Your first V60: a 3-minute recipe

The Hario V60 is a plastic, ceramic, glass or metal cone with one large hole at the bottom and spiral ridges on the inside. It costs very little and is one of the most widely used pour-over drippers in specialty coffee. It's also more sensitive than most brewers: the big hole means the water flows as fast as you let it. That's why it rewards a little structure. With a scale, a timer and the recipe below, most people make a genuinely good cup on their first or second try.

What you need

• A V60 02 dripper and matching 02 paper filters. The 01 size is for a single small cup. The 02 handles 1–3 cups and is the more flexible choice. The plastic version is the cheapest, usually around $10, and needs less preheating than ceramic. Check price.
• Freshly ground coffee. Whole beans roasted within the last month, ground just before brewing. Pre-ground coffee works, but it's usually ground too fine for a V60 and loses aroma within days.
• A scale that reads to 0.1 g with a timer. You're about to pour water by weight, and cups or tablespoons aren't precise enough for this.
• A kettle. A gooseneck spout makes a slow, controlled pour much easier, but any kettle works for your first attempts.
• A mug or small carafe for the V60 to sit on.

The recipe at a glance

Want to make two mugs? Double everything to 30 g and 500 g and expect the total time to stretch to about 3:30–4:00. Our ratio calculator works out the numbers for any dose.

Step by step

1. Rinse the filter (0:00, before you start)

Fold the filter along its seam, put it in the V60, and pour hot water through it. This removes papery taste and warms the dripper and your mug. Pour the rinse water away.

2. Add coffee and zero the scale

Add 15 g of ground coffee, shake the V60 gently so the bed is flat, and set everything on the scale. Press tare so it reads 0.

3. Bloom: 40 g of water, wait 40 seconds

Start the timer and pour about 40 g of water, enough to wet all the grounds. Fresh coffee holds carbon dioxide from roasting. When hot water hits it, the gas escapes and the bed puffs up. This is called the bloom. Letting that gas out first means the water that follows can reach the coffee evenly instead of being pushed away by bubbles. Give it a gentle swirl so no dry clumps remain.

4. First main pour: to 150 g by 1:10

At 0:40, pour slowly in small circles, working from the center outward and back, avoiding the paper walls. Aim to reach 150 g on the scale around 1:10.

5. Second pour: to 250 g by 1:45

Let the level drop slightly, then continue the same slow circles until the scale reads 250 g. You should get there around 1:40–1:50.

6. Swirl and let it drain

Give the V60 one gentle swirl to flatten the bed. The last of the water drains through in what's called the drawdown. Aim for it to finish around 3:00. A flat bed of grounds at the end, rather than grounds stuck high on the walls, is a sign of an even brew.

Reading the result

The total time is your best clue to whether the grind is right, and your tongue is the final judge.

• Finished before 2:30 and tastes sour, thin or sharp? The water ran through too fast and didn't pull out enough flavor. Grind finer.
• Finished after 3:45 and tastes bitter, dry or hollow? The water was held too long and pulled out harsh compounds. Grind coarser.
• On time but too strong or too weak? The grind is fine. Change the ratio instead: use a little more coffee for a stronger cup, or a little less.

Change only one thing at a time, and write down what you changed. Our guide to fixing sour or bitter coffee goes deeper.

Common beginner mistakes

Pouring too fast

A regular kettle tends to dump water in a flood, which digs a hole in the coffee bed and lets water rush past most of the grounds. If you don't have a gooseneck, pour in several smaller pours and keep the spout close to the coffee.

Using a blade grinder

Blade grinders chop beans into a mix of dust and chunks. The dust clogs the filter and turns bitter, while the chunks stay sour. That combination is the most common reason a V60 cup tastes muddy. A burr grinder is the single biggest upgrade you can make. See burr vs blade grinders.

Old coffee

Beans that are well past their roast date bloom weakly and taste flat whatever you do. Check the bag for a roast date, not just a best-by date.

Gear that makes this easier

Once you've got the basics

When the 3-minute recipe feels routine, try one experiment per week: a lighter roast, slightly hotter water, or splitting the main pour into three smaller pours. Small changes show up clearly in a V60 cup, and that's what makes it a good brewer to learn on.