Easy Hario V60 Recipe – How to Make Coffee with the V60 Pour-Over
When friends ask me how they can start making pour/over coffee, I always recommend using the Hario V60. It is inexpensive and very easy to use.
Trust me, if you know the basic V60 as I outline below, you’ll always get a great cup that highlights each bean’s unique flavors through a clean, balanced brew, with fruit-like acidity.
What is a Hario V60?
The Hario V60 is a pour-over coffee maker named after its V-shaped conical dripper with a 60° angle. Like other pour-over methods, it involves pouring water on a bed of ground coffee on the cone while the coffee drink drips underneath into a mug or carafe.
The resulting drink is a clean and bright brew that emphasizes the beans’ unique flavor notes.
Originating from Japan, this brewer quickly gained popularity around the world due to its simple design and ability to produce a high-quality cup of coffee. It is now commonly used by baristas and home brewers alike because it allows for complete control over every aspect of the brewing process.
What I like about the Hario V60 is that even with a shorter brew time, each batch offers better flavor extraction than a French press due to the water flowing to the center of the filter.
Since the dripper is also separate from the carafe, it is also more portable and space-saving than the Chemex.
Equipment & Ingredients Used for Hario V60
Here are the things that you will need to make a delicious cup of joe with the Hario V60:
- Spoon – Used for measuring and scooping out ground coffee.
- Scale – Important in measuring both the amount of coffee grounds and water. If you’re looking for a reliable scale, check out my review of the Timemore Black Mirror Basic Plus.
- Timer – Helps in controlling timing during the brewing process. All barista scales have built-in timers.
- Kettle – Used to heat your water.
- Hario V60 dripper – Where you place the filter paper and coffee while brewing. The 02 size is the most common for coffee lovers to use.
- 15 grams of ground coffee – Use high-quality grounds with a medium grind size.
- V60 filter paper – It fits into the brewing cone and is made from unbleached natural pulp material without any chemical substances.
- Around 300 g of heated water – The temperature should range between 195°F and 205°F.
What is the best Hario V60 coffee-to-water ratio?
After loads of experimenting, my go-to V60 coffee-to-water ratio is 1:15, where for every 1 gram of coffee, you use 15 grams of water.
You may notice that this ratio is a bit lower than the Magic Cup ratio of 16:66, but it yields better coffee in my opinion.
So for example:
- 15g coffee -> 225g water = Approximately 200g yield
- 40g coffee -> 390g water = Approximately 340g yield
Note that the coffee grounds retain water, so your yield will always be less than the amount of water you pour into the brewer.
Step-by-Step Guide to Making Hario V60
Follow this step-by-step Hario V60 brew guide to make a delicious cup of coffee. We will use 15g of grinds to make a mug of coffee.
1. Insert the V60 filter into the brewer cone.
- Fold the seam of the V60 filter and open it up.
- Place it inside your brewer cone which must sit on top of your carafe.
2. Rinse the paper filter.
- Pour a small amount of hot water into the filter to remove any papery taste.
- Empty the carafe of the rinsing water.
3. Prepare your coffee grinds.
- Weigh 15 g of coffee and grind it to medium size.
- Place it inside the V60 brewer.
4. Tare and bloom.
- Zero out your scale with the brewer on top and start the timer.
- Add 40g hot water to saturate the grounds and let it bloom for about 40 seconds.
5. Add the rest of the water.
- Slowly add more water to the coffee bed using concentric circle motions.
- Avoid pouring outside the rim or filter area to avoid a papery taste. It may also cause excess water to flow down the side of the V60, without extracting the coffee.
6. Stop pouring at 225g.
- When you reach 225 grams on the scale, stop pouring the water.
7. Stir the grounds and wait for the drawdown.
- Gently swirl the grounds a little bit with a spoon to ensure an even extraction.
- Wait for the drawdown to finish. The last drips should be at around two minutes and thirty seconds on the timer.
- If the drawdown is too quick, you need to make your grinds finer for the next cup.
8. Remove the filter and serve.
- Once complete, remove the dripper and filter paper.
- Pour into your mug and serve.
Easy Hario V60 Recipe
Ingredients
- 15 g Coffee grounds
- 225 g Heated water
Instructions
- Fold the seam of your V60 paper filter, open it up, and insert it into the brewer cone above the carafe.
- Rinse the filter with water and empty the carafe.
- Put the cup on your scale, and the empty V60 onto it.
- Zero out your scale, and add 15 g of medium coffee grinds.
- Start a timer, and add 40g hot water. Let it bloom for 40 seconds.
- Slowly pour water in concentric circles and stop at 225g.
- Gently stir the wet grounds and wait two minutes and thirty seconds for the drawdown.
- Remove the dripper and filter.
Video
Notes
- Use filtered water and grind your own beans whenever possible.
- Don’t use boiling water.
- Use a 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio with this V60 recipe.
Barista Tips for Making Coffee with The Hario V60
Here are some additional tips to help you brew a perfect cup with the Hario V60 every time:
- The problem that sometimes occurs is that the drawdown is too quick. You are aiming for 2:30 total brewing time, and if you are way under that at the end of the brew, your coffee will taste watery. This just means that your grinds were too coarse, so use a finer setting next time.
- Use medium grind coffee as a rule of thumb. To troubleshoot a weak cup, try a finer grind size. If the coffee drips too slowly though, try a coarser grind.
- Use filtered water whenever possible to ensure that you can enjoy a purely flavored cup of coffee when you brew. The V60 coffee filter works best for this recipe.
- Choose high-quality beans and use a grinder to grind them yourself if you can just before brewing to ensure the maximum freshness of your coffee grounds.
- Be mindful not to use boiling water. This may scorch the coffee, leading to an overly bitter flavor profile.
- Don’t forget the blooming process. This allows those delicious gases and oils inside the beans to escape into the aroma of your freshly brewed coffee.
- Try other recipes. If you feel like you’ve mastered the basics of the V60, you can take things up a notch by trying award-winning recipes with this dripper, such as the 4:6 Method by Tetsu Kasuya and the Five Pour recipe of Matt Winton.
With just a few tools and ingredients, you can enjoy the unique flavors and aromas that each bean has to offer through this pour-over brewing method. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different grinds or water temperatures until you find your perfect combination.
Remember, making good coffee with the V60 is all about precision and consistency in measurements as well as patience during the brewing process. For more info on this method, check out my complete Hario V60 guide.
How did you like the recipe? Let me know in a comment below!
Quick question about the blooming process: how do you determine the right amount of water to use for blooming, or is it included in the 225g of water for the entire brewing process?
Yes, it is included. You typically use 2-3g of water for every gram of ground coffee, which is enough to wet the coffee bed and start the blooming process.
Just tried your V60 recipe this morning, and I couldn’t be happier. I nailed the grind size on the first go as well, by drawdown time was 2:23. I’ve always been intimidated by making pour-overs at home, assuming they were too complex. But your guide was straightforward and easy to follow. Now I’m enjoying a beautifully balanced cup with a hint of acidity that I never tasted in my coffee before. Thank you.
A 1:15 coffee-to-water ratio? From my experience, a 1:17 ratio allows the more intricate notes of lighter roasts to shine, especially those with floral and citrus notes. It would be interesting to see a comparison of different ratios and their impact on the flavor profile in a future article.