Hario v60 Suiren Pour-Over Dripper Evaluate

My father as soon as referred to my husband’s and my obsession with espresso as “our pastime” and as a lot as I instantly needed to protest what appeared like a dismissive remark…my dad had an excellent level. We love espresso a lot that we search it out once we journey. The minute I e book a resort or Airbnb, I analysis the closest specialty espresso outlets to the place we’re staying. 

We each needed to go to the Hario café once we had been visiting Tokyo this previous summer season. We had been excited to see the assorted espresso drippers it needed to provide, a few of which had solely simply been launched or had been solely accessible in Japan. That’s why, once we had been on the café, we picked up the brand new Hario Suiren. As quickly as we acquired dwelling, I put it to the take a look at.

The Checks

• Unpack and Meeting Check: I unpacked and assembled the Hario Suiren to see how tough it was to place collectively.
• Commonplace V60 Recipe Check (Medium Roast): I brewed a single cup of espresso utilizing a medium-roasted South American mix with chocolate and nutty notes to see how straightforward it was to brew and what the ensuing espresso tasted like. I used 205°F water with a medium-fine grind at a 1:14 coffee-to-water ratio. I in contrast this cup to a pour-over brewed in the identical method utilizing a regular Hario V60 dripper.
• Customized Suiren Recipe Check (Medium Roast): I tweaked the usual V60 pour-over recipe, customizing it for the Suiren’s lack of warmth. I used barely hotter water at 210°F however saved all the things else the identical, together with the grind dimension and 1:14 coffee-to-water ratio.
• Commonplace V60 Recipe Check (Mild Roast): I repeated the primary take a look at, utilizing a single-origin light-roasted Ethiopian espresso bean with floral, citrus, and fruity-tasting notes and a regular V60 recipe of 205°F water and medium-fine grind espresso. I once more in contrast it to a Hario V60 cup brewed in the identical method.
• Customized Suiren Recipe Check (Mild Roast): I repeated the second take a look at utilizing the lighter roasted beans, utilizing hotter, 210°F water to see if it made a distinction within the ensuing espresso.
• Cleansing Check: After every cup of espresso, I washed the Suiren to see how tough it was to take aside and clear.

What Is the Hario Suiren?

The Hario Suiren is from the makers of the basic Hario V60, one of the vital widespread pour-over espresso makers. The phrase “suiren” is Japanese for “water lily” and, true to its title, the Suiren is designed like an open flower, with plastic petal “fins” that the filter sits in, uncovered to the air.

It’s a beautiful design, made much more stunning by the power to customise the dripper by shopping for fins in several colours. You should buy the unique set in clear black or a restricted version black and white, or you should purchase units of six fins in several colours, permitting you to make the dripper in no matter coloration mixture you would like. My husband and I acquired the purple, white, and blue model in Japan.

The dripper works equally to different cone-shaped espresso filters just like the Hario v60, Hario v60 Mugen, the Origami, and the Graycano. You place a cone-shaped filter within the dripper and rinse it with scorching water. Then add the grinds, do a primary bloom, permitting the CO2 to launch, after which proceed to pour scorching water, ready for it to drip and repeat such as you would for most different pour-overs. The query, in fact, is that if the Hario Suiren really works effectively.

What We Discovered

It’s Tremendous Cute

There’s no strategy to get across the apparent: The Suiren is lovely. The shiny, translucent fins across the espresso filter are so fairly you’ll instantly wish to take a photograph and publish it in your social media platform of alternative. The truth that you possibly can swap out the colours to customise the dripper makes it even higher. Like the Origami pour-over dripper, that is the kind of system that you simply’ll proudly show in your countertop. And each one that sees it’ll ask what it’s.

It Brews a Extra Delicate, Mellower Cup

Does the Suiren make higher espresso than a standard V60? That’s debatable. Nevertheless it doesn’t make a unhealthy cup of espresso—only a completely different one. The filter sits pretty bare on the Suiren’s fins, with numerous air involved with it. Due to the best way the fins are within the base, the opening on the backside can be bigger, permitting extra espresso by. As compared, with the basic V60, the filter sits pretty near the partitions of the pour-over, with simply the wall’s ridges retaining the filter from sticking to the brewer. 

The extra the filter sticks, the extra water stays contained in the filter and subsequently the grounds, enhancing extraction. This course of is known as no-bypass brewing, the place the water has no place to go apart from by the espresso. A number of espresso nerds are into the no-bypass methodology however the Suiren circumvents this type of brewing totally, permitting water to flee by the edges of the filter, the place it’s uncovered to air.

Does this imply the Suiren filters extra shortly? Surprisingly, no. I discovered that the brew time for the Suiren was pretty just like that of the V60. Each took about three and a half minutes. It’s because the water that finally ends up being poured by the Suiren cools down sooner due to the brewer’s elevated airflow. Cooler water strikes by the grounds at a slower charge, however the bigger gap on the backside compensates for this, equalizing the brew time.

The Suiren’s ensuing espresso wasn’t as sharp as one from the V60. Medium-roasted espresso had deeper notes of nuttiness and a easy end that lingered on my tongue. Mild-roasted beans exhibited earthy black tea notes when brewed at 205°F. Comparable espresso made in the usual V60 had the medium roast tasting brighter with refined cherry notes whereas the sunshine roast had extra hints of floral and stone fruit.

You Can Make a Brighter Cup With Some Tweaks

To get a extra conventional V60-style cup out of the Suiren, all it’s good to do is modify the temperature of the water. Utilizing hotter water made espresso that tasted extra like a V60. Once I tried 210°F (slightly below boiling) and made certain to pour the water pretty near the grounds with my gooseneck kettle, I acquired a brighter-tasting cup with the medium roast. The sunshine roast espresso confirmed off extra floral notes, nearer to what I’d style with a standard V60 brew. 

Thorough Cleansing Isn’t Vital

Although the Hario Suiren is simple and intuitive to place collectively (and take aside), cleansing all these small plastic petals is tedious. However the directions included with Hario mentioned that each one it’s good to do is rinse the Suiren with scorching water after use. Ultimately, I do take it aside and wash it about as soon as per week. Nevertheless, a fast rinse beneath the recent water within the faucet will suffice most days. Hario states that the dripper elements are dishwasher-safe, however I’m afraid of inserting the light-weight fins by that harsh of a cleansing cycle.

The Verdict

When you’re new to pour-overs, get pleasure from a mellow cup of espresso, or need one thing that is a dialog starter, then the Hario Suiren is a superb dripper. It’s manufactured from sturdy plastic, is fairly priced, makes a subtler cup of espresso, is customizable with completely different coloured petals, and appears nice in your countertop.

The Professionals

This brewer is intuitive to arrange and features pretty equally to different Hario drippers. It’s customizable, with swappable “ribs” that may be bought in units of six (the dripper wants 12 ribs whole). The dripper itself is gorgeous and attention-grabbing. It additionally makes an incredible cup of espresso. The plastic resin development is pretty indestructible. As soon as arrange, it’s sturdy and the bigger base matches most espresso mugs with rims as much as 4 inches in diameter.

The Cons

Cleansing the Hario Suiren is pretty straightforward with only a easy rinse of scorching water, however if you wish to do a extra thorough cleansing, taking aside the fins and individually washing them could be tedious. Additionally, you possibly can’t simply flip the brewer over to empty the grounds into your trash or compost bin (one thing I did the primary time). The petals will fall out! As an alternative, it’s important to seize the filter by the perimeters and pull it out to toss it, leaving the dripper upright. Not a deal-breaker, however nonetheless a bit annoying. Lastly, in the event you’re anti-plastic, this isn’t the precise pour-over system for you. The complete dripper is manufactured from plastic, with the fins manufactured from PCT resin (a high-temperature-resistant plastic) and the bottom is manufactured from polypropylene, each of that are BPA-free. 

Key Specs

FAQs

Is Hario higher than Chemex? 

Each Hario and Chemex provide a number of coffee-making merchandise. The higher product is essentially as much as your style. Hario’s V60 is likely one of the requirements in pour-over drippers, making a fantastically balanced cup of espresso pretty shortly, the place the flavour notes can shine. However the V60 does sometimes take slightly extra consideration whereas brewing. The Chemex is extra forgiving as a result of gradual brew time, nevertheless it makes use of a thicker filter and the ensuing espresso isn’t fairly as wealthy, yielding a softer and cleaner cup of espresso. That mentioned, the Chemex is nice for making bigger pots of espresso, whereas the Hario V60 sometimes solely makes one to 2 cups at a time.

What number of cups of espresso are you able to make with the Hario pour-over?

Most of Hario’s pour-over drippers just like the v60, Mugen, and Suiren make one or two cups of espresso per pour-over. Hario provides different coffee-making units that may brew bigger quantities.

The place We’re the Specialists

• Irvin Lin is a former barista and occasional obsessive who owns over 25 units to make espresso. He’s a cookbook writer, recipe developer, meals author, photographer, and ceramicist.
• He wrote the cookbook Marbled, Swirled, and Layered, which was picked by The New York Instances as probably the greatest baking cookbooks of 2016.
• He runs a weblog referred to as Eat the Love, the place he’s developed, photographed, and written recipes since 2010. Eat the Love was nominated twice for greatest meals weblog by the Worldwide Affiliation of Culinary Professionals (IACP) in 2016 and 2022.