Battle of the V60s
We recently came across some wild claims about V60 materials. Some really big names, including some Brewer’s Cup champions, have been saying that metal V60s give more cup clarity than other material V60s. No real reason has been given for how/why this might be, at least that we have seen. We were highly skeptical of this claim (we have used plastic for years), so we bought a copper V60 and a steel V60 to do some testing.
The whole debate centers around brew temperature (we think). Plastic is the best insulator of the V60 materials, so it keeps the energy from the hot water that you pour in the slurry, rather than getting very hot itself. Ceramic is also a good insulator. Metals are good conductors, so they pull heat out of the slurry, lowering brew temperature. And this is where our skepticism began - if metal V60 brews taste better because the brew temperature is lower, then why not just use lower temperature water to begin with? And if it isn’t about brew temperature, then what is it? Surely the metal brews don’t taste better just because the coffee touched metal for a few seconds before falling into the carafe/mug. And if there is some magic about coffee touching metal that isn’t related to brew temperature, couldn’t you achieve the same results just by brewing with a plastic V60 into a metal carafe (like a milk pitcher)?
So we tested. We used full strength Third Wave Water, our standard V60 recipe, and our Kenya Karindundu AB as well as Colombia Finca Sierra Morena Pink Bourbon - 4th Place Huila Mágico. We tried to pre-heat the copper and metal V60s as much as possible by running boiling water over them for nearly a minute. We made sure we were tasting the coffees when they were at the same temperature by pre-heating the cups for whichever coffee was brewed first, but not for the second. Tasting was done blind, of course.
Round one: Copper versus plastic. 4 tasters. No discernible difference in flavor in the cup. The copper V60 felt extremely hot, so we suspect brew temperature was very similar to what it was with plastic. Interestingly, the plastic brew took 30 seconds longer than the copper brew - the opposite of what we’d expect IF the brew temperature in plastic was higher than the brew temperature in copper. We did not measure brew temperature as we were really only interested in flavor in the cup.
Round two: Steel versus plastic. 4 tasters. The plastic brew, surprisingly, again took 30 seconds longer than the steel brew. Unanimous agreement that the plastic brew was better. Juicier, sweeter, more character. The steel brew tasted flat and underwhelming, like it was underextracted. The steel did not feel as hot as the copper had felt. Most likely the brew temperature was lower. So we tried steel again, with a finer grind. Still with a lot of pre-heating. It got sweeter and juicier, but not as sweet and juicy as the plastic brew, and it got a lot more astringent.
Conclusion: for our light roast coffees, plastic is the best V60 material. Copper is as good if you pre-heat it a lot, but that costs energy. If you don’t want to consume hot liquid that has touched plastic, copper is the best choice. We are honestly not sure if there is a valid concern about plastic V60s or not. Don’t use steel. We didn’t include ceramic or glass in this test as we’ve tested them before, and it’s the same as with the copper - pre-heat a lot and you’ll get great results.
Final thought: take competitor’s claims and recipes with many grains of salt. Showmanship and being different are just as important as actually brewing a good coffee. And the coffees used in competition are often very different than “normal” excellent quality specialty coffees. What wins a competition is not necessarily indicative of best brewing practices to make a cup of enjoyable coffee - competition coffee has to shock and awe for a sip or two. You can extract 15% with a very strong brew ratio from some cosmic supergalactic interstellar anaerobic and if you take two sips the pineapple notes blow your head off, but if you try to drink the whole cup it is unbalanced and not enjoyable.
