Coffee Beginner's Guide: How to Brew Coffee with Hario V60 Dripper?

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When we make pour-over coffee, if we simply pour hot water into the filter cup, this action can only be described as soaking the ground coffee in hot water, not truly brewing coffee.

Today, I'm sharing 6 basic pour-over technique details to happily brew a delicious single-origin coffee.

1. Choose Equipment

Choosing a kettle: There are many brands of pour-over coffee equipment. For beginners, it's generally recommended to start with a gooseneck kettle. Use a narrow-spout kettle with an inner diameter of 5mm or less, as the water flow is easier to control and won't have excessive flow. With too much water flow, water will pass directly through the coffee grounds to the lower pot, causing under-extraction.

Choosing a filter cup: Today, I chose a resin V60 filter cup because the V60 can provide excellent layering, allowing the coffee to have richer acidic changes from hot to cold.

Choosing filter paper: We generally choose bleached filter paper, as the paper pulp taste is not as strong. There are bleached and unbleached filter papers on the market. The differences between bleached and unbleached are as follows:

1. Bleached: Refers to coffee filter paper that has undergone bleaching treatment, making the filter paper appear whiter.

2. Unbleached: Refers to coffee filter paper that has not undergone bleaching treatment, making the filter paper appear light brown. Imported bleached filter papers have strict requirements for material selection, craftsmanship, and quality control. Nowadays, bleaching mainly uses enzymes, which are biological active enzymes widely used in the medical field, with negligible harm levels. Wetting the filter paper can improve fit with the filter cup and also serves to warm the cup.

Other equipment to prepare includes: scale, timer, thermometer

2. Weigh Coffee Beans

If using 18g of coffee with a water-to-coffee ratio of 1:16

The water should be 18 x 16 = 288ml

Calculate this before preparing to brew

3. Grinding

"Basically, light roasts can be ground finer, dark roasts can be ground coarser."

Using the Fuji grinder as an example, the optimal pour-over coffee grind size is between 3-4 settings

You can use fine granulated sugar as a reference

For example:

Medium-light roast Zhuh Mang: Needs fine grinding, 90-94°C water temperature

Dark roast Mandheling: Needs medium to coarse grinding, 85-88°C water temperature is sufficient

4. Bloom Time

Today, I chose a Yirgacheffe, medium-light roast, beans roasted 5 days ago. I'll use 90°C water temperature, 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio, three-stage brewing to highlight its berry flavors. If the amount of coffee grounds is 15 grams, with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:15, multiply by the coefficient 15 to know how many grams of water are needed, resulting in 225 grams of water.

First rinse the filter paper, add coffee grounds, and level them

(Usually, before adding coffee grounds, you'll gently tap the powder cup or sift out fine particles, so the absorbed powder will settle at the bottom of the cup, preventing blockages when pouring)

Then use appropriate amount of water for blooming

(About 1:2 ratio, 15g beans with about 30-32g water)

Light roast pre-infusion for 30 seconds

5. Pouring Water

Counter-clockwise pouring: The HARIO V60 spiral grooves you see have a counter-clockwise radial groove shape. Therefore, according to the theory of "squeezing coffee grounds through water flow gravity," brewing methods for counter-clockwise radial groove filter cups will definitely have slightly different extraction rates whether brewed clockwise or counter-clockwise.

First pour with fine water flow: slower brewing

Second pour with thicker water stream: faster brewing

Regardless of flow rate, brewing must be done with stable flow

Using the center of the filter cup as the center, pour clockwise in circles. Avoid pouring water on the area where coffee grounds meet the filter paper to prevent channeling effect (channeling effect means water doesn't contact coffee grounds and flows directly to the lower pot).

Brewing time: Generally, brewing time is between 1 minute 40 seconds to 2 minutes 30 seconds. The longer the time, more substances will be extracted from the coffee. With unchanged water injection, the coffee taste will become stronger, but it also increases the risk of obvious bitter taste.

The aroma of freshly brewed coffee is the first sensation you experience when tasting,

Being able to feel the ever-changing flavors of coffee,

In a cup of coffee, you can often smell various aromas:

Floral notes, fruit acidity, caramel, etc. This is what makes coffee fascinating!

Learn to try several times to find a balance point

Feeling the joy of pour-over from this process is the best part!

Some images provided by FrontStreet Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee)

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