Hario V60 Review – The Awesome, Porcelain Pour Over

The Hario V60 is without a doubt one of the most popular pour over coffee makers among coffee lovers today.

And rightly so.

There are so many great things to say about it.

It’s beautifully simple in its design and even function, but at the same time deceptively challenging to perfect the art of it.

In this article, I’m going to give you a Hario V60 review that will give you everything you need to know about this awesome, porcelain pour over.

And who knows… if you don’t have one and are looking to see if it’s a good fit for you, maybe it will even become your daily driver for your coffee habit.

 

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Overall, I’d give the Hario V60 a 7.5 out of 10.

Read on to find out why, discover the pros and cons of it, and almost everything else you’d want to know about it!

Hario V60 Overview

Hario is a Japanese company that’s been around since 1921, producing heatproof glass and many other things.

Including their most popular item, the V60 pour over.

Initially, Hario produced laboratory glassware, but they expanded over the last 100 years to produce coffee and tea products with a large inventory of different things.

The V60 caught on so well among coffee lovers for many reason.

It features a simple design that allows you to achieve an amazing cup of drip coffee while perfecting your own technique.

Just to be sure, they make the V60 in glass and ceramic.

I think the ceramic one is more popular, and it’s also the one I use, so that’s why I’m specifically reviewing the ceramic model.

Although they are very similar in function.

This pour over is not an easy device to master, it takes some trial and error, and serious patience.

The V60 is quite inexpensive and gives you a range of design options, like the glass or porcelain versions, and others. If you’re after something that will highlight your growing expertise, this coffee maker is an excellent choice for you.

Pros & Cons

If you don’t have a V60 and you’re considering purchasing one, it’s really good to know the pros and cons of the porcelain pour over.

So here they are, the way I see it…

Pros:

• Awesome design for improved airflow
• Brews coffee really quickly
• Inexpensive
• Lots of product options

 

Cons:

• Big learning curve

 

The V60 has a special design for improved airflow, you can see it in the raised grooves spiraling down the inside of the cone.

This means that it brews the coffee quicker by giving it a faster drawdown, and gives it an even and more balanced extraction, which yields a unique taste.

The function of these grooves is to hold the grounds away from the walls during the brewing, which allows more airflow along the sides.

It can be really nice to have a pour over that does its job nice and fast.

This is also an inexpensive pour over.

Because of the range of options, there is also a price range, and you can get a bundle that includes a great looking glass carafe and number 2 filters to brew the coffee.

Most pour overs are not very expensive, but if you want just the dripper for the V60 with no other bells and whistles, it’s a great deal.

When it comes to the cons, there really aren’t too many to mention.

But probably the biggest one is that it’s not the easiest pour over to master; it’s kind of difficult.

It’s pretty easy to use, the thing is that it can be tricky to master.

I’ll explain more about this just a bit further down.

The only other “almost con” about the V60 is that it definitely gives a certain taste.

In my opinion, it’s more strong and robust than other pour overs in how it yields the coffee.

This isn’t really a con, however, because this is what makes every coffee maker unique: how it yields the coffee.

But because of this, it may not be the preferred brewed method for every type of coffee.

The Hario V60 isn’t my daily driver when it comes to making coffee, and this is why.

I definitely enjoy it, but I can also get too much of it.

 

==> Click here to see the best deal on the awesome, porcelain V60 pour over! <==

 

Don’t Get The Hario V60 If…

• You want a more bright and flavorful brew.

In my opinion, the V60 gives you a more robust, dark and rich brew that brings out less of the brightness of a coffee.

The Chemex is another amazing pour over, and in all honesty it takes the cake as my favorite pour over.

Even though they’re both pour over coffee makers, Chemex and V60 yield a different flavor from the same coffee.

Chemex will certainly give you more of a bright, and wide flavor profile than the V60.

And on the other hand, V60 will give you a more dark, rich, and robust flavor from your coffee.

So just keep that in mind when you’re looking for your ideal pour over.

• You want an easy coffee maker

I’ve said it before, it’s not the easiest coffee maker to master.

It’s one of the more difficult pour overs to master, and the learning curve is kind of big with this one.

But even in terms of all coffee makers, there are other, non pour over brewers that are much easier to use.

There’s French press (which is super easy to use), AeroPress, and even automatic drip machines that aren’t as delicate as V60.

• You want something that can travel easily

The V60 is small and compact, to be sure, but its ceramic design makes it too fragile to keep in a backpack or suitcase without a fairly big risk of breaking.

If you’re looking for a brewer to travel with, consider the Kalita Wave.

It’s available in stainless steel, copper, and plastic, and it’s much easier to master than the Hario V60.

Why It’s Difficult To Master

This pour over is different than most other pour overs on the market because, instead of having a few very small holes on the bottom to drip the coffee, it has just one larger hole.

So instead of a few really small holes, a smaller or more careful grind size and careful pouring are what will determine the rate of water flow during the brewing process.

Along with the large hole, the extremely thin paper filters add to this ultra-manual kind of feel with this dripper.

The V60 actually uses some of the thinnest paper filters to ensure that the water will flow smoothly and without interruption through the brewing.

So this coffee maker is difficult to master because there is so much control over the brewing.

It brews pretty fast, and with the grind size and the rate of pour, you get to determine how you want your coffee to taste, and thus how you make it.

Time and contact with water are two of the biggest factors when it comes to coffee brewing.

If water passes through the grounds too quickly you’ll have sour, watery coffee; if it drips through too slowly, you’ll get a bitter, over-extracted Joe.

So mastering the V60 is the art of understanding these factors in coffee brewing and being able to hone in on how to use the nuances of this coffee brewer to get the ideal extraction.

It’s important to remember that when brewing with this coffee maker, you will want your grind size to be even a little bit more fine than other pour overs, simply because it brews so quickly.

So on the scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most coarse, it should probably be somewhere from 3 to 4, instead of maybe 4 to 5 like on many other pour overs.

Conclusion

If you’re on the market for a coffee maker, I invite you to read my article here about the AeroPress vs. V60.

These are vastly different coffee brewers that function differently and produce a much different taste.

Both are awesome, and in that article I give my opinion about both of them when going head-to-head, and which one I prefer.

I give the Hario V60 a 7.5 out of 10, as I said in the beginning of this article.

It’s not only a super popular pour over and one of the biggest names in the craft coffee making world, it’s a very unique pour over that is truly an art and a science.

It yields great tasting coffee, especially as you master this brewing method.

It’s just an awesome coffee maker in its own right.

However, just as my disclaimer, it’s not my favorite pour over.

Sure, there have been some coffees where I’ve noticed that they work best with the V60, and that’s fun to find out.

But for the most part, I prefer another pour over for my daily habit.

If you don’t yet have the Hario V60 and you’re planning on getting it, I really hope you enjoy it, as it’s certainly a worth investment and coffee maker!

It should have its place in every coffee lovers heart… and kitchen.

 

I hope you found this review of the V60 helpful, and if you have any questions about it, please feel free to let me know in the comments section.