Why I Don't Recommend Hario Pegasus

In this episode, I dive deep into the Hario Pegasus Dripper and share my honest thoughts on whether it deserves a spot in your coffee brewing arsenal. I walk through my hands-on experience with this size 2 dripper, examining everything from its groove pattern design to its filter compatibility issues. I discuss the peculiar two-hole drainage system that bothers me, the awkward fit of Hario's own filters, and how it compares directly to the classic Hario V60 that many of you already own.

By listening to this episode, you'll learn exactly why I believe the Hario Pegasus falls short compared to other pour-over options on the market, and more importantly, what you should invest in instead. I explain the importance of versatility in coffee brewing equipment, why paper filter options matter more than you think, and how to make smarter decisions about adding new gear to your setup. Whether you're considering buying the Pegasus or just curious about pour-over dripper design, I give you the practical insights you need to brew consistently great coffee without wasting money on limiting equipment.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:46 Do You Really Need the Hario Pegasus?
• 1:46 First Issue: Stability and Fit Problems
• 2:28 Filter Compatibility Issues
• 3:17 The Two-Hole Design Problem
• 4:39 Brewing Process with the Pegasus
• 5:33 Limited Versatility Compared to V60
• 7:07 Making Consistently Great Coffee
• 8:29 Final Recommendation: Get a V60 Instead

Transcript

[00:00:08]
I've been talking about things that we like, the things that we don't like in coffee, right? In general. But in this case we're going to be talking about the Hario Pegasus Dripper. This is a size 2 dripper that's right in front of me. I just made a cup of coffee and we're going to be talking about it.

[00:00:43]
If you don't feel that I'm already honest with you, I hope that you do feel that I'm pretty honest with you. Because at the end of the day, I know what I like and I don't like.

[00:00:59]
We're talking about another dripper, another Hario dripper and whether you need it or not. So if you already have a Hario V60, you don't need this. It has pretty much the same type of groove pattern as a Hario V60 as you can see. And that's pretty much it. That's the only saving grace I guess about the brewer.

[00:01:32]
So you can see where it falls flat to me. There's a couple things. One, as you can see, it fits fine on this one. But on some brewers when you're trying to actually use the actual brewer it doesn't fit very well. Kind of shakes a little bit and all that stuff. So that's one thing.

[00:02:01]
I just don't like this actual conical type of design either like a flat bottom dripper or a cone shaped dripper. Look at this. You can actually put a cone in here. You see how much more off it sits from the brewer. So that is a saving grace of the brewer.

[00:02:28]
But the actual filter. So these are Hario filters right here and they don't fit very well on this actual brewer, which is kind of weird. As you see it kind of sits up top. You could pull it down. It's going to stick out a little bit and then when you actually pour water, it's not sized correctly for the brewer, which I don't know why that's a pet peeve of mine, but it really is.

[00:02:57]
Okay. And then this is probably one of the biggest gripes. It could be really shallow if I mentioned this, but I'll mention the reasons why I don't like this particular piece of the brewer. It has two holes. Okay. The two holes are not really that big, which is fine. I prefer brewers that either commit. You have a very small hole like the Oxo brewer over there in the back or you have just one big hole like the Hario V60s, April Brewers, just one hole. The reason why is because this just drives me crazy. When you pour the water without the filter, they're going to go out at the same time. But when you're actually brewing your cup of coffee, one side may get a little bit more out of the brewer compared to the other one. I don't know why that's a pet peeve of mine, but to me that just rings like not evenly extracted.

[00:04:08]
I'm not sure. It's just something about that design that I don't really like and it does it all the time. If you could figure out the reasons why it does that, let me know. But again, it's a brewer. We know what to do with brewers. You have a filter and you put it up top and then after you do that, you put the grounds in and then you put the grounds in, then you start pouring your water. That's it.

[00:04:57]
But for the most part, it's still kind of limiting to me. The beauty of the Hario V60, the cone shape brewer, is because you can do multiple different types of papers if you want to go down that route of trying to experience your coffee that way.

[00:05:19]
But the biggest gripe about this actual brewer is that you have something like it already, something that's a little bit more versatile, something that is cooler already. And you're realizing that you're really not getting that big of a difference between this brewer versus the next brewer. If this is your first for sure, it works. You can probably use Cafec papers too if you want to play around with the faster draw down or play around with your technique and all that stuff. But there's nothing special about this particular brewer. There's nothing that I see here that will give you the options, the opportunity to explore even more. So it's very limiting. As I said, you have this filter, which is fine.

[00:06:19]
This has a weird type of shape to it when you're actually brewing your cup of coffee. And yes, you can use these filters too, which is pretty cool. But the brewer actually seems a lot smaller compared to a regular Hario V60 size 2. This right here mimics more like a size one Hario V60. And like I said, there's not that much difference. The grooves are the same.

[00:06:48]
You're not going to get a significantly faster drawdown when you're actually using this brewer. At the end of the day, it's about really what you want to do when making a cup of coffee, right? That's what we're trying to do here. We're trying to make a really good cup of coffee consistently all the time.

[00:07:10]
And with this particular brewer, you can do that. You can make great coffees out of it. I think it's great to use this for my Moccamaster because it fits perfectly in there. You can easily go as compact as you want between a 30 gram brew versus a batch of 40 grams out of this small little brewer. And that's what you want, something nice and compact. But other than that, I think it falls short because it's not as versatile as the other brewers. So if you just want to be different, you want to roll with this, go ahead and get this. It works great.

[00:07:55]
But like I said, I think other brewers that are out there right now, they're a lot better because of the paper selections that you can do. How you can change different things up mainly based off of the paper selection. And once you do that, I think you're going to be in a better place. You're going to be a little bit more versatile and get different recipes from different people. You can try your own recipes when you use a conical or flat bottom dripper.

[00:08:28]
So that's just what I'm saying here. I don't recommend this if you're asking me.

[00:08:38]
What you should get instead. If you already have a Hario V60, get that. If you don't already have a Hario V60, get that because Hario V60 is the best gateway drug to all of this. It's still the same amount of money. $10, $12. It still does what it needs to do. It does a really good job of brewing a cup of coffee. You have more versatility.

[00:09:04]
You can play around with different recipes. There's so many different recipes that are out there that people have provided, some that I have provided, and that's all it really is about. You want to be able to not be limited with your coffee gear. You want to be able to replicate and create a good cup of coffee.

[00:09:32]
And this brewer does it but it's still limiting with all the things I mentioned. It may seem shallow, not that many things I've mentioned, but you already have a brewer. Even if you don't, don't get this one. This one will be going in the cupboard somewhere.

[00:09:54]
I want to maximize the things that I do have. I want to see what I can do in order to make a great cup of coffee each and every time. So this one does it too. It works pretty good. I have other things that work just as good.

[00:10:14]
And I think you'd be perfectly fine with a Hario V60. This is Okey at Everyday Beans signing off. I'll talk to you later.