4, 2012)

jlarkin said:


> I don't know if it helps but I enjoyed this 155 video just now, particularly the close


An interesting by pass recipe. I did do this for a while - grind finer, use less water then add by pass. Had some good results, much easier if you can refract to see where you are at


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

fluffles said:


> An interesting by pass recipe. I did do this for a while - grind finer, use less water then add by pass. Had some good results, much easier if you can refract to see where you are at


I can confirm it worked well for the La Cabra Kenyan I had there yesterday .


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