Which Material is Best for Hario V60 Dripper? V60 Coffee Dripper Usage Methods Beyond Just Pouring Water

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FrontStreet Coffee - V60 Pour-over Introduction

Among conical filter cups, the most impressive design is HARIO's curved support frame. HARIO's V60 adopts a spiral design with one long and one short groove. In many people's eyes, this is to increase ventilation during blooming, but this is actually only one of the design factors. The spiral groove design is more intended to create a vortex with the falling water flow, and while forming the vortex, it extends the flow path of the water (extraction), increasing the contact time between coffee grounds and water flow to ensure the coffee grounds are completely extracted by the HARIO arc-shaped filter cup.

We can see that compared to the straight falling water path, HARIO's arc-shaped design significantly extends the water path. The arc-shaped design not only prolongs the contact time between coffee grounds and water but also allows the water level to concentrate the water flow along the spiral cup wall toward the center point of the filter cup as it decreases. When the vortex water flow falls, it creates pressure on the coffee grounds through the impact force and pressure generated by gravity, achieving the effect of increasing extraction rate.

V60 filter cups come in different materials, each with different advantages. Copper dissipates heat quickly, ceramic provides good insulation, glass is aesthetically pleasing, and resin is durable. The choice depends on personal preference.

When brewing, the blooming action is intended to increase extraction rate. When we pour water for the first time, which is blooming, we should know that 1g of coffee grounds will absorb approximately twice its weight in water.

Therefore, many careful friends observing baristas brewing will typically see them pour 30-60g of water, from which we can infer that the barista used approximately 15-30g of coffee grounds. This mainly refers to professional coffee shops, and those cafes that brew carelessly are not within the scope of this discussion.

Blooming has two benefits. The first is to remove the remaining carbon dioxide from the coffee grounds, which is why bubbles are produced during blooming. Of course, after soaking in high-temperature water, most aromatic substances in the coffee also begin to volatilize, so during blooming, we can smell the wet aroma of the coffee.

After our first blooming pour, the coffee liquid concentration is very high at this moment. We know that there is a concentration difference between liquids, and the blooming action is also intended to increase this concentration difference and enhance the degree of coffee extraction. Here, we must again mention the structural design of the filter cup. Everyone can see that HARIO V60's cup wall design features a counterclockwise radial groove shape. Therefore, according to our previous theory of "extracting coffee through water flow gravity," such a filter cup with counterclockwise radial grooves will have two brewing methods: clockwise and counterclockwise, and these two brewing methods will inevitably affect the extraction rate.

When brewing clockwise, the HARIO V60 filter cup presents a water flow in a scouring state. The water flow will move along the vortex and along the designed path toward the center point of the filter cup. When brewing counterclockwise, the water flow will further extend the contact path with coffee grounds as it passes through the filter cup grooves. Therefore, when using this filter cup for brewing, the counterclockwise method will have a slightly higher extraction rate than the clockwise method. Friends who have a VST concentration tester and HARIO V60 filter cup can test this themselves without changing the coffee beans, grind size, water temperature, or coffee-to-water ratio.

Recommendations for V60 Brewing

Here are some suggestions for using V60 for brewing:

1. Purchase filter paper that matches V60, for example, Hario has sizes 01 and 02, so look carefully;

2. Filter paper comes in two types: pulp and bleached. Pulp filter paper is natural and healthy but has a slight paper taste. Oxygen-bleached filter paper has less taste. Therefore, before brewing, we should rinse the filter paper with water, which can help the filter paper fit tightly with the filter cup during brewing and also filter out the paper taste;

3. If the coffee doesn't expand during blooming, it's not just about freshness. Other factors include grind size and water amount;

4. Blooming time should be flexibly adjusted according to the roast degree and freshness of the coffee beans, not fixed;

In Summary

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Important Notice :

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