How to Use a V60 Dripper? Does V60-Brewed Coffee Taste Good? Why Is V60 the Go-To for Pour-Over Coffee?

If you're a coffee enthusiast new to pour-over brewing and ask an experienced expert to recommend a practical, easy-to-use, and attractive pour-over dripper, there's a high probability they'll recommend a V60.

V60, a popular dripper that everyone agrees is excellent, can be described as an essential tool for every pour-over enthusiast. As a staple in our coffee shop, FrontStreet Coffee uses it hundreds if not thousands of times annually, making us "seasoned users" of the V60. So, with so many different dripper styles available on the market, why has the V60 alone become the "crowd favorite" in the pour-over world?

Who Invented the V60?

Hario, the company that designed the V60 dripper, was established in 1921 in Tokyo, Japan. As a renowned local glassware manufacturer, they initially focused on designing and producing heat-resistant glass instruments and equipment for scientific research institutions. For instance, the heat-resistant glass serving pot often paired with pour-over coffee is one of Hario's popular products.

In the 1940s and 1950s, Hario officially entered the household equipment field, with the siphon pot being their first coffee extraction device. At that time, slow immersion brewing was the mainstream extraction method in the coffee market, such as Melitta drippers, flannel filters, and siphon pots, which either had too small apertures or overly complicated brewing steps, with generally long brewing times. Consequently, Hario aimed to create a brewing filter that was simple to operate with a faster flow rate.

In 1964, Hario's designers began experimenting with laboratory funnels to extract coffee, but this was not for commercial use, and related records are scarce. In the 1980s, Hario introduced a paper filter dripper (similar in appearance to a Chemex, with a funnel-shaped filter in the upper part connected to a container in the lower part), which began production in 1980.

In 2004, Hario redesigned the prototype of the V60, giving this filter a shape closer to what we're familiar with today. It was named for its unique 60° cone angle and "V" shape, and was officially launched for market sales a year later. On the HARIO official website, we can find the prototype of this dripper: a conical ceramic dripper inner wall with 12 toothpicks neatly glued to it, simulating flow channels.

The Extraction Method of the V60 Dripper

1. Compared to other drippers, the conical shape and 60° angle design ensure that when using the V60 for brewing, water must flow to the center before dripping into the lower pot, extending the contact area between water and coffee grounds, thus allowing for full extraction of aroma and flavor.

2. Its signature single large aperture allows water flow to proceed without any obstruction, with the liquid flow rate largely depending on the brewer's flow control ability and directly reflected in the coffee flavor. If your pouring habit tends to be heavy or rushed, flavorful compounds may not have time to be released from the coffee before extraction ends, resulting in coffee that will likely taste thin and bland. Therefore, to brew coffee with good flavor and high sweetness using a V60, you indeed need to practice and adjust your pouring technique to better express the balance of acidity and sweetness in coffee.

3. On the side walls, the spiral pattern of raised ribs of varying lengths runs throughout the entire dripper. Firstly, it prevents the filter paper from fitting tightly against the dripper, creating enough space for air circulation to maximize the water absorption and expansion of coffee particles. Secondly, the spiral groove design also allows the flushing downward water flow to compress the coffee bed, creating a richer layering effect while extending the water flow path, avoiding under-extraction caused by the large aperture.

What Made Everyone Start Paying Attention to the V60 Dripper?

Before the millennium, the coffee market favored medium-dark roasting as the mainstream direction, and coffee brewing flavor preferences emphasized richness, body, high sweetness, and aftertaste, as well as caramelized flavors derived from dark roasting, such as chocolate, maple, nuts, and vanilla. With the arrival of the third wave of coffee, people began pursuing regional flavors, such as Ethiopia's white floral notes and Kenya's berry acidity. Coffee roasting began to shift from dark to light, and flavor appreciation also transitioned from rich sweetness to delicate acidic aromas.

Before the V60 appeared, slow immersion extraction methods tended to present coffee flavors that were overall mellow, thick, balanced, and sweet, but struggled to express the floral and fruit aromas and light acidity of some light-roasted beans. For example, slow drippers like Melitta and KONO focused on extracting rich flavor profiles. The V60's fast extraction characteristics恰好 enable coffee to obtain more立体 aroma and acidity, allowing certain delicate flavors to be presented.

Which Material V60 is Better for Brewing Coffee?

Today, the market offers V60 drippers in various materials. Besides the resin version that FrontStreet Coffee particularly favors, there are also versions in ceramic, glass, copper, stainless steel, and more. Each material not only affects the dripper's appearance and weight but also creates subtle extraction differences in heat conductivity during brewing, though the structural design remains unchanged.

FrontStreet Coffee's "exclusive love" for the resin version of the Hario V60 stems first from the resin material's effective ability to block heat dissipation. Secondly, in standardized industrial mass production, resin material is the easiest to shape and has the smallest margin of error. Furthermore, who wouldn't like a dripper that's hard to break, right?

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473