You can make great pour-over coffee at home with a wee bit of experience and a good coffee dripper. Both the Hario V60 and the Cafec Flower Dripper are excellent choices for a home dripper, but they aren’t exactly the same. Let’s discuss the differences and which of these two is better for you.
In This Guide:
Pour Over Coffee Makers
Making pour over coffee at home means you can get better coffee in your pajamas than you can at a coffee shop. In around 3 minutes, you can extract the best taste the bean can provide. The Hario V60 is a classic home dripper. The Cafec Flower Dripper is new and pretty. Both brew awesome cups of coffee. So which coffee dripper should you buy?
Hario V60
The Hario V60 is the standard cone-shaped pour-over coffee maker. It’s easy to pour a good basic cup of coffee, while allowing for variation to create different recipes to meet your tastes. Hario ribbed the dripper’s sides and added a large hole at the bottom, creating a fast brew. It is straightforward to use and easy to clean.
Cafec Flower Dripper
The Cafec Flower Dripper looks a lot like the Hario V60 until you get close to it. It has deep gouges down the inside of the cone, allowing the coffee to expand and keeping air between the coffee and the maker. This dripper has a larger hole at the bottom and does not hold in water, but keeps it pouring through the grounds. It is a smidge slower than the Hario V60. When water fills more than half the dripper, the rate slows. It then speeds up as it reaches the bottom.
Comparison of Models
Each model uses slightly different dripping forms. What other differences do they have? Several slight differences may make one (or the other) a better choice for you.
Price
The Cafec Flower Dripper retails at $45 for the porcelain model and half that for the plastic model. The Hario v60 sells at a range of prices depending on the materials. Its plastic model is very inexpensive at around $10, and the pricier copper dripper costs around $60. For either dripper, you will also have to buy a (preferably goose-necked and timed) hot water kettle and filters besides the dripper.
Physical and Aesthetic Differences
Both drippers are beautiful works of art. From the outside, they look similar. It’s the inside brewing parts that are different. Both models are small and streamlined, made to sit on top of a cup. The Hario is made in a variety of different styles, including a copper pouring stand and models that fit in coffee makers. Cafec has other models that fit different aesthetic tastes.
Materials
The Hario comes in many materials: plastic, ceramic, glass, copper, and steel. Each has different aesthetics and heat retention, so you can pick the one that makes your perfect cup. One glass dripper even has an olive-wood neck that won’t heat your fingers.
The Cafec Flower Dripper comes in a variety of pastel-colored high-end Japanese ceramics: hydrangea blue, sakura pink, chrysanthemum yellow, wasabi green, and magnolia white. It also comes in black and clear plastics. Fewer types of materials balance against a greater aesthetic variety.
Flow Rate
Both coffee makers have a quick flow and make a cup of coffee in around 3 minutes. The Hario pours a little faster. The Cafec’s filter seals tighter to the maker, making for less spilling. The Cafec uses thinner filters, a choice that speeds up its flow again, but can let more grit through. You need to pay attention to the v60 because it is very sensitive to pour rates. You use the speed of your pour to control the flavor of the coffee.
Grind
The Cafec and the Hario both use (mostly) medium-fine ground coffees. With the Cafec, set your grinder to one click finer than that Hario’s grind setting.
Flavor Profile
The Hario makes a brighter cup of coffee, with a lively acid zing. With the Hario, you can brew a variety of different roasts. It really brings out the flavor in lighter roasts.
The Cafec makes a sweeter and more balanced cup, removing most of the stronger acids. This model works best for dark roasts, and really brings out the full flavor of them.
Cleaning
It’s a tie for cleaning. Both models clean easily; just dump the filter and rinse the dripper. Each dripper is a single part, so you also don’t have to worry about wear and tear of components.
Brewing Larger Amounts of Coffee
The Flower Dripper comes in two sizes: the cup one (makes one cup) and the cup four (makes 2-4 cups).
The V60 comes in three sizes. Size 1 does a cup or two of coffee. If you have an extra-large mug, you may need a size 2 which can make 1-4 cups.
Making coffee for a crowd? Size 3 can make up to 6 cups.
Choose the Hario V60 If
- If you like light roast coffee from a high-density bean, choose the v60 because the Cafec is more likely to clog.
- If you are new to the pour-over coffee game, pick the Hario. Many people have used it for a long time. If you have questions or want recipes, they are easy to find on the internet.
- If you don’t have the money, buy the plastic Hario because it is much less expensive than the Cafec. But remember, to get the most out of both, you need to buy a gooseneck kettle with fine-tuned temperature control. Those are not inexpensive.
Choose the Cafec Flower Dripper If
- If you like dark roast coffee, and want deep, sweet tastes, pick the Cafec. It’s slower draining rate extracts more of that flavor from the beans than the Hario does.
- If you like your coffee sweeter (or bittersweet), the Flower Dripper delivers that taste in every pour. It’s easy to avoid the sour and acid flavors that can accompany other coffees.
- If you are an inexperienced pourer, the Cafec is a smidge easier to use. If you pour fast and smooth it is hard to mess this coffee up.
Brewing Recipe for the Cafec
You can use most recipes for the v60 with the flower dripper, but here is a recipe specifically developed for the Cafec Flower Dripper. It shows how to extract the best flavor from dark beans.
Ingredients:
- 200 ml filtered or high-quality water
- Fine to medium-fine ground dark coffee beans
Directions:
- Start with a 40ml bloom (pour in the water and let the coffee expand) and wait for 40 seconds to let the coffee degas and the filter dampen.
- Pour 70 ml of water in a circular pattern around the dripper.
- At the one-minute mark, pour the last 10 ml water straight down the middle.
- Give the dripper a swirl to get brighter flavors out of the coffee.
- At 1:20 seconds repeat the same pour: first 70 ml in a circular pattern and then 10 ml straight down the middle.
- You do not need a second swirl. When the maker stops dripping, your coffee is done.
Total brew time: 2 minutes 30 seconds to 3 minutes.
You can find Johanna at https://JohannaHaas.com. She’s a former professor who now works as a freelance writer and editor. Among her loves are coffee, cats, and creativity.