calculators.coffee by Timberline Coffee School

Pour-over · Hario V60

V60 Pour Over Calculator: Recipe, Ratio and Brew Guide

Pour-over recipe for any V60 size, instantly.

What Do You Want to Enter?

1 cup = 240 g brew water (a standard mug: not the Hario cup mark).

Brewer Size

Hario size: the 01 is the small single-serve cone, the 02 is the larger cone most home setups use.

Strength

1:16.5 ratio · 2 pours after bloom · clean, well-developed

Advanced: override ratio & temperature

Recommended V60 range: 1:12 to 1:20.

94 °C is a good starting point. Range is 90–96 °C. Don't pour straight off the boil.

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V60 Recipe

Tell the calculator how many cups you want and which V60 you have. It returns a complete pour over recipe: dose, water weight, bloom amount, pour schedule, target brew time, and grind cue, all built around the default V60 ratio of 1:16.5 and calibrated to the SCA brew control chart.

The defaults are good. The advanced override is there for the day you want to dial things in further: most mornings you'll never open it.

How to Use This Calculator

  1. Pick Your Cup Count

    One cup is 240 grams of brew water poured in. That is about a standard mug. Ignore the printed cup marks on the V60 itself; those are 120 ml each and have nothing to do with how people drink coffee.

  2. Pick Your V60 Size

    The 01 is the small single-serve cone (1–2 cups). The 02 is the bigger one, up to 4 cups, and is what most home setups have. Check the size stamped on the bottom of the dripper.

  3. Set Strength

    Balanced is the right starting point for almost everyone. Move to lighter for a brighter, more tea-like cup; stronger for body and concentration.

  4. Brew

    Follow the pour schedule on screen. The numbers update live as you change inputs. Each step shows weight and target timing.

About the Recipe Basis

The default recipe uses a bloom of roughly twice the coffee weight, two pours after the bloom, and a target drawdown around 3:00–3:30 for a typical 30-gram dose. The three-pour structure is forgiving across grinders, kettles, and water, and produces a clean, sweet cup reliably across a wide range of coffees.

We use a default ratio of 1:16.5. Many specialty recipes target 60 g per litre (1:16.66); the SCA brew control chart centres on roughly 55 g per litre (1:18.2). Splitting the middle at 1:16.5 lands inside both reference points and rounds cleanly for whole-cup math, which keeps the numbers on the result card readable.

Pour-by-Pour Explainer

Bloom (0:00, ~2× dose, 45 seconds). Pouring twice the coffee weight in water and waiting 45 seconds lets the CO₂ in fresh beans escape. Skip the bloom and you fight an expanding bed for the next two minutes: channels open, extraction goes uneven, and the cup tastes hollow.

Pour 1 (0:45, slow spiral, centre-out).This is where most of the brew water goes in. Start at the centre and spiral outward to the edge of the bed (don't pour onto the filter paper: water that runs down the wall never touches coffee). Don't fill above the top of the cone.

Pour 2 (around 1:45, balanced strength).This finishes the brew. For balanced strength it tops up to your full water weight. For lighter strength, there's a third pour at around 2:15 that splits the difference.

Drawdown (last 45 seconds).Pour-end isn't brew-end. The bed keeps draining for 30–60 seconds after your kettle stops moving. Time the drip stopping, not the pouring stopping: see the common mistakes below.

V60 Ratio Explained

The V60 ratio is the weight of dry coffee divided into the weight of total brew water. Brew ratio is 1:N: one part coffee, N parts water.

For 1:16.5, that's 1 gram of coffee for every 16.5 grams of brew water. A 2-cup batch lands at 29 grams of coffee and 480 grams of water; a 1-cup batch at 14.5 grams of coffee and 240 grams of water. For a method-agnostic table across pour-over, press, and cold brew, use the general coffee-to-water ratio guide.

The working range for V60 is 1:14 to 1:18:

  • Tighter than 1:14: overly concentrated. So much coffee relative to water that the cup is typically too intense and unbalanced for most palates.
  • Looser than 1:18: thin, watery, prone to over-extraction (long contact time relative to dose).

The strength preset moves you inside that window. The advanced ratio override exposes the full range: use it sparingly.

Grind Size for V60

Aim for medium-fine: about the texture of granulated sugar. If your brew finishes more than 30 seconds early, grind finer next time. If it's still draining 30 seconds after the target time, grind coarser. Move grind first, then ratio. Never both at once or you won't know which fixed it.

V60 Water Temperature

94 °Cis a good starting point: it sits in the middle of the recommended 90–96 °C range. Darker roasts are less soluble and can benefit from cooler water (90–92 °C) to avoid bitterness. Very light, washed-process coffees can go up to 96 °C for better solubility. Don't pour straight off the boil: give the kettle 30 seconds. For the °F side, see the brew-temperature converter.

V60 Brew Time

Total brew time scales with dose: about 2:30 for a single cup, 3:00 for two, 3:30 for three or four. The calculator already does this math; the target time in the result card is your number, not a generic range. If you're consistently 30+ seconds off in either direction, the lever is grind.

Common Mistakes

  1. Pouring the bloom down the side.The bloom's whole job is to wet every coffee particle. Pour onto the grounds, not onto the filter paper, and swirl gently to coax the dry pockets.
  2. Killing the timer when the kettle stops. Drawdown is part of the brew. If you're judging by pour-end you're consistently under-counting your brew by 30–60 seconds.
  3. Stirring or Swirling Too Hard. A gentle swirl at the end of the bloom settles the bed flat and promotes even drawdown. Vigorous stirring or aggressive swirling can drive fines to the bottom and choke the filter: slow drain, bitter cup. If you move the slurry at all, keep it light.
  4. Adjusting grind and ratio at the same time. Change one variable per session. Grind first (it's the bigger lever). Ratio second.
  5. Overthinking water temperature. 94 °C is a solid starting point: it sits in the middle of the 90–96 °C range. Light roasts can go up to 96 °C. Darker roasts can go as cool as 90 °C to avoid bitterness.

Pro Tips

  • Weigh everything. Volume measures are inaccurate. A kitchen scale or coffee scale with 0.1 g resolution costs less than a bag of decent beans and will outlast three grinders.
  • Pre-wet the filter.A wet paper filter sits flush against the cone and removes the paper taste before you brew. Don't skip it.
  • Get water that's right for coffee.Most municipal tap water is too hard for clean extraction. Test yours with a TDS meter: 50–150 ppm is the target range. If it's off, try Third Wave Water mineral packets with distilled water, or look into a home filtration system.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best coffee-to-water ratio for V60?

1:16.5 by default. The recommended range is 1:14 to 1:18: tighter under-extracts, looser tastes thin. Many specialty recipes target 60 g/L (1:16.66) and the SCA brew control chart centres on roughly 55 g/L; 1:16.5 splits the middle and rounds cleanly.

How much coffee do I use for 1 cup of V60?

About 14.5 grams of coffee to 240 grams of water at 1:16.5: one standard mug. Target brew time around 2:30 on a V60-01.

How much coffee for 2 cups of V60?

29 grams of coffee to 480 grams of water at 1:16.5. Target brew time around 3:30 on a V60-02. This is the calculator's default load.

What grind size is best for V60?

Medium-fine: about the texture of granulated sugar. If your brew finishes 30+ seconds early, grind finer; if it's still dripping 30 seconds past the target, grind coarser.

What water temperature should I use for V60?

94 °C (201 °F) is a good starting point: it sits in the middle of the 90–96 °C range. Darker roasts can go as cool as 90 °C to avoid bitterness. Very light, washed-process coffees can take up to 96 °C. Don't pour straight off the boil: let the kettle sit for 30 seconds.

How long should a V60 brew take?

2:30 for one cup, 3:00 for two, 3:30 for three or four. Total time includes the 45-second bloom and the drawdown: time the drip stopping, not the kettle stopping.

How much caffeine is in a V60?

Caffeine in your cup depends mostly on dose, not method. A 14-gram cup pulls roughly 120–180 mg; a 30-gram batch totals 250–350 mg across the brew.

Why does my V60 taste sour or bitter?

Sour usually means under-extraction (grind too coarse, brew too fast, water too cool). Bitter usually means over-extraction (grind too fine, drawdown stalled, water too hot). Move grind first: it's the bigger lever than ratio.

Timberline Coffee School

Trent built this calculator. He also runs Timberline Coffee School, where baristas and roasters train through SCA-accredited programs covering espresso, brew method, and sensory skills.

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