Hario V60 · Pour by pour
A single-cup ritual. Paper, water, time; and a coffee that brings out the taste of where its beans were grown
We start by rinsing a paper filter in the V60 with hot water. This gets rid of any papery taste and warms the dripper and cup at the same time. The rinse water gets discarded.
Fifteen grams of beans, ground medium-fine, gets placed into the filter. A quick shake to level the bed, and then water is added bit by bit to properly bring out the taste of the ground beans. We use roughly a ratio of 1g of beans to 15ml of water and adjust depending on the profile of the beans we work with to bring out the intended flavour.
The first pour invokes the bloom; about 30-45g of water, or until the foam appears and the coffee swells. Not too much, but enough to saturate the grounds and get rid of gases that affects the uniformity of the brew.
We let it sit until the bloom stagnates, then it's four more pours in slow, concentric circles, each with a pause of 20-30s in between. The complete brew finishes in around 3-4 minutes.
Filtered coffee is special in the sense that it relies only on the heat of water for its extraction. Flavour extraction becomes an art where water temperature, grind coarseness, and observation of the roast profile come together to make the taste.
Filtered coffee is best tasted black since milk can mask delicate tasting notes, but milk can also bring out other flavours that may be difficult to sense at first. Like any other specialty coffee, filtered coffee is best had with intention and with a curiosity to discover new tastes.
If espresso is a shout, filtered coffee is a conversation. It rewards sitting with it. Try drinking it at different temperatures and notice how the taste profile changes as it cools from ~80ºC to ~50ºC