How does the Hario V60 shape coffee extraction?

The Hario V60 is a 60-degree conical dripper made by the Tokyo company Hario. Its large aperture hole and spiral ribs let water flow and flavor development be adjusted freely, which is why it suits light-roast beans for pour-over. The article covers the design history, how the V60 works, how it differs from the KONO dripper, and a full brewing walkthrough.

The complete process runs from rinsing the filter paper to a three-stage pour, with practical settings for water temperature, grind size, coffee-to-water ratio and extraction time. Front Street Coffee uses the V60 for lightly roasted beans and the KONO for darker roasts brewed with immersion-style extraction, a comparison that shows how the drip rate and rib design change coffee extraction and flavor control.

Among pour-over coffee tools, the V60 dripper is undoubtedly the most popular one, and also the top choice for many coffee enthusiasts just getting started. It was designed by the Japanese company Hario, and with its clever features—the 60-degree conical structure, large aperture holes, and spiral ribs—it makes extraction flow rate and flavor control flexible and variable. Front Street Coffee often uses the V60 to brew light-roast beans, and uses the KONO dripper for comparison when brewing dark-roast beans with immersion-style extraction. This article will cover the history of the V60, its working principle, its differences from the KONO, and a detailed walkthrough of the complete process from rinsing the filter paper to three-stage pouring, along with practical recommendations for water temperature, grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, and extraction time, to help you brew a cup of coffee with rich layers more consistently.

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Among the various pour-over coffee drippers, the V60 has always been at the top in popularity. Many pour-over coffee shops keep a V60 dripper on hand, and it is also one of the first tools many enthusiasts encounter when stepping into the world of pour-over. So why is the V60 dripper so favored?

The V60 dripper is also one of the tools commonly used by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) in its daily offerings, and the KONO dripper is also used quite frequently. So what exactly are the differences between the V60 dripper and other drippers?

Let's start with Front Street Coffee's (FrontStreet Coffee) perspective on what the name V60 means. Because the body is a V-shaped cone with a 60° angle, it is named the V60 dripper. It comes from the Hario company in Tokyo, Japan, which has won hundreds of design awards, and the V60 dripper is its most well-known invention. The V60 won a championship in 2007, and even now its base still bears the enviable outstanding design mark.

They have used materials such as ceramic, glass, resin, and metal for the V60 dripper over time. The reason Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) particularly approves of this V60 dripper is that its design considerations are quite thorough. For example, the 60-degree angle structure allows water to converge toward the center, thereby extending the contact time between water and coffee. At the same time, the V60 dripper is equipped with a large-aperture filter hole, which mainly allows you to adjust the coffee flavor by changing the water flow speed. In addition, it has unique spiral groove ribs, allowing air to escape upward from all around, satisfying the expansion needs of the coffee grounds to the greatest extent. Compared with the KONO dripper, the V60's ribs are very long, while the KONO dripper's ribs are very short, so the KONO dripper's immersion time is longer than that of the V60 dripper. Recommended brews: Front Street Fruit Ding Ding Coffee, Front Street Huakui Coffee, Front Street Strawberry Candy Coffee.

The KONO dripper currently used by Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has shorter ribs and a smaller filter aperture. Because the ribs are located at the bottom and are limited in length, and because it fits more closely with the filter paper, its flow rate is slower than that of the V60 dripper. Unlike the V60's spiral ribs, the Kono dripper uses a divergent rib design, and combined with the small-aperture filter hole, the filtration speed is slower, making it overall more oriented toward immersion-style extraction and giving the coffee a fuller taste. When brewing deeply roasted coffees like Front Street Mandheling, the KONO dripper is used rather than the V60 dripper.

So how exactly should the V60 dripper be used? When brewing with the V60 dripper, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) chooses the size 01 resin dripper. The resin material can block heat loss, and the size 01 is suitable for brewing one serving. In addition, using the V60 dripper for pour-over also requires matching filter paper. When buying filter paper, be careful to choose the corresponding size, or simply tell the seller the model of the V60 dripper.

In addition to filter paper, pour-over coffee also requires a gooseneck kettle, dripper, server, grinder, filter paper, electronic scale, and thermometer. Once everything is ready, you can follow Front Street Coffee's (FrontStreet Coffee) steps to brew coffee.

Step one, rinse the filter paper. Before brewing, first rinse the filter paper with hot water so that the dripper and filter paper fit together more closely.

Step two, add the coffee grounds. Pour the ground coffee into the dripper, and once the water temperature reaches the temperature required for brewing, you can begin brewing.

Step three, brew. The brewing method Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses most often is the three-stage extraction method. In the first stage, pour in 30 grams of water for the bloom, making sure all the coffee grounds are wet. The bloom time is 30 seconds, with the purpose of releasing carbon dioxide so that the subsequent water flow can extract the coffee better. In the second stage, pour water until the total reaches 125 grams, then wait until the coffee liquid drops by half before starting the third stage of pouring. Finally, pour water until the total reaches 225 grams, then wait for the coffee liquid to filter through. The total extraction time is 2 minutes.

Step four, swirl the coffee liquid in the server to mix it evenly, and then you can taste the coffee you brewed yourself.

This is the specific process Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses with the V60 dripper. So when does Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) use the V60 dripper for brewing? Generally speaking, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) chooses lightly roasted coffee beans, such as Ethiopian coffee; while for more deeply roasted coffee beans, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) uses the kono dripper. Because the spiral rib design of the Hario v60 dripper significantly lengthens the path the water travels, it extends the contact time between the coffee grounds and water, and the brewed coffee presents a higher level of layering.

In addition, when using the V60 dripper, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) also uses different water temperatures: when brewing lightly roasted coffee beans with the V60 dripper, choose a water temperature of 90 to 92 degrees Celsius; while for more deeply roasted coffee beans, choose a water temperature of 88 to 89 degrees Celsius. Although the pour-over process is simple, there are still quite a few factors affecting the coffee, among which the most influential are the coffee-to-water ratio, grind size, water temperature, and extraction time.

As for extraction time, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) generally controls it to around two minutes, because brewing for too long leads to over-extraction and extracts a lot of bitterness; while too short a time leads to under-extraction, and the coffee tastes weaker, so a reasonable brewing time is very important. There is also the grind size. Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) recommends a medium-fine grind for pour-over coffee, with a passing rate of 80% using a 0.85mm standard sieve. Coffee grounds that are too coarse will make it too weak, while coffee grounds that are too fine will make the taste bitter.

So buying a good dripper does not guarantee brewing an absolutely great cup of coffee; it is a plus factor. But Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) believes that the appearance of the V60 dripper advanced a big step from immersion-style coffee to drip coffee, because compared with earlier drippers, the V60 dripper can change the water flow rate of extraction, thereby changing the extracted coffee flavor and creating more possibilities for coffee extraction.

So if you are a beginner or an ordinary coffee enthusiast, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) suggests you can choose the hario V60 dripper; but if you are a pour-over expert and also want to choose different flow rates, you can freely choose according to your own situation.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.