Hario V60 Review

The Hario V60 is a mainstay of specialty coffee shops around the world. If you’ve been into one looking for your caffeine fix, you’ve probably seen a member of staff carefully pouring water into the distinctive cone coffee dripper from a gooseneck kettle.

In our Hario V60 review, we look at how good this little brewer is if you’re not a professional Barista. Is it worth having one at home? We’ve dived into all the facts about Hario V60 coffee, and how it stacks up against some of its competitors.

Here we break down our full Hario V60 Review for you to work out if this is the top coffee maker for you. We have scoured the internet for all the expert reviews on this device to collate with our own. This means we have the most comprehensive Hario V60 review you can find. Whilst not all home coffee experts give numerical scores, we have averaged these out. Therefore, you can get a consensus opinion on how good this coffee maker is, and know for sure if it is the right fit for you. 

At a Glance: Hario V60 Review    

1. Available in a range of materials and colors

The V60 is available in plastic, glass, ceramic, and metal with a range of finishes. This means you can get one that fits perfectly with your kitchen or general aesthetic. It also means if you need something sturdy, you can get a plastic or metal one for camping/travel 

2. Ridged for coffee pleasure

The ridges on the V60 are more than just aesthetic. They guide the water to the center of the funnel and aid airflow to improve how evenly the flavor is extracted. 

3. Find your perfect size

The V60 is available in 3 sizes, helpfully named 01, 02, and 03. The 01 can brew 12 oz of coffee, the 02 brews up to 20 oz, and the 03 can brew up to 25 oz. Pick which one suits you best. 

Pouring the water over the grounds at the correct rate to get the desired result takes a few goes. But there are plenty of people who get it right the first time too. We think Hario V60 coffee is worth the time.

This is helped by the fact there are hundreds of videos online to help you too. What can make brewing with the Hario V60 more complex is the need to get the grind size, water temperature, and the pour right to make the coffee. This is a lot more to think about than other coffee brewing methods.

Ultimately, I’d say it’s easy to decent coffee from the V60, but takes some practice to get the truly great coffee that it is possible to extract from your awesome coffee beans. 

The Looks

In terms of looks it really all depends on which ones you go for. The clear plastic looks quite cheap, and it is, but if you’re taking it with you or brewing while camping then this is great. It’s sturdy and portable, no one is going to worry about it looking cheap when you’re sipping café-quality coffee by the camp fire in the morning.

The ceramic and metal look more high-end and are more expensive, functionality is the same across all of the options so it’s really all down to aesthetics. I love the black metal option, though it is one of the more expensive versions.

The Build

The build quality is great, they’re all beautifully crafted and perfect for the function. The glass and ceramic versions are obviously more prone to breaking. As is anything that is made with glass or ceramic vs metal and plastic. I know many people who owned a chipped ceramic version that still works perfectly as the chip doesn’t interfere with the brewing.

If you chip or break your V60 you could always try some “Kintsugi”, the Japanese method of repairing things with gold, to get a truly Japanese-looking coffee maker.

Best Grind Size for Hario V60

The Hario V60 needs relatively coarse coffee grounds, about the same consistency as kosher salt or coarse sand. This is slightly coarser than you would use for Aeropress or Moka pot coffee. The exact size will depend on your own tastes and the coffee you’re grinding.  

Most manual grinders will give you a guide as to what setting to use for V60. You can use this as a starting point then make it finer if you feel it’s a bit weak, or it’s thin and sour due to under-extraction. Make it coarser if it’s too strong or bitter due to over-extraction. 

Best Coffee Roast for V60

Pour over is one of the methods that really brings out the best in light roast coffees. All those amazing aromatic compounds that are present in the lighter roasts give an incredible aroma to V60 coffee and show the hyper-regionality of single-origin coffees. 

You can brew with whatever roast you prefer and get a great-tasting cup. But with how well V60 brewing lends itself to lighter roasts and exploring the nuances between different coffee beans, we feel you should at least give light roast a try.

Best Coffee Region for V60

Any single-origin is going to be great, you can really get a feel for the area and it’s unique style with the V60. For us though, Ethiopia is the place to start. The hyper aromatic, high elevation coffees of Ethiopia are an absolute joy when brewed with the V60. Coffee that is bursting with fruit and flower notes and a depth of complexity that will astound you. We’ve picked some of the best Ethiopian coffees available and you need to try them with your V60.

The plastic and ceramic models of the V60 are dishwasher safe. So you compost the filter and ground and chuck your V60 in the dishwasher, job done. It’s about as easy as cleaning up after brewing coffee can possibly be, which is amazing. 

Varies by Material

Even the metal and glass options don’t require extensive cleaning. A quick rinse will usually do the job to keep your V60 nice and sparkly. A couple of notes though, copper looks great but it can tarnish and will require polishing every 6 months or so to keep it looking its best. The copper polish is nasty stuff to get on your skin, make sure you have heavy gloves when doing this. 

Obviously, the glass is the most brittle of the available options, just be careful when cleaning this by hand because breaking glass in a sink full of water is nobody’s idea of a good time. I’m clumsier than most so maybe I worry about such things more than the average human needs to though. 

Cost

This depends on which version of the V60 you choose, the Aeropress is around $40, you can get V60s as cheap as $10 or as expensive as $60. It all depends on the size and material you want. In terms of day to day costs, the Aeropress comes with a big stack of coffee filters included, but you need to buy more at some point.

Aeropress filters are around 1/3 of the price of filters for the V60. There are also reusable filters available for Aeropress and V60, but again the Aeropress ones are about 1/3 of the price. 

Ease of Use

This is a clear win for the Aeropress. It is quite easy to under-extract your coffee with the Aeropress but it is a much more forgiving coffee maker than the V60. It is very likely you’ll get it right on the first try, and if not, on the second or third. 

While we wouldn’t say the V60 is difficult to use, it could take 5 or so attempts before you really start to get the hang of it. Mastery comes with 20 plus brews for most people. This isn’t an issue for us, dedicated to getting the pour over right. But maybe a bit too much work for those wanting great coffee at home easily.

Accessories Needed

Both require a grinder of some description. It’s just not worth using pre-ground coffee in either device as you lose the amazing flavors that brewing with these can get you. You can spend anywhere from $30-500 on a grinder. We use a 1Zpresso J-Max because it’s an amazing grinder for all brewing methods, but it isn’t cheap.

The Javapresse manual is a great budget option for those looking to get a good coffee set up without breaking the bank. The Porlex mini is designed to fit inside the Aeropress, so if you’re thinking of taking your coffee set up on the road, it’s certainly one to consider. 

Neither necessarily need anything else, but using a top-quality gooseneck kettle with the V60 is recommended as it makes brewing easier. These are also not cheap, we just used a jug when we first got it to help slowly pour the hot water, but a kettle is a much more elegant solution.

Quality of Coffee

Both are capable of brewing exceptional coffee. Quality isn’t the difference between them. It’s all about the style. V60 produces a light, smooth, aromatic style of coffee with accentuated fruit and flower notes on the nose and a more delicate style on the palate. 

Aeropress produces a more robust style of coffee, depending on the method used. Inverted brewing can give a richer, more full-bodied style similar to French press. Regular brewing gives a lighter style, but is still considerably richer and punchier than the V60. You won’t get the same level of aromatics from the Aeropress however. 

Verdict

With the difference in price being pretty negligible, it’s all about what style of coffee you want and how patient you are. If you love pour over style and are happy to give it a fair few tries to get right, then the V60 is absolutely the best option for you.

If you’d prefer a more forgiving brewer that will produce a punchier, and fuller-bodied brew then we’d highly recommend trying the Aeropress and using one of the millions of videos explaining how to get the best from it.

They’re both very affordable so there’s no reason why you couldn’t have both though, best of both worlds.

This is fairly simple, the Kalita is easier to use, and more forgiving but can’t produce the same level of amazing coffee as the V60. The Kalita is close to the Vietnamese coffee dripper in style and design, it produces great coffee but not on the level of the V60. 

For beginners, it may be best to get a Kalita wave and start your pour over journey on a more forgiving brewer. Then once you’ve really nailed your technique, you can move to the V60 to get even better flavor from your coffee beans. 

If you have some experience with pour over, or are just happy with the learning process, then jump straight to the V60. You’ll get a much better coffee once you’ve nailed it, and it isn’t so difficult that you’ll never manage to get a great brew from the cone. 

The only real downside is that it takes practice, sometimes quite a lot of practice, to get it right. But the rewards for your efforts are so very very great. This is the common theme you’ll see in this Hario V60 review – incredible coffee but requires some work. I love coffee from the V60 and I love the process of brewing with it, I find it very calming. For those looking to enjoy the nuance of single-origin coffee, the V60 is a must-have.

Don’t forget to buy your Hario V60 today

Matt Woodburn-Simmonds

Matt's coffee obsession started in 2006 when working as a Barista. A tendency to turn up to work hungover kickstarted his coffee journey which quickly turned into a love affair. As he moved on to work as a Restaurant Manager and Sommelier, the obsession continued to grow. Now, his passion is helping others to enjoy better coffee at home.