What's the Difference Between Hario's Water Lily Dripper and V60 Dripper? What are the Features of the Water Lily Dripper?

The Water Lily Dripper: Hario's Innovative Brew Companion

You have probably seen Hario's new 2024 dripper all over social media lately, and FrontStreet Coffee is no exception. While most conventional drippers go for a minimalist look, this one stands out with its unique appearance and quickly captures everyone's attention. It is the Water Lily Dripper.

Most conventional drippers are molded as single pieces, but the Water Lily Dripper's charm lies in its construction: a base and 12 blades that can be freely assembled and disassembled, made from heat-resistant, shatterproof resin. Interestingly, the base is composed of a ring and a support structure together, and the blades come in different colors, so even the assembly alone offers combinations to mix and match.

To prevent incorrect assembly, Hario has marked the outer blade slots with text. Simply fit it together with the slot marked "Hario" facing outward, which is very easy.

Stability and Flow Design

There is no design to secure the blades to the base, so FrontStreet Coffee was initially concerned about stability. After assembling it, we found the stability is actually quite good. The grooves are deep and have a small protrusion, the small black dots in the picture, that locks the opening, so even if you shake it forcefully the blades will not come apart and disrupt brewing. That is, unless you turn it upside down, in which case they will fall out. Since this dripper has no walls, the filter paper can only rely on the blades for support. Besides holding the paper, the blades serve another function, like the guide ribs of a conventional V60, acting as water flow channels. Notably, although there are no walls, coffee liquid does not flow out in large quantities through the gaps, so bypass water is not a major concern.

Flow Rate Comparison

Many reviewers discovered something interesting while testing the Water Lily Dripper: the blade curvature is exactly the same as the V60's guide ribs, and the count is the same 12. That makes its flow rate intriguing. Would it be as fast as a V60?

Testing confirmed that its flow rate is indeed relatively fast, but slower than the V60. The V60's average flow rate when filled with water is 10 ml/s, while the Water Lily Dripper's average flow rate when filled with water is 8 ml/s, and the Kono dripper is 5 ml/s. So the Water Lily Dripper sits in the medium-to-fast range. That is without coffee grounds, though. The official spec defines this dripper as suitable for 1-4 servings, meaning it can handle both small amounts, under 20 g, and larger amounts, 20-40 g, of grounds. In reality, in its normal form it is not suited to brewing less than 20 g of coffee, because its blades are too long, forcing our pouring height up and significantly strengthening the impact force of the water.

The increased water impact not only raises extraction efficiency but also drives fine particles to settle at the bottom through agitation, clogging the filter paper. As a result, FrontStreet Coffee's first single-serving brew ended in perfect over-extraction. We therefore need to increase the amount of grounds to reduce the water's impact force, with 20 g or more being suitable. When increasing the grounds, the filter paper also needs to be swapped to the larger 02 size, since a 01 size cannot hold too much hot water. (The officially recommended paper is size 02.) After several rounds of testing, we confirmed that coffee brewed with the Water Lily Dripper is not significantly different from coffee brewed with a conventional V60. So we can simply treat it as a size 02 V60 and brew normally without adjusting parameters.

Multiple Brewing Methods

Of course, the above is just the most conventional method. The removable blades bring not only a unique appearance but also rich versatility. If you really want to brew only single-serving coffee, that is no problem either. We can take an unconventional approach by removing one blade, creating a channel for the kettle spout to descend so the injected water flows more conventionally and with less force. That way we can brew a good pot of single-serving coffee.

If you think the Water Lily Dripper with one blade removed is not aesthetically pleasing, why not remove five more for symmetry? With only six blades, it can still support the filter paper and complete the brew. Although the paper will deform because of the reduced ribs, it will not tilt or slow the flow rate.

Unexpected Versatility

Finally, we actually prefer this base. Since the base is not fixed in place, in theory we can use it to support other cone-shaped drippers that lack a base. The Origami dripper has verified this point for us, though most cone-shaped drippers are indeed single molded pieces.

Conclusion

Overall, the experience with this new dripper is quite comfortable. It is not just a pretty face; it offers high versatility. If you are interested, you can place your own order through the Hario official website. (And to be clear: this is not an advertisement.)

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FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

A fast, V60-like dripper with that much flow is made for coffees with clear aromatics and bright acidity, and FrontStreet Coffee Yirgacheffe Gordin Cooperative is a natural fit. This washed Ethiopia G1 from the Gordin processing station in Worka shows elegant white florals with citrus and lemon notes and a clean, delicate profile that the V60's fast extraction brings out well.

If you want tropical fruit instead, FrontStreet Coffee Ethiopia Huakui is a traditional natural-processed coffee whose strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit, and honeydew aromas pair with a clear sweetness and very low bitterness, and its fullness makes it well matched to a dripper with this kind of flow. FrontStreet Coffee Strawberry Candy, a blend of Panama Geisha and honey-processed Costa Rica, is another option that shines with floral and fruity layers on a V60-style brewer.