Although not devoid of detractors, the Hario V60 is a method that is well-loved among the coffee brewing community. And its reputation is well earned: It’s a very simple method, yet it yields a very high-quality coffee. Anyone can master the art of the V60 with just a little bit of practice.
The Hario has many advantages over other methods: Its design is minimalistic, with only one part, the dripper, being completely necessary. Any of the other things you can find easily in a rush. As long as you bring your dripper with you, you can make V60 coffee anywhere.
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A Grinder
Depending on your method, you can choose either a burr grinder or a manual grinder. Medium-fine is the most used grind level for the V60.
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The Hario V60 Dripper
This one comes either in metal, plastic or ceramic. This matters because metal and ceramic have higher thermal conductivity than plastic, so plastic works better at keeping the heat inside it. We prefer to keep a stable temperature inside our V60 dripper because it makes for a better extraction.
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A Paper Filter
Infinite types of paper filters are now being sold in the market. The raw amount of options can be a little overwhelming. If you don’t like to sweat over these kinds of things, you can always purchase filters directly from Hario.
Pro tip: There is an easy way to test the paper filter’s quality. Take a trip to your usual grocery store and buy several types of coffee filters- one of each. Put them one by one on the V60 and rinse them with hot water. Taste the water of each rinse separately: The one you judge to be better-tasting or less chlorine-rated is your best local option.
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A Decanter/Coffee pot
Thanks to the design of the V60, you can use almost any coffee pot, decanter, or whatever recipient you have. We recommend using a glass one because it lets you see clearly the color of your coffee, which helps you control its strength.
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A Scale
It is highly recommended to use a scale so you can measure how much water you’re pouring each time; the brewing methods that we use all require you use a scale. Using, for better or for worse, necessary for us to make the perfect V60 cup of coffee.
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A Spoon
To occasionally stir the coffee grounds. And that’s all that is needed for you to brew coffee with the Hario V60. For pouring water, you can be using any type of kettle; Electric, stove-heated… It doesn’t matter as long as the temperature of the water is appropriate, and appropriate for us is anywhere between 92 to 95 degrees.
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First, We’ll go Over the Quickest Way of Brewing with The V60:
- Place a paper filter in your V60 and pour water until it’s soaked.
- Put around 20 to 25 grams of coffee in the cone. The standard ratio of coffee to water is 1:10, so keep this in mind when measuring coffee.
- Make a small dent at the center of the coffee grounds.
- Pour about 50 grams of water and let the coffee bloom for 20 to 30 seconds.
- Pour the rest of the water slowly in a circular motion.
The first few times you use the Hario you should follow this method. While it won’t yield the perfect coffee, it is simple enough for you to follow without missing any of the steps up, and all the while it allows you to get familiar with the equipment, getting the feel of the whole process.
When you feel like you’re ready for a slightly more complicated Hario method, you can try this one:
The Standard Professional Method:
- Rinse the paper filter with hot water, then dump the water from the decanter. This helps eliminate chlorine taste from the paper as well as prevent the filter from absorbing any of the water we’re gonna use after for brewing since it’s already soaked.
- Place it all on the scale and tare it.
- Add 22 grams of medium-fine grounded coffee.
- Pre-wet (bloom) grounds with 66 grams of hot water.
- Stir very gently so there are no dry grounds left; this ensures an even extraction.
- Let bloom for 30 seconds.
- Start pouring water. The amount of water used depends on your personal preferences, but we recommend between 320 to 360 grams.
- Stir gently with a spoon. Focus on the very center of the grounds; stirring anywhere close to the paper filter will cause an uneven extraction.
- At 1 minute and 45 seconds, give the cup a gentle shake to make the coffee bed as flat as possible.
- After 3 minutes you perfect V60 coffee should be done and ready for drinking. Enjoy!
Taste the Best
After having gotten the hang of this coffee brewing method, there are still some things you can do to further improve the resulting taste of your coffee. Things like where your water is coming from can make a real difference in the taste of your coffee. The thing that impacts taste the most with the Hario, though, is the filter. We suggest you try several types of filters; try higher quality ones or unbleached ones and see for yourself which filter gives you a better result.
When brewing coffee with the Hario, the brewed coffee in your decanter will always be uneven: the very bottom of the coffee will have a higher concentration of coffee, while the closer we come to the surface, the less concentrated your coffee will be. This can cause some problems with pouring: How can you be sure when pouring for several people, that everyone’s getting the same amount of coffee in their cup?
Survey
Well, thanks to chemistry professor Robert M. Richman, we now can apply a mathematical equation to make sure everyone’s getting their just share of caffeine. It goes like this:
For pouring two cups, four pours: cup A, cup B, cup B, then cup A.
If you want to be even more precise, you can double the number of pours: A, B, B, A, B, A, A, B.
You can do this into oblivion, although eight pours, it seems to us, is already more than enough.
Now that you’re a little more confident of your Hario skills (or so we hope!), let’s try a relatively new, highly-acclaimed method to brew with the Hario V60. It’s called the 4:6 method, or the Tetsu Kasuya method. This method is the best one for experimenting, since you can adjust the amount of water you use according to your preferences. The theory behind this method is that, by dividing the water into 5 pours, you can control the taste of your coffee in the first two pours (40 percent of total water) and then with the last 3 pours you control the strength (60 percent of total water, hence the “4:6”).
Let’s go Over the Most Basic Form of the 4:6 method:
- Rinse filter and discard rinsing water.
- Grind 20 grams of coffee beans. Should medium-coarse of coarse.
- Heat 300 grams of water to 93 degrees Celsius.
- Place coffee ground into the cone, then pour 60 grams of water for blooming. Wait 45 seconds for the next pour.
- Pour 60 grams of hot water. Wait another 45 seconds
- Repeat the last step three times until you have no more water. In total, you will have poured 5 times, 60 grams each time.
Now it’s time to think about it a little. During the first and second pour is when extraction of coffee from the coffee grounds is going to be at its maximum, and when the overall taste of your coffee is defined. Tetsu cleverly theorized that, by doing this in two pours, you can control the sweetness/acidity of your coffee. By doing a smaller first pour -50 grams- and then add the rest to the second pour -70 grams-, your coffee will have a sweeter taste.
The last three pours, then, will define the strength of your coffee. This is because of the time that Tetsu allows between pours, 45 seconds between each pour. This allows for the extraction process to continue happening to a certain extent, therefore maintaining a good taste but without either over-extracting or burning the coffee. The longer you draw this second part of the method out, the stronger the resulting taste of your coffee. For example, if you make two pours instead of three (90 grams each), it will result in a much gentler flavor.
The Proper Way to Do It
That’s why this method is the best for experimenting. If you are the kind of guy who wants the strongest possible coffee, you can try making 6 pours instead of 3: pour 30 grams each time, and see what kind of coffee you get. There are a lot of possibilities for you to have fun with. That’s why this method has become so popular. Our hat is off to Tetsu, who is a Barista from Japan (incidentally, the country in which Hario was born!). This is proof that one single Barista can make a huge difference in the game.
Maybe one day you’ll be like Tetsu and invent your own method. Meanwhile, practice the ones we’ve taught you until you’ve mastered them and enjoy the best coffee that the Hario V60 can offer.
Try this amazing Hario V60 Bundle Kit we found!
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Thank you for reading with us today! Let us know in the comments below how your morning coffee is tasting with the Hario V60. Be sure to check out related articles to keep your coffee interests high with “Ultimate Home Brew Set Up” or even “Definitive Guide to Coffee Sock Brewing“.
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