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

It's likely that everyone has been seeing Hario's new 2024 dripper all over social media lately, and FrontStreet Coffee is no exception. While most conventional drippers feature minimalist designs, this particular dripper stands out with its unique appearance, quickly capturing everyone's attention! It is: the Water Lily Dripper.

Most conventional drippers are designed as single molded pieces, but the unique charm of the Water Lily Dripper lies in its construction: it consists of a base and 12 blades that can be freely assembled and disassembled, made from heat-resistant and shatterproof resin. Interestingly, the base is composed of a ring and a support structure together, and the blades come in different colors to choose from. Therefore, even just in terms of assembly, there are different combinations that can be mixed and matched.

To prevent incorrect assembly, Hario has marked the outer blade slots with text. We simply need to assemble it with the slot marked with "Hario" facing outward, which is very simple~

Stability and Flow Design

There is no design to secure the blades between them and the base, so FrontStreet Coffee was initially concerned about its stability. After assembly, we found that the stability is actually quite good. Because the grooves are deep and have a small protrusion (the small black dots in the picture) that locks the opening, even if shaken forcefully, the blades won't come apart and affect brewing. Of course, unless you turn it upside down, then the blades will fall out. However, since this dripper has no walls, the filter paper can only rely on the blades for support. Besides supporting the filter paper, the blades also serve another function - like the guide ribs of a conventional V60, they act as water flow channels. It's worth mentioning that although there are no walls, coffee liquid won't flow out in large quantities from the gaps, so there's no need to worry too much about bypass water formation.

Flow Rate Comparison

Many reviewers discovered an interesting fact when testing the Water Lily Dripper: the blade curvature design is exactly the same as the V60's guide ribs, with the same number of 12. This makes its flow rate quite intriguing - will it be as fast as the 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 10ml/s, while the Water Lily Dripper's average flow rate when filled with water is 8ml/s, and the Kono dripper is 5ml/s. Therefore, the Water Lily Dripper's flow rate is medium to fast. However, this is without coffee grounds added. Although the official defines this dripper as suitable for 1-4 servings, meaning it can handle both small amounts (under 20g) and large amounts (20g-40g) of coffee grounds, in reality, this dripper in its normal form is not suitable for brewing less than 20g of coffee. Because its blades are too long, our pouring height needs to be relatively increased, which significantly strengthens the impact force of the water flow.

The increased water flow impact not only enhances extraction efficiency but also causes fine particles to settle at the bottom due to agitation, clogging the filter paper. Therefore, FrontStreet Coffee's first single-serving brew ended with perfect over-extraction. Consequently, we need to increase the amount of coffee grounds to reduce the impact force of the water flow - 20g or more is suitable. Of course, when increasing the coffee grounds, the filter paper also needs to be replaced with the larger size 02 filter paper, otherwise the size 01 filter paper cannot accommodate too much hot water. (The official recommended filter paper is size 02). After several rounds of testing, it was confirmed that coffee brewed with the Water Lily Dripper is not significantly different from that brewed with a conventional V60. Therefore, we can completely treat it as a size 02 V60 for normal brewing without needing to adjust parameters.

Multiple Brewing Methods

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

If you think the Water Lily Dripper with one blade removed isn't aesthetically pleasing, then why not remove five more to create symmetry? With only six blades, it can still support the filter paper and complete brewing. Although the filter paper will deform due to the reduced ribs, it won't tilt or slow down the flow rate.

Unexpected Versatility

Finally, FrontStreet Coffee actually prefers this base! Since the base is not fixed, theoretically, we can use it to support other cone-shaped drippers without bases. And the Origami dripper has verified this point for us, although most cone-shaped drippers are indeed single molded pieces!

Conclusion

Overall, the experience with this new dripper is quite comfortable. It's not just a pretty face but offers high versatility. Interested friends can go to the Hario official website to place their own orders. (Finally: this is not an advertisement)

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