Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff
It's about coffee, food, life and what other randomness I feel that'll be helpful to the common coffee drinker or to anyone who likes to be entertained by a stranger, briefly.
Everyday Beans Podcast - Mostly About Coffee and Other Stuff
Why I Don't Recommend the Hario Mugen
I took a deep dive into the Hario V60 Mugen dripper after using it for a couple of months, and I have to be honest with you—I don't think you need it. In this episode, I share my side-by-side testing results comparing the Mugen to the original Hario V60 and the Origami dripper. I walked through multiple brewing rounds using identical variables and discovered something interesting: the Mugen extracted slightly more coffee than the Origami but less than the original V60. The main difference comes down to the Mugen's unique design with zero internal ridges, which creates a slower flow rate compared to both the V60 and Origami's pronounced rib structures.
By listening to this episode, you'll learn why the Hario V60 Mugen isn't the game-changer it appears to be and how you can achieve the same results with equipment you probably already own. I'll share specific brewing techniques, including how going four to five clicks finer on your grinder can unlock better extraction with single-pour methods. More importantly, I discuss how this brewer pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me discover new brewing approaches that work just as well on the classic V60. If you're considering adding another dripper to your collection or wondering whether expensive gear actually improves your coffee, this episode will help you make an informed decision and save your money for what really matters—great coffee and filters.
For good tasty coffee, check us out at: everydaybeans.com
For tips, tricks and still trying to figure it out: https://www.youtube.com/@everyday-beans
[00:00:00]
I really wanted to like this. I actually do like this a lot. I think it's cool. It's a different design. I'm still kind of figuring out what the point of this really is, to wash it, whatever.
[00:00:19]
I won't say highly not recommend, but I don't recommend you get into the Hario 360 Mugen. I did a video on this particular brewer, the first impression of it, no objections.
[00:00:46]
I asked myself, can you just do the exact same recipes and get the exact same results from the Hario V60, the regular one, OG? And I wondered about that ever since I finished editing the video.
[00:01:10]
So I did a test. And I was not really so much shocked, but I was like, wow, interesting. And then I started to think about it a little bit more. And then I started to look at the insides of the construction, the design of it.
[00:02:01]
It's very critical and important when you get first impressions or understanding the context of the person in the situation that you give it time. You use the device. You play around with the device. You play around with the other devices that you do have and you're trying to see if it's going to be something that you can recommend to people. Because people are spending their money. Is it that big of an investment? Now it's $10, the same price as the Hario V60.
[00:02:37]
If you were only starting off and you wanted something a little different, yeah, sure. You can start with this. It works really well.
[00:03:08]
I even have the Hario Mugen Switch, which I really like a lot too. I put it through its paces. There's a couple things that I did notice. The Mugen, the V60, and the Origami—all Japanese drippers, right? But the Origami is even more exaggerated with the ridges, so it does promote fast airflow.
[00:03:56]
I got more extraction from the Hario V60 OG compared to the Mugen and the Origami. When I did round two with two pours, it was a 30-second bloom and then one single pour after that. And all these were done at a 1:15 ratio.
[00:04:17]
The Mugen extracted a lot more and I can see it in the bed. I think the total time was about two minutes. The V60 was about a minute and 35 seconds and the Origami was really fast. And of course, I had the least amount of extraction, which makes sense as it's faster.
[00:04:38]
And all the variables were all the same besides the brewers. The water temp, the technique—I even used a Hario drip assist just to make sure that I was as consistent as I could be with this whole thing. And round three was three pours total, really two pours, 30-second bloom.
[00:05:01]
In a minute and 40 seconds, the Origami ended a little bit faster compared to the other two. And the Hario V60 extracted more coffee compared to the Mugen, not by much, but still a noticeable difference.
[00:05:24]
So I guess what I'm saying here is that all the recipes that I did do, all the things that I understood about the brewers and all that stuff, is that you don't need a Hario V60 Mugen. You really don't. You're not missing much. You're really not.
[00:05:43]
And I think one of the reasons why I did like it so much is because I did have to initially start to think about it differently.
[00:06:18]
Because literally there's no ridges whatsoever on the inside of where the brewing actually happens. When you look at the Hario V60 and you look at the ridges, the grooves inside, the way it's designed, the way that promotes the downward motion of the coffee, they don't protrude out as much as you think that they should.
[00:06:37]
And I think when it does that, it's more so like a slower type of dripper, which is perfectly fine. And the way that you can get the fastest out of the dripper is of course playing around with grind size, playing around with temperature, and of course playing around with different fast filters.
[00:07:00]
That's how you can increase the extraction. Or that's the story for another day. That's how you can increase the flow rate of the Hario V60.
[00:07:10]
And that's how most of these brewers work. But with Origami, for instance, since it is so exaggerated the way that the conical structures of the triangles protrude out, it has no choice but to just keep flowing out. There's barely that much contact time as you see it with the brewer. And I've noticed with the Mugen the way that you can actually get a faster brew is fast filters, cone-shaped filter, because it has already that inherent shape that promotes quick airflow.
[00:07:52]
So I guess what I'm saying is that this is a waste of money. I think Hario knows that. I think they know that this is like a cool design, it's different than what they're used to. And it does have no ridges whatsoever. So it kind of gives you that illusion that you have to go about it differently, which you kind of do. But again, you can use this brewer the exact same way as a Hario V60 and get the same type of coffee.
[00:08:28]
It's going to taste the same. You can do one pour if you want to. I have to suggest if you do one pour, you're going to have to go a little bit finer than you're comfortable with.
[00:08:39]
If that is helpful, I would say four clicks will really get you some really good extraction. But whatever grinder you are on, whatever you're used to, whenever you do a pour over, go about four or five clicks more finer. And then you're going to be getting some really good tasty coffees, sweeter coffees out of these pre-pour type of methods of making coffee. You can do that with the Hario V60 and more than likely you already have one.
[00:09:08]
You don't need another Hario V60. I review a lot of gear. I hope that I'm helpful to you, but there's no need for you to keep buying things just because somebody on YouTube told you that this is cool, this is revolutionary, this is game-changing when it's actually not. And that's what this is to me right now. As much as I love this device, as much as I love playing with it for the past couple of months, and even went out to get the Mugen Switch which I really do like still, it's a little fun.
[00:10:04]
I don't recommend this. Save your money, buy some filters, buy some coffee, and just experiment with what you have. Play with the Hario V60 you already have. You want to get something else that's totally different, off the wall? Origami dripper or whatever else. But you're good to go. I believe you're good to go. Trust yourself, trust your palate, and trust your creativity.
[00:10:58]
And I think that's the biggest lesson about all of this really, is that this brewer made me think about coffee differently because I was so gung-ho on trying to make the one-pour work. And as I kept on getting frustrated and started to pick from things that I do with my automatic drippers, different techniques and all that good stuff, I've come to realize is that this really did push me to get out of my comfort zone in a good way. Because if I didn't have that push or that excitement or that way to actually challenge myself to brew a cup of coffee with a one-pour method, I wouldn't have really thought it would be that much possible.
[00:11:28]
And yes, I've done it with the Hario V60 and that's really the point of this whole situation. But since this thing was exaggerated to the max of no ridges and kind of using it for what it is and understanding the flow rate and how slow it is and seeing how it was mimicking and bringing down coffee and all that stuff, it gave me a different chance and opportunity to really see if I can figure this out, see if I can get different types of taste of coffee out of it. And I did and I enjoyed it.
[00:12:03]
And you can too with the original Hario V60. So play around, do different things. Try one-pour method. Try a little bit finer. See what you like. See what you don't like. If you like a couple pulses, do that. But you can do so many different recipes—your own recipes, my recipes, anybody's recipes. And you might find just something that you just love and gravitate to.
[00:12:39]
So this is me at Everyday Beans signing off. Like I said, the video will be out soon, whenever, eventually. And I think it's good. I think it's something that people will probably want to gravitate to more and more. Because you realize that you have everything that you have or need. Talk to you later. Bye.