The V60 is the brewer that taught most of us what our coffee actually tastes like. One cone, one paper filter, one steady pour - and a cup so clean that every choice you made along the way shows up in the glass. That transparency is the whole point, and it is also why the V60 has a reputation for being fussy.
It is not fussy. It is honest. Below is the recipe we brew at the roastery, followed by the reasoning behind each number so you can adjust it for your coffee instead of following it blindly.
What you need
- A Hario® V60 dripper and paper filters in the matching size
- A server or carafe - brewing straight into a mug works, but you lose the ability to swirl and taste the whole brew
- A burr grinder. This is the single piece of gear that changes your coffee the most
- A scale that reads to 0.1 g, and a timer
- A gooseneck kettle for pour control
- Filtered water - coffee is 98% water, so bad water is bad coffee
New to pour over? The V60 Starter Kit puts the dripper, server and filters together in one box.
The ratio, and why 1:16-17
Every V60 recipe is really just a ratio. We brew at 1 g of coffee to 16-17 g of water, which lands in the middle of the range most specialty roasters use. Below 1:15 the cup gets heavy and the acidity flattens out. Above 1:18 it starts to taste thin and washed out, and people usually blame the coffee.
| Cups | Coffee | Water | Target time |
|---|---|---|---|
| One | 15 g | 250 g | 2:30-3:00 |
| Two | 30 g | 500 g | 3:15-3:45 |
| Three | 45 g | 750 g | 3:45-4:15 |
Weigh the water as well as the coffee. Millilitres and grams are close enough for water that you can treat them as the same thing, and a scale removes the biggest source of inconsistency in home brewing.
Grind size is the dial you actually turn
Medium-fine, roughly the texture of table salt, is the starting point. It is not a target to hit exactly - it is a place to begin, because every grinder reads its own numbers differently.
Grind size controls how fast water moves through the bed, and therefore how much it extracts. Finer grind means slower flow and more extraction. Coarser means faster flow and less. Once your ratio and temperature are fixed, grind is the only variable you should be moving.
If you are grinding on a blade grinder, the uneven particle size will fight you the whole way through - the fines over-extract and turn bitter while the boulders stay sour, in the same cup. A hand grinder with conical burrs costs less than a month of café coffee and fixes this permanently. We wrote more about it in The Basics: Grind Your Coffee Right.
Water: temperature and quality
We brew at 92-94 ºC. If your kettle has no temperature control, boil it and let it stand for about 45 seconds with the lid off - that puts you in range.
Lighter roasts are denser and hold onto their sugars, so they like the top of that range or even a touch above. Darker roasts give up their solubles easily and turn ashy when the water is too hot, so drop to 88-90 ºC.
Water hardness matters as much as heat. Distilled water extracts almost nothing and tastes hollow. Very hard tap water mutes acidity and leaves a chalky finish. A simple filter jug is enough for most of Portugal.
Pouring technique
The bloom
Fresh coffee is full of carbon dioxide from roasting. Hit it with hot water and it foams up and pushes the water away from the grounds. The bloom - a small pour, then a pause - lets that gas escape so the rest of the brew can extract evenly. Use about three times the weight of the coffee in water and give it 45 seconds.
A vigorous bloom means the coffee is fresh. If yours barely moves, the bag has been open too long. Storing your coffee properly buys you weeks.
The main pours
Pour in slow spirals from the centre outwards, and stop before you reach the paper. Water that runs down the side of the filter bypasses the coffee entirely and dilutes the cup.
Keep the water level roughly constant rather than letting the bed drain dry between pours. A steady level means a steady flow, and a steady flow is what makes one brew taste like the last one.
Finishing
Aim to finish pouring with enough time left for the bed to drain into your target window. A flat, level bed at the end is a sign the extraction was even. A crater in the middle or a high wall of grounds up the sides means the pour was uneven.
Troubleshooting: what your cup is telling you
| The cup tastes | That means | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| Sour, sharp, empty finish | Under-extracted | Grind finer, or raise the temperature |
| Bitter, drying, harsh | Over-extracted | Grind coarser, or lower the temperature |
| Thin and watery | Ratio too weak | Use more coffee, not less water |
| Muddy, heavy, dull | Too much fines or agitation | Pour more gently and check your grinder |
| Draining too fast (under 2:00) | Grind too coarse | Grind finer one step at a time |
| Stalling (over 4:00) | Grind too fine, or clogged bed | Grind coarser, pour more gently |
Change one variable at a time and taste after each change. Two changes at once and you will not know which one worked. Most people also make one of the five common mistakes without realising it.
Which coffee to use
The V60 flatters coffees with acidity and aroma. Washed Ethiopians, Kenyans and high-altitude Colombians all open up in a way they never do under pressure. This is the brewer to reach for when you want to actually taste the origin.
Our filter coffees are roasted for exactly this - developed enough to be sweet, light enough to keep the fruit intact. If you would rather not choose, the coffee subscription sends a fresh bag on your rhythm, ground for your method or whole bean.
V60 questions, answered
What grind size for V60?
Medium-fine, about the texture of table salt. Start there and adjust by taste: if the cup is sour, grind finer; if it is bitter, grind coarser. Grind numbers do not transfer between grinders, so treat the description as the reference, not a dial setting.
What is the correct V60 coffee-to-water ratio?
1:16 to 1:17 - one gram of coffee for every 16-17 grams of water. Our house recipe is 15 g of coffee to 250 g of water for a single cup, and 30 g to 500 g for two.
How long should a V60 brew take?
2:30 to 3:00 for a single cup, from the moment you start the timer until the bed runs dry. Two cups take 3:15 to 3:45. If you are well outside that window, adjust your grind rather than your pour.
Do I have to rinse the paper filter?
Yes. It washes out the papery taste and preheats the dripper and server, which stops the brew losing several degrees the moment it starts. It takes ten seconds and it is the cheapest improvement you can make.
Why does my V60 taste sour?
Almost always under-extraction. The water either moved through too fast or was not hot enough. Grind one step finer, check you are at 92-94 ºC, and make sure the bloom got the whole bed wet.
Can I use a V60 without a gooseneck kettle?
You can, and it will still be good coffee. A gooseneck simply makes the pour slow and precise, which makes your results repeatable. If you are pouring from a normal kettle, go slowly and keep the stream in the centre.
V60 or Chemex - which should I buy?
The V60 is faster, more forgiving of small batches and gives you more control per cup. The Chemex® uses a much thicker filter and produces a cleaner, rounder cup, and it brews larger volumes well. If you brew mostly for yourself, start with the V60.
Keep going
Get the V60 right and the rest of pour over follows. When you want a cleaner, larger brew, move to the Chemex®. When you want something you can travel with, the AeroPress® makes an excellent cup in ninety seconds.
Every recipe here is written for freshly roasted specialty coffee. We roast to order in Lisbon and ship within 24-48 hours, because none of these numbers matter much if the coffee has been sitting in a warehouse since spring.
