Hario v60 Suiren Pour-Over Dripper Assessment

My father as soon as referred to my husband’s and my obsession with espresso as “our passion” and as a lot as I instantly wished to protest what appeared like a dismissive remark…my dad had a very good 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 wished 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 supply, 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 Exams

• 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 simple 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 typical 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 typical 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 in style 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 stunning design, made much more lovely by the flexibility to customise the dripper by shopping for fins in numerous colours. You should buy the unique set in clear black or a restricted version black and white, or you should buy units of six fins in numerous colours, permitting you to make the dripper in no matter colour mixture you want. My husband and I acquired the pink, 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 sizzling water. Then add the grinds, do a primary bloom, permitting the CO2 to launch, after which proceed to pour sizzling 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 truly works nicely.

What We Realized

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’ll be able to swap out the colours to customise the dripper makes it even higher. Like the Origami pour-over dripper, that is the kind of machine that you just’ll proudly show in your countertop. And each one who sees it’s going to ask what it’s.

It Brews a Extra Refined, Mellower Cup

Does the Suiren make higher espresso than a standard V60? That’s debatable. However it doesn’t make a unhealthy cup of espresso—only a totally different one. The filter sits pretty bare on the Suiren’s fins, with numerous air involved with it. Due to the way in which the fins are within the base, the outlet on the backside can be bigger, permitting extra espresso by means of. As compared, with the basic V60, the filter sits pretty near the partitions of the pour-over, with simply the wall’s ridges conserving 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 known as no-bypass brewing, the place the water has no place to go aside from by means of the espresso. Plenty of espresso nerds are into the no-bypass technique however the Suiren circumvents this model of brewing solely, permitting water to flee by means of the edges of the filter, the place it’s uncovered to air.

Does this imply the Suiren filters extra rapidly? 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 is because the water that finally ends up being poured by means of the Suiren cools down sooner due to the brewer’s elevated airflow. Cooler water strikes by means of 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 clean 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 worthwhile to do is regulate the temperature of the water. Utilizing hotter water made espresso that tasted extra like a V60. After 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 Essential

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 worthwhile to do is rinse the Suiren with sizzling water after use. Ultimately, I do take it aside and wash it about as soon as every week. Nonetheless, a fast rinse below the recent water within the faucet will suffice most days. Hario states that the dripper parts are dishwasher-safe, however I’m scared of putting the light-weight fins by means of that harsh of a cleansing cycle.

The Verdict

If you happen to’re new to pour-overs, take pleasure in a mellow cup of espresso, or need one thing that is a dialog starter, then the Hario Suiren is a wonderful dripper. It’s manufactured from sturdy plastic, within reason priced, makes a subtler cup of espresso, is customizable with totally 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 complete). The dripper itself is gorgeous and crowd pleasing. It additionally makes an important cup of espresso. The plastic resin development is pretty indestructible. As soon as arrange, it’s sturdy and the bigger base suits most espresso mugs with rims as much as 4 inches in diameter.

The Cons

Cleansing the Hario Suiren is pretty simple with only a easy rinse of sizzling water, however if you wish to do a extra thorough cleansing, taking aside the fins and individually washing them might be tedious. Additionally, you’ll be able to’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 a substitute, you must 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, if you happen to’re anti-plastic, this isn’t the appropriate pour-over machine 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 supply a number of coffee-making merchandise. The higher product is basically as much as your style. Hario’s V60 is without doubt one of the requirements in pour-over drippers, making a fantastically balanced cup of espresso pretty rapidly, the place the flavour notes can shine. However the V60 does usually take slightly extra consideration whereas brewing. The Chemex is extra forgiving because of the sluggish brew time, but it surely 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 usually 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 gives different coffee-making units that may brew bigger quantities.

The place We’re the Specialists

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