v60 coffee brew guide
Coffee brewing method: Filter coffee
Skill level: Easy
The perfect gateway pour-over, the V60 will give you confidence in learning how to treat filter coffee with the care and respect that we think it deserves.
In this brew guide we take you through the process of using a V60 coffee maker.
Once you've mastered the basics of the V60, there is lots of potential for you to begin playing with different grind sizes and brew times, to see how these impact the coffee's flavour.
What coffees work well with V60?
Pour-over brew methods are particularly well suited to lighter roasts and filter coffees.
We've had some pretty epic filter coffees on our roasting schedule recently and wanted to share some tips on pour-over brew method which will really make a filter coffee shine.
Some of our recent filter coffees include:
- El Oso Filter. This easy-drinking filter is a real crowd-pleaser. Ethically sourced from an organic grower in Peru with notes of delicious apricot danish.
- Kathangariri is a washed coffee from Kenya. It's packed with clean fruit flavours and sparkling redcurrant acidity and is a fantastic example of why Kenyan coffees are loved by so many.
- Luis Anibal Calderon is a rare Ombligon varietal from Colombia. Processed using the natural method, this coffee has exotic fruit notes of tropical fruit salad.
- Subscribe to Roaster's Choice Filter and we'll send you a new single origin filter coffee to try each month.
What is a V60 coffee maker?
The V60 coffee maker is relatively cheap, extremely portable and simple to use and is an iconic pour-over brew method.
The V60 is Japanese, made by Hario and is named because of the 60 degree angle of the cone. These days there are other similar coffee makers on the market made by different manufacturers, but the V60 is something of a speciality coffee icon.
An entry-level V60 will set you back less than £10 for a reusable plastic version to pop in your bag each morning, and they also come in different sizes depending on how many cups you want to make. For those wanting to splash out on something more designed, Hario also release limited edition coloured V60s in ceramic.
At Extract, we sell the metal V60s. This is because we find the metal V60s are best at conducting heat and result in a better coffee extraction and a better tasting brew at the end.
What do you need to brew coffee using a V60?
Kit list: Here's what you'll need to get started.
- A V60 coffee maker
- V60 filter papers
- Medium-ground coffee
- A jug or coffee server to brew in to
- If you're buying whole-beans, a coffee grinder
- Scales (Kitchen scales will do but coffee scales are more precise)
- Timer (we use our phones)
Step by step brew guide for V60 Coffee
1. Weigh and grind
Weighing and grinding is key to getting your brew tasting consistently good and means you can replicate good results.
If you're brewing for two people, you will need 36g of coffee and 500ml water. Aim for a medium-coarse grind.
You may enjoy your coffee stronger or weaker, so as a general rule, we'd say anywhere between 60-70g per litre of coffee.
It's your brew, and experimenting to find the perfect ratio for you is absolutely encouraged.
2. Rinse
Pop the filter into your V60 and rinse with hot water. This means you only taste the good stuff in your brew, and not the taint of the paper.
Now is a good time to pre-heat your vessel, which will keep your coffee hotter for longer.
3. Saturate & bloom
Tip away any hot water in your jug or server and add your ground coffee into the filter paper in the coffee maker – it's time to brew.
Start the first pour. The aim here is to saturate the grounds: this should require only 80-100ml of the total water.
Watch as the coffee expands and de-gasses. This process is called the 'bloom'.
Wait 20-30 seconds here before moving on to the main pour.
4. Pour
Try to pour consistently, at a steady rate, and in a circular motion. This keeps the coffee grounds fully immersed without weighing the coffee down with all the water at once.
Pause every 100ml for a few seconds to keep the water level only a few mm above the grounds.
The total brew time (including bloom) should be 4-5 minutes.
Serve and enjoy!
All that's left to do is to serve and savour the moment.
V60 brewing FAQs
What is a pour-over coffee?
Heard the term 'pour over coffee,' but not too sure where to begin?
For pour-over brew methods, you add medium-ground coffee to a filter paper inside a cone-shaped coffee maker and then slowly pour water over the coffee grounds, with the extracted coffee dripping into a jug below.
It's a slower brew method (4-5 minutes compared with a 30 second shot of espresso) but one which is favoured by baristas and speciality coffee lovers because it offers you lots of opportunity to experiment with extraction and flavour and is a way to really bring out some of the more complex tasting notes that might be in your coffee.
What's the best coffee for a V60?
Really, you can use any coffee in a V60.
If you take your coffee black, we'd recommend brewing with a filter roast coffee.
Some of our recent filter coffees include:
- El Oso Filter. This easy-drinking filter is a real crowd-pleaser. Ethically sourced from an organic grower in Peru with notes of delicious apricot danish.
- Kathangariri is a washed coffee from Kenya. It's packed with clean fruit flavours and sparkling redcurrant acidity and is a fantastic example of why Kenyan coffees are loved by so many.
- Luis Anibal Calderon is a rare Ombligon varietal from Colombia. Processed using the natural method, this coffee has exotic fruit notes of tropical fruit salad.
- Subscribe to Roaster's Choice Filter and we'll send you a new single origin filter coffee to try each month.
If you enjoy coffee with milk try an espresso roast coffee but perhaps play around with the dose to make sure that your coffee tastes well balanced with milk.
Because this is a lighter brew method, you might find the milk overpowers the flavours in your coffee, so you need to make a stronger brew.
What filter should I use in a V60?
V60 brewing requires a conical filter designed especially for this coffee maker. You can buy V60 Filter Papers in packs of 100 over on our shop.
You should always rinse your filter with hot water to remove the papery taste before brewing and only ever use a filter once.
Where can I buy a V60?
We have metal V60 coffee makers and other filter brew equipment for sale over in the Extract Coffee Roasters shop, which you can find here. You can also buy plastic and ceramic V60 coffee makers direct from Hario UK.
What sort of V60 is best?
Hario make several different types of V60 and they all have their merits. The ceramic ones look incredible. The plastic ones are cheapest.
We stock the metal ones because they conduct heat the best and we think they give the best coffee extraction.