V60 Brew Guide

Introduction

Hario V60, nothing to say, the most popular and beloved brewer in the global specialty coffee community.

As far as we have experimented, the drainage flow of V60 tends to be faster in the former half and slower in the latter half when compared to flat bottom brewers such as the Kalita Wave and the Fellow Stagg X. We assume that this inconsistent flow rate is due to the concentration of water flow to the huge single hole in the center which can sometimes cause total choking when significant amounts of fines migrate. Thus, paper filters play an important role in Hario V60 brewing. So far, the Hario tabbed filter is our favorite filter in terms of flavor clarity though you can't be too careful on pour rate/height to avoid channeling and choking when brewing with it. If you have any issues in flow rate, we recommend Cafec Abaca or T-90 for their relatively fast flow rate in the latter half and the reduced risk of choking. To deal with the flow rate issue, you'll also need a high end home grinder or commercial grade grinder that creates less amounts of fines.

Settings

Brewer Model: V60 01 glass or 02 metal

Filter Model: Hario "Tabbed", Cafec T-90 (also known as "medium dark roast filter") or Abaca

Ratio: 18:300(for size 01), 22:374(for size 02)

Total Brewing Time: 3:00-4:30 minutes

Brew Temperature: 97℃(93°C for low grown or less dense naturals)

Grind setting: 21-27clicks on Comandante

Advice

If there is a problem in any cone shaped brewer, it is likely the uneven bed depth.

The center point (origin of the circle, from a bird’s-eye-view) is the deepest part of the cone and the coffee bed gets shallower as it gets closer to the outermost area. Usually, optimal pour height and pour rate depend on bed depth, hence the uneven bed depth can be a cause of uneven extraction. You will under-extract the deeper area if your pour height/rate is not high enough to disturb the deeper ground bed. On the other hand you'll create channels if your pour height is too high for the shallower area or you pour onto the shallower/outer area too much.

For even pre-wetting (also known as blooming), we recommend digging the dry ground bed and creating a swirl in the middle of the ground bed with your finger or plastic/metal stick beforehand.

For each pulse, start pouring from outermost area in a circular outside-in motion to get particles in the outer area into the slurry, then continue pouring mainly onto the center area in a circular motion and finish with a brief center focused pour. Your optimal pour height for V60 would be relatively higher than your optimal pour height for a flat bottom brewer due to the deeper bed depth of V60’s center area.

To get the ground bed disturbed deeply, make sure that your pour rate is just enough to avoid letting droplets appear in the stream, especially when you are pouring onto the center area. You can pour relatively gently onto the outer areas when start main pouring. We recommend higher pour height for higher dose.

Preparation

(1)Get your boiled brew water ready.

(2)Start with a medium fine grind, make sure that there are no visible boulders in your ground. Between brews, adjust your grind size to hit the optimal brew time (3:00-4:30minutes) or grind finer until you feel unpleasant bitterness, then go back one notch coarser on the grinder. We recommend "rinsing" your grinder beforehand with 1-2g of same beans which you brew.

(3)Set your paper filter, then rinse the filter and pre-heat your coffee server and the brewer beforehand by pouring boiling water in a circular motion.

The amount of water recommended: 150grams for V60 01, 200grams for V60 02

Rinsing the filter

*Put spoon to fix the paper filter.

(4)Add your grounds, shake your V60 to make the bed flatten.

Flat coffee ground bed

*Flat coffee ground bed, without visible boulders.

Swirl in the middle of coffee ground bed

*The swirl in the middle of the coffee ground bed which ensures even pre-wetting. This swirl may increase extraction though it's not very repeatable.

(4)Start your timer then add just enough(3 times per your grounds weight) bloom water to wet all the grounds within 10 sec. Grab the brewer and begin to swirl in a circular motion (spin the brewer). Wait and bloom for up to 45 seconds.

The Rao spin in pre-wetting phase

(5)Pour the rest of the brew water in 2 phases. Pour brew water continuously and gently in a circular motion to hit 60% of the total brew water weight within 20-40seconds, then spin the brewer(phase 1).

Start main pouring from outermost area.