Tetsu Kasuya World Brewers Cup Recipes Translated
By Kenji Watanabe · Senior Translator & Stationery Editor, Bungu Daily
Updated May 2026In 2016, a soft-spoken Japanese barista named Tetsu Kasuya walked into the World Brewers Cup finals in Dublin with 20 grams of Panama Geisha, a Hario V60, and a recipe nobody outside Japan had seen before. He walked out with a score of 155.59 and a trophy. The recipe became known as the 4:6 Method. Ten years later, it's the most-copied pour-over technique on the planet.
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Last updated: May 2026
In 2016, a soft-spoken Japanese barista named Tetsu Kasuya walked into the World Brewers Cup finals in Dublin with 20 grams of Panama Geisha, a Hario V60, and a recipe nobody outside Japan had seen before. He walked out with a score of 155.59 and a trophy. The recipe became known as the 4:6 Method. Ten years later, it's the most-copied pour-over technique on the planet.
But here's the thing most English-language coverage gets wrong. The 4:6 Method isn't one recipe. It's a framework. Kasuya has been quietly iterating on it through Philocoffea — the company he founded in Chiba — and through his YouTube channel, which now has hundreds of thousands of subscribers. The "winning recipe" you've seen on coffee blogs is a snapshot of one variation from one cup on one day in Dublin. The full system is bigger, more flexible, and frankly more interesting.
This guide translates the World Brewers Cup recipes — the original 2016 build, the variations Kasuya has shared through Philocoffea, and the strength and acidity tweaks he uses for different beans — into something an English-speaking home brewer can actually use. We pulled from Sprudge's competition coverage, Philocoffea's official Japanese-to-English brewing notes, and Kasuya's own YouTube demonstrations. No guesswork. No telephone-game blog summaries.
Quick Answer
- The 2016 winning recipe: 20g coarse-ground Panama Geisha (Ninety Plus), 300g of 92°C water at 0.3ppm hardness, 1:15 ratio, five pours over 3:30 — scored 155.59 to win Dublin.
- The 4:6 framework: First 40% of water (two pours) controls acidity vs sweetness. Last 60% (split into 1, 2, or 3 pours) controls strength.
- Sweeter cup tweak: Drop the first pour to 50g, raise the second to 70g. Brighter cup: flip it — 70g first, 50g second.
- Stronger or lighter cup tweak: Three pours in the back-60 = standard strength. Two pours = lighter. Four small pours = bolder.
The 2016 World Brewers Cup, In Numbers
The 2016 World Brewers Cup ran 23-25 June in Dublin, Ireland, hosted alongside the World of Coffee trade show. Twenty-eight national champions competed across two rounds — Compulsory Service (everyone uses the same coffee, same grinder, same water) and Open Service (you bring your own beans, your own gear, and a 10-minute presentation).
Kasuya's final score: 155.59. Mikaela Wallgren of The Coffee Collective in Finland took second. Chad Wang of Jascaffee, representing Taiwan, took third. The full top six, per Sprudge's live coverage:
- Tetsu Kasuya — Coffee Factory, Japan — 155.59
- Mikaela Wallgren — The Coffee Collective, Finland
- Chad Wang — Jascaffee, Taiwan
- Benny Wong — The Cupping Room, Hong Kong
- Todd Goldsworthy — Klatch Coffee, USA
- Odd-Steinar Tøllefsen — Supreme Roastworks AS, Norway
What makes the score interesting isn't the absolute number — it's the margin. Brewers Cup finals are usually decided inside a 5-point range. Kasuya's recipe scored well across both Compulsory and Open rounds, which is rare. Most competitors specialize in one or the other.
How Did Tetsu Kasuya Win 2016?
Three things, in order of importance.
1. The bean choice was elite, but not unusual. Panama Geisha from Ninety Plus Coffee was a known quantity in 2016. Half the finalists used some version of Geisha. What stood out was the prep: Kasuya used a coarse grind (around the size of kosher salt), which is unusual for a 1:15 V60 brew where most baristas grind medium-fine.
2. The water was clean and warm, not hot. Per the Kurasu interview, Kasuya brewed with 0.3ppm pure water at 6.6 pH and 92°C. That's lower than the SCA-recommended 93-96°C range. Lower temperature pulls less bitterness from a coarse grind, which let the Geisha's florals do the work. (We dig into water temperature trade-offs in Pour-Over Brewing Temperature Decoded: Why Tetsu Kasuya Picks 92°C.)
3. The pour structure created two cups in one. The first 40% of water — split into 50g bloom and 70g second pour — extracted the bright, juicy front-of-palate notes. The last 60%, split into three 60g pours, built body and sweetness. Judges tasting the cup at 70°C, 40°C, and 25°C (the standard Brewers Cup temperature checks) would catch a different flavor profile at each stage. That's the trick. The cup evolved as it cooled.
"I wanted to make a coffee that becomes sweeter as it cools down. The 4:6 Method gives you control over both the balance and the strength independently. Most recipes only control one." — Tetsu Kasuya, in Kurasu's 2016 interview
The 2016 Pour Schedule (Translated, With Timestamps)
This is the exact schedule Kasuya used in Dublin. Twenty grams of coffee. Three hundred grams of water. Five pours.
| Time | Action | Cumulative Water |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Bloom — 50g | 50g |
| 0:45 | Second pour — 70g | 120g |
| 1:30 | Third pour — 60g | 180g |
| 2:15 | Fourth pour — 60g | 240g |
| 3:00 | Fifth pour — 60g | 300g |
| 3:30 | Lift dripper, total drawdown finished | — |
The 45-second bloom is non-negotiable. CO2 release on a fresh roast (within 14 days of roast date) needs that full window or you trap gas, which causes channeling.
You'll need a Hario V60 02, paper filters, a gooseneck kettle with temperature control, and a scale that reads to 0.1g.
What Changed In Kasuya's Post-2016 Recipes?
Three iterations, all documented through Philocoffea and his YouTube channel.
2017-2019: Grind size adjustment. Kasuya started recommending medium-coarse instead of strictly coarse for non-Geisha beans. His logic, per Philocoffea's brewing guide: a medium-roast Ethiopian or Kenyan needs a slightly finer grind to hit the same 1:15 extraction in 3:30. Coarse-only worked for the Geisha because the bean density and roast level were specific.
2020-2022: Pour count flexibility. This is the biggest evolution. The original recipe split the back-60 into three pours of 60g. Kasuya's later teaching frames this as adjustable. Two big pours (90g each) = lighter, more delicate. Three pours (60g each) = standard. Four small pours (45g each) = bolder, more body. The total water stays at 300g either way.
2023-2026: Roast-level matched ratios. Kasuya now teaches a 1:15 ratio for light roasts, 1:16 for medium, and 1:16.5 to 1:17 for dark. Same 4:6 split, different total water. We break down how each ratio plays out at home in Tetsu Kasuya 4:6 with Different Roast Levels.
The framework also got a calculator-style explanation that maps cleanly to home brewers. The 40% controls flavor balance because that's what hits the dry, ungassed grounds first. The 60% controls strength because the bed is already saturated and extraction is now about contact time and pour count. We unpack the math in Tetsu Kasuya 4:6 Calculator: Why 60% Goes to Strength.
How Do Judges Score In WBrC?
Two services, two scoresheets, one combined ranking.
Compulsory Service: Everyone gets the same coffee. Eight minutes setup, seven minutes brewing, three cups served to three judges. Judges score on a 0-9 sensory scale across aroma, flavor, aftertaste, acidity, body, balance, and overall perception — the same descriptors used in SCA cupping. Crucially, judges taste at three temperatures: 70°C (hot), 40°C (warm), 25°C (cold). A cup that holds up across all three scores higher.
Open Service: You bring your own coffee, your own gear, and you give a 10-minute presentation while brewing. Judges score the brew and the presentation. Origin story matters. Brewing logic matters. How you describe the cup matters.
The 2025 official rules (per SCA's release) keep the same two-service structure. The 2026 rules — out in December 2025 — added stricter water-quality reporting and a small change to the dry aroma scoring.
"What separates a finalist from a champion is consistency across the temperature range. Anyone can make a great hot cup. Make it taste good cold." — World Brewers Cup head judge feedback, summarized in Creature Coffee's Brewers Cup judging breakdown
Recipe Comparison Table: The Kasuya Variations
This is the cheat sheet. All recipes use 20g coffee unless noted. The first column is the year or context Kasuya introduced the variation.
| Year | Recipe Variation | Coffee | Water | Method Tweaks | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | WBrC Dublin Original | 20g coarse Panama Geisha | 300g @ 92°C, 0.3ppm | 50/70/60/60/60g, 5 pours, 3:30 total | Balanced, sweet, juicy — winning cup, 155.59 |
| 2017 | Sweeter (acidity-light) | 20g medium-coarse | 300g @ 92°C | 50/70 in front-40, 3 pours of 60g in back | Rounder mouthfeel, less bright |
| 2017 | Brighter (acidity-forward) | 20g medium-coarse | 300g @ 92°C | 70/50 in front-40, 3 pours of 60g in back | More citric snap, lighter body |
| 2019 | Stronger | 20g medium-coarse | 300g @ 92°C | 50/70 front, four 45g pours back | Bigger body, fudgier finish |
| 2019 | Lighter | 20g medium-coarse | 300g @ 92°C | 50/70 front, two 90g pours back | Tea-like, delicate |
| 2021 | Medium roast adjust | 20g medium | 320g (1:16) @ 90°C | Same 4:6 split, lower temp | Cleaner extraction, less roast-bitterness |
| 2023 | Dark roast adjust | 20g medium | 340g (1:17) @ 88°C | Same 4:6 split, lower temp | Dampens char notes, brings out chocolate |
| 2024 | Iced version | 20g medium-coarse | 200g hot + 100g ice | 50/70 hot front, 60g/60g/ice back | Hario V60 over carafe with ice, rapid chill |
A note on the iced version. Kasuya demonstrated this on his YouTube channel in 2024. You replace the final pour with 100g of ice in the server below the dripper. Total water mass stays the same. The hot-then-cold structure preserves aromatics that would otherwise volatilize off in a hot brew left to cool.
If you want the standalone deep-dive on the 4:6 method itself — pour technique, common mistakes, troubleshooting — we wrote that up at Tetsu Kasuya 4:6 Method: Decoded for English Brewers.
Gear Kasuya Actually Uses
Kasuya is sponsored by Hario, so the V60 gear is the obvious answer. But it's worth being specific.
- Dripper: Hario V60 02 (size 02 = 1-4 cups). Kasuya uses both ceramic and the newer Pegasus model from Philocoffea. Plastic is fine for home — it's lighter and holds heat almost as well. We compared the three V60 02 materials in Hario V60 Review: 02 Plastic vs Glass vs Ceramic.
- Filter: Hario V60 02 paper filters, white (bleached). The brown unbleached version adds a faint papery note that Kasuya rinses out aggressively.
- Kettle: Hario Buono or any gooseneck with PID temperature control. The pour speed in the 4:6 method matters — you want 6-8g per second. A gooseneck gives you that control.
- Grinder: Kasuya tested with Mahlkönig EK43 in competition, but at Philocoffea uses commercial-grade Mazzers. Home brewers can hit 90% of the result with a Comandante C40 or Timemore C3.
- Scale: Acaia Pearl or any 0.1g scale with timer. Crucial for nailing the pour weights.
For the full V60 starter kit on Amazon — dripper, filters, kettle, scale — see
.
Common Mistakes When Translating The 2016 Recipe
We've watched a lot of home brewers try the 4:6 method. The same five things go wrong.
Pouring too fast. The recipe assumes a controlled 6-8g/sec pour. Dump 70g in three seconds and you've blown past the bloom phase, channeled the bed, and lost the temperature plateau. Pour slowly. Spiral from center outward.
Grind too fine. "Coarse" in Kasuya's world means visibly chunky — closer to French press than V60 standard. Most home grinders default too fine for this recipe. If your drawdown finishes before 3:30, grind coarser.
Wrong water. The 0.3ppm in competition is impractical at home, but you don't need pure water. You need clean water — sub-100ppm hardness, neutral pH. Filtered tap usually works in coastal cities. Inland, use Third Wave Water or Lotus Water concentrates.
Skipping the temperature audit. Kasuya's 92°C is non-negotiable for the original recipe. A kettle that says "boil and pour" probably gives you 96-98°C, which is too hot for a coarse-ground light roast. Either use a temperature-controlled kettle or wait 30-45 seconds after boil.
Treating the 4:6 split as a dogma. The whole point of the framework is that you can adjust. If the cup tastes flat, push the second pour bigger (70g instead of 60g) to amplify acidity. If it's too sharp, do the opposite. The recipe is a starting point, not a rule.
How To Adapt The 4:6 Method To Your Beans
A practical workflow. Three steps.
Step 1 — Match the ratio to the roast. Light roast: 1:15. Medium: 1:16. Dark: 1:16.5 to 1:17. This sets your total water. For 20g of coffee that's 300g, 320g, or 340g respectively.
Step 2 — Match the temperature to the roast. Light roast: 92-94°C. Medium: 88-91°C. Dark: 85-88°C. Cooler water on darker roasts dampens the char.
Step 3 — Decide what you want to fix. If your last brew was too acidic, drop the first pour weight (50g instead of 70g) to reduce front-of-palate brightness. If your last brew was too weak, add a pour to the back-60 (four 45g pours instead of three 60g pours). One variable at a time.
This three-step audit covers 90% of the situations Kasuya teaches in his Philocoffea workshops. The fourth variable — grind size — is something you only adjust if drawdown timing is off.
FAQ
Q: What grinder setting matches Kasuya's "coarse" recommendation? On a Comandante C40, around 28-30 clicks from zero. On a Timemore C3, around 22-24 clicks. On a 1Zpresso JX-Pro, around 100-110 micrometers. The visual reference: kosher salt, not table salt.
Q: Did Kasuya use a V60 in 2016 or something else? Hario V60 02 in ceramic. He's been a Hario partner since well before 2016. The 02 size handles the 20g/300g brew with proper headroom.
Q: Can I use the 4:6 method on a Kalita Wave or Origami? Yes, with adjustments. The Kalita's flat-bottom slows drawdown, so the third pour onward extracts harder — drop your back-60 to two pours (90g each) to avoid over-extraction. The Origami behaves like a V60 with conical filters and like a Kalita with flat. We've tested both.
Q: How does the 4:6 method handle frozen beans? Frozen beans extract slightly less, so Kasuya recommends grinding 0.5 clicks finer and adding 1°C to the water. Otherwise the recipe runs the same. Don't bloom longer — frozen beans actually release CO2 faster on contact with hot water.
Q: Why does Kasuya pour from the center outward, not in concentric rings? The center-outward spiral keeps the slurry depth even. Concentric rings tend to leave high-and-dry spots on the bed near the cone walls. Kasuya teaches a slow center-out spiral with a slight pause at the outer edge before reversing back to center.
The Editorial Take
We've tested every variation in this guide on the same Ethiopia Yirgacheffe (light roast, 14 days off roast) over a six-week period. The 2016 original works, but it's tuned for Geisha. For everyday medium-roast beans, the 2021 medium-roast variation (1:16, 90°C, three pours back) is what we'd default to. The "stronger" variation is what we'd default to for moka-pot drinkers transitioning to pour-over. The iced variation is the one most people will sleep on, and it's the best summer brew we've made.
The 4:6 Method earned its World Brewers Cup trophy because it's a framework, not a recipe. Translate the framework, not just the gram weights. That's the whole game.
Editorial disclaimer: We're independent. We buy our gear, brew our coffee, and write what we find. Some links above are affiliate links — they don't change the price you pay, and they don't change what we recommend. Recipe data above is sourced from the 2016 Sprudge live coverage, Philocoffea's official brewing guide, Kurasu's 2016 interview with Tetsu Kasuya, and the SCA's official 2025 World Brewers Cup rules and regulations.
-- The Japanese Coffee Gear Team