Test Drive: The Hario NEO—The Latest Upgrade to the V60

A familiar shape, a radically different interior: Hario’s NEO is the V60 you already know, reimagined from the inside out.

BY VASILEIA FANARIOTI
SENIOR ONLINE CORRESPONDENT

Photos by Vasileia Fanarioti

If you work in coffee, or spend enough time around people who do, the Hario V60 is not a piece of equipment so much as a reference point. It has been on bar counters and kitchen shelves since 2004, and its combination of clarity, acidity, and expressive extraction has made it the most imitated pour-over design in the world. 

I have been brewing on a classic V60 almost every day for years. So, when Hario announced the NEO, a redesigned version with a completely different interior geometry, my first reaction was curiosity, and my second was mild suspicion. A colleague brought me back a range of coffees from World of Coffee Brussels, and I had enough time to find out for myself.

First Impressions: Lighter Than It Looks

The NEO is immediately recognizable as a V60, with the same 60-degree cone and single large outlet at the bottom, and the fact that it’s compatible with standard V60 filter papers. What’s different is everything you can’t see from the outside. The body is handle-free, made from Tritan PCT resin with ultra-thin walls that minimise heat loss, and finished with a silicone rubber base that grips the server underneath and keeps everything in place during the pour. Available in two sizes (01 for one to two cups, 02 for up to four) and in three colors (black, amber, and transparent), it is a cleaner, more minimal object than its predecessor. Made in Japan, as you would expect.

It is also noticeably lighter, which is either a reassuring sign of material efficiency or a slight source of anxiety depending on how you relate to your brewing equipment. I will say this: it does not feel cheap. The Tritan resin has a rigidity and a quality of surface that reads as considered rather than economized, and the silicone base adds a solidity to the whole thing when it is sitting on a server.

What’s Different: 72 Ribs & the Physics Behind Them

The classic V60 uses a spiral rib design: a relatively small number of raised ridges that twist downward and create air channels between the paper filter and the dripper wall. The NEO replaces this with 72 ultra-fine vertical ribs running straight down the interior, converging into 9 larger ribs at the base. The geometry sounds like a small detail. It isn’t.

In a classic V60, the spiral ribs can create uneven pressure zones in the coffee bed—water occasionally finds lateral pathways, the filter can partially seal against the wall in low-rib sections, and the result is a brew that rewards precise pouring and punishes inconsistency. 

The NEO’s 72 ribs create a more even distribution of air channels around the full circumference of the filter. Water is guided straight down rather than encouraged to wander. The flow rate is faster and more stable, and the pressure dynamics across the coffee bed are more even. Hario describes the result as reduced clogging and a more forgiving extraction, and on both counts, that is an accurate description of what I experienced.

Brewing: What to Expect

The bloom on the NEO drains noticeably quickly—gas escapes easily, and there is none of the dramatic pooling you sometimes get with a classic V60 on a very fresh, gassy coffee. From there, I found a center-out pour motion works well: Start in the middle, gradually work outward, keep the bed covered between pours, and avoid letting it run dry outside of the bloom. You do not need textbook spiral choreography.

One practical note on filter preparation: Because the NEO’s interior is so uniform and flat between the ribs, the paper seam sits more prominently than in a classic V60. A careful, deliberate fold is worth the extra few seconds. Rinsing the filter (or at minimum wetting it) before brewing helps it sit flatter and reduces the chance of the seam creating a bypass channel.

Target brew time sits between two and a half and three minutes. The draw-down is smooth and the bed settles flat at the end. The predictability of this is one of the NEO’s most tangible qualities—not just that the brew is faster, but that it behaves consistently from one session to the next. For anyone who has had the experience of nailing a V60 one morning and then producing something unrecognizable the next, that predictability has real value.

In the Cup

I tested the NEO across a range of coffees brought back from World of Coffee Brussels (naturals, anaerobics, and washed coffees from different origins), and the pattern that emerged was consistent enough to draw some conclusions.

The NEO produces a rounder, fuller cup than the classic V60. The body is more present, sweetness comes through clearly, and the overall profile is less angular. On naturals and anaerobic-processed coffees, where fruit-forward notes and body are part of what you are after, the NEO handles beautifully—the fruit reads clearly, and the texture in the cup is satisfying. On honey-processed coffees, similarly strong results.

Where the picture may shift is with high-clarity washed coffees and delicate light roasts where brightness, florals, and acidity are the point. The NEO softens these. Floral notes are more muted. Acidity is present but less vivid. The classic V60, when dialed in well, produces a more transparent, more expressive cup from coffees in this category. 

If you are working with a high-altitude washed Ethiopian or a terroir-focused Panamanian geisha and you want every note to land clearly, the classic V60 is still the better tool. The NEO smooths what the V60 sharpens, and depending on the coffee and the drinker, that is either a feature or a trade-off.

Who It’s For

The NEO is a strong choice for beginners who want V60-style cups without mastering spiral pour technique, and equally well-suited to intermediate brewers who have found the classic V60 frustrating, stalling draw-downs with inconsistent results and bitterness creeping in unpredictably. 

If you already use the Hario Switch, pairing it with the NEO is worth exploring; the vertical ribs produce a clean, even draw-down once the Switch is opened, making it a versatile platform for hybrid brewing. It is less suited to V60 purists who value maximum reactivity, or to anyone whose current setup is already producing exactly the results they want.

As a daily V60 user, I found it genuinely useful to spend time with something that removed some of the variables I have come to take for granted. The consistency is real, the cup quality on naturals and fuller-bodied coffees is excellent, and the reduced sensitivity to pouring technique makes it a meaningfully more accessible brewer without feeling like a compromise. 

The honest trade-off is clarity and brightness on more delicate coffees. The NEO rounds where the V60 sharpens, and for a certain kind of coffee and drinker, the classic will always have the edge. But for everyone else, and for most mornings, the NEO makes a strong and consistent case for itself.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Vasileia Fanarioti (she/her) is a senior online correspondent for Barista Magazine and a freelance copywriter and editor with a primary focus on the coffee niche. She has also been a volunteer copywriter for the I’M NOT A BARISTA NPO, providing content to help educate people about baristas and their work.

Subscribe and More!

As always, you can enjoy your own copy of Barista Magazine by subscribing or ordering an issue. Long live physical media!

Support Barista Magazine and show your love with a Membership.

Signup for our weekly newsletter.

Join us at Camp Coffee Shop Aug. 10-13 in Napa, California.