Hario V60 Drip Scale review: Master coffee with this simple scale

The Hario V60 Drip Scale is designed to work perfectly in tandem with a Hario V60 Dripper. If you’ve already got a brewer and you’re looking to take your coffee brewing process to the next level, you need a coffee scale. Without a scale, it’s difficult to achieve consistent results. If you’ve already got a Hario V60 Dripper, the Hario V60 Drip Scale is the next natural step.

The V60 drip scales have a large pad which is big enough that you can place a mug or brewer on top and tare at each stage of the coffee brewing process. Other scales I’ve used are awkwardly shaped or too compact to safely place a mug on top.

There are a couple of annoyances with the V60 scale, such as a laggy screen, guesswork touch controls (although rarely), and only metric measurements, but this is still a very good scale.

So, is it the right scale for you? Find out the whole story in this Hario V60 Drip Scale review.

Hario V60 Drip Scale review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A highly accurate coffee scale with a built-in timer
• Who is it for? Any coffee enthusiast, but particularly people who already own a V60 Dripper
• What does it do well? It’s big enough that you can put large drippers, jugs or mugs on top
• What do I wish it did better? I wish the touch controls were more tactile and less laggy

Hario V60 Drip Scale review: Specs

Hario V60 Drip Scale review: Price & availability

The Hario V60 Drip Scale is available for $56 at Amazon U.S. and £65 at Amazon U.K, but it’s been on sale since July 2023 for £47. This makes it one of the pricier coffee scales I’ve seen. The Maestri House Coffee Scale is $39 at Amazon U.S. and the KitchenTour Coffee Scale is $29 from Amazon U.S..

Hario V60 Drip Scale review: Design & functions

The Hario V60 scale has a simple yet effective design. It’s not exactly elegant or sophisticated, but it gets the job done. The scale is constructed with a black plastic casing, but this plastic is easy to tarnish even after a few uses. I don’t think I was treating the thing particularly badly, but after a couple of weeks of light use, it was well-marked. I managed to clean it well with a microfibre cloth, but just be aware that it won’t look pristine for long.

The weighing pad is big enough that you can place a Chemex on top, or even to use this scale for baking. The scale is far too big to fit on most espresso machine drip trays, so if you need a scale for using with the best espresso machines, you’ll want to consider something smaller like the MaestriHouse of Felicita Arc coffee scales. The Hario is a drip scale, though, so its larger size is totally justified (and indeed useful, as I mentioned above).

There’s a small screen on the bottom of the Hario scale with a ‘timer’ and ‘tare’ buttons on either side. The screen has the air of a ‘90s calculator, like something you’d write silly messages on in elementary school math classes.

The ‘timer’ and ‘tare’ buttons aren’t physical buttons, but more like labeled touch pads you have to press down quite hard on. I wish these buttons were more tactile as (combined with the lag I’ll discuss later) it can be quite difficult to know whether you’ve pressed a button or not. One time, I thought I’d pressed the ‘timer’ button and started pouring my coffee, only to realize halfway through that it hadn’t pressed at all. I wish there was a little beep (like on regular kitchen scales) so you knew the timer had started, or the tare had completed.

As the scale has both weight and timing functionality, this is a great option to use in tandem with your Hario V60 dripper. I was able to measure out coffee grounds and water volume using just the one scale, which took a look of guesswork out of my daily coffee.

You can use the timer to measure your coffee’s flow rate. This is good for seeing if your coffee grind is too fine or too coarse, based on whether it’s flowing too fast or slow.

The Hario V60 Drip Scale is not waterproof. Hario explicitly warns against getting it wet. If you need something that’s waterproof, I’d recommend the Timemore Black Mirror Basic 2 scale ($59), which has a waterproof screen. The $49 Subminimal Subscale is IPX4. This rating means it’s waterproof enough to pour espresso shots directly into the doser and to wash up in the sink.

Hario V60 Drip Scale review: Performance

I drink a lot of coffee, so I was very excited to use the scale’s timer whilst brewing my coffee, to experiment with flow rate, pour speed, and grind to extract optimum flavor.

After a lot of practicing, I’ve settled on this as my ideal brew: 12g of medium-fine ground medium intensity coffee. Bloom with about 2 fluid ounces of water for 12 seconds, then cover the rest of the coffee grounds with a slow pour of the 8 ounces of water. Using these steps, my coffee took 3 minutes to brew, which is normal for a V60. Having a timer is super handy for experimenting with brewing routine and finding your optimal flavor.

The Hario V60 doesn’t go above and beyond to justify its relatively high price tag: the screen is fine, the weight is a little laggy, but the scales themselves work well with the timer. Compared to four other coffee scales, the V60 was equally as accurate to 0.1g.

The Hario V60 Drip Scale only weighs in metric, so if you solely work in imperial, this isn’t the scale for you. I’d recommend the Maestri House Coffee Scale ($39), which measures in ounces, grams, and milliliters.

As I mentioned in the ‘Design’ section, the buttons can be a little annoying to use. The display has a little lag — nothing major, just a millisecond or so — but it’s long enough that you have to wait while pouring coffee or water to make sure you’re not overdoing it. It’s also frustrating if you’re working in fluid ounces, because the display reads only in grams, so you’ll need to do mental math to calculate your measurements on the fly. Most coffee drinkers use grams to measure coffee grounds anyway, so it’s not a major issue.

Hario V60 Drip Scale review: Storage & maintenance

As I touched on above, this scale looks dirty easily. You need to clean it with a microfibre cloth after each use, unless you want it to look stained. It’s small and compact, though, which means you could slot it easily into your kitchen cupboard in between uses.

The scale uses 2 x AAA batteries, which are easy to find everywhere. Long term reviews online suggest up to 5 years of daily use from 2 batteries.

Hario V60 Drip Scale review: How does it compare?

If you want a coffee scale that looks gorgeous, I would recommend something like the Maestri House Mini Coffee Scale ($39) or the Timemore Black Mirror 2 Basic ($59). The V60 scale looks fine; there’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s not going to win any design awards.

If you want something that will work supremely well with your V60, the Hario Drip Scale is your best bet. Other scales like the Timemore Black Mirror Basic 2 scale ($65) can work just as well with your V60, but there’s something about having matching brands that just feels complete to me.

Hario V60 Drip Scale review: Verdict

The Hario V60 Drip Scale is the perfect accompaniment to the best coffee makers for pour over. It’s big enough that you can put your mug and dripper on top, and accurate enough that you can measure your dose and pour to 0.1g accuracy.

However, if you want to use imperial measurements, this wouldn’t be the scale for you. Or it could be if you’re really good at instant conversion. I know most coffee drinkers — even those in the U.S. — work in grams for coffee, so it might not even be an issue if you’re already used to that. The touch controls could be more reactive, too: I had to get used to triple-checking that it had tared or started timing.

On the whole, though, this is a nice, simple device that does its job relatively well. It’s not my favorite coffee scale I’ve ever used, but it’s still a strong contender that I’d have no problem reaching for often.