V60 Brewing Guide

The Hario V60 was born in Japan in the first half of the 20th century. It took quite a while to become popular in the West, but it has been the undisputed most popular and most well-regarded drip brewing method for decades now.

Why? We explain it in the next section:

What to Expect of Hario V60 Coffee

The Hario V60 works by percolation; running water through the coffee grounds. It’s that simple. But the design has been optimized for this process: the cone shape and the perfect angle ensures optimum water flow and even extraction. That’s where the name comes from, in fact: V because it’s V-shaped and 60 because the cone is at a 60 degree angle.

The Brew

V60 coffee is often referred to as bright. It has a pleasant, fruit-like acidity. The V60 helps the natural acidity in coffee stand out—however, because the extraction is so even, the rest of the flavors are in balance. This helps in being able to savor and enjoy the acidity.

It is also light-bodied, in a similar way to how most drip coffee is. The main thing is that it doesn’t feel watered down, which is usually a big problem for drip coffee.

All in all, it produces a very balanced brew that is perfect for enjoying all of the different flavor notes of the coffee beans you are using. The V60 is a favorite of professional coffee tasters for this reason.

How to Make it

There are two ways you can brew with the Hario V60. The first one is simpler, and it takes less time. The second is more complicated, but yields better results.

First, we’ll go over the quickest way of brewing with the V60:
 

Quick brew

What you’ll need:
Medium grind coffee grounds
A Hario (or similar) paper filter
Dosing and brew time:
15 grams
1:30 on average

Instructions:

1. Place a paper filter in your V60 and pour water until it’s soaked.
2. Put around 20 to 25 grams of coffee in the cone.
3. Make a small dent at the center of the coffee grounds.
4. Pour about 50 grams of water and let the coffee bloom for 20 to 30 seconds.
5. Pour the rest of the water slowly in a circular motion.
    

Standard brew

What you’ll need:

• A coffee scale
• Medium grind coffee grounds
• 320-360ml of water (depending on desired strength)
• Dosing and brew time:
• 22 grams
• 3 minutes

Instructions:

1. 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.
2. Place it all on the scale and tare it.
3. Add 22 grams of medium-fine grounded coffee.
4. Pre-wet (bloom) grounds with 66 grams of hot water.
5. Stir very gently so there are no dry grounds left; this ensures an even extraction.
6. Let bloom for 30 seconds.
7. Start pouring water.
8. 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.
9. At 1 minute and 45 seconds, give the cup a gentle shake to make the coffee bed as flat as possible.
10. After 3 minutes your perfect V60 coffee should be done and ready for drinking. Enjoy!

These two methods can be used alternatively; you don’t have to brew using the standard method every time you want coffee. It will definitely taste better, but sometimes we can’t be bothered—like early in the morning!

Still, it’s good to know how the pros do it. And now, you can do it too!