Hario Switch Review: The V60 Becomes An Immersion Dripper!

The Hario Switch offers the best of both worlds for lovers of drip and immersion brewing. 

The Hario Switch was Introduced in 2019, and over five years later, it’s still one of my favorite manual coffee makers on the market – and one of the first I recommend to up-and-coming coffee enthusiasts.

True to its name, the Hario Switch is a coffee dripper that lets you switch between immersion and percolation brewing. This unique design appeals to experts and novices alike, so it’s no surprise that the Switch’s popularity endures.

In this review, I’ll give you the full rundown on this dripper based on my five years of experience, including a few of my top brewing tips!

The Full Review Hario Switch Review

The famous Japanese brand introduced the Hario Switch immersion dripper in 2019 to compete with the popular Clever Dripper (1). It’s similar to the Clever in that it gives you the option of a percolation or immersion brewing process, but in my opinion, it’s the more advanced of the two options. Read on to learn why – and if it’s the right choice for you.

How We Rated It

• Aesthetic Appeal
• Ease of Use
• Coffee Quality
• Portability
• Value For Money

4.2

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What Is The Hario Switch?

The Hario Switch is essentially the famous V60 pour-over dripper with the addition of a switch to control water flow via a stainless steel ball valve. When the switch is flipped up, the ball closes the valve, creating an immersion brewer. Pressing the switch down opens the valve and allows coffee to flow. It’s a simple design that yields an incredibly versatile coffee brewing device.

How Does It Compare With The Clever Dripper?

The Clever is often touted as a great brewer for beginners, whereas I think the Hario Switch is a great coffee brewer for beginners and coffee nerds alike.

The valve at the base of the Clever Dripper opens as soon as you set the brewer on a cup or carafe. This leaves you with only two options. You can either use it as a regular pour over brewer or treat it as an immersion dripper filtered through paper – though you can hack a few more options if you’re keen.

For example, you can open the switch during the bloom, close it to start immersion brewing, and then open it again to continue as a percolation brewer.

The Switch is also a more premium product, with a glass rather than plastic cone, and it comes at a higher price point.

Using The Switch: Three Strategies

I consider the Hario Switch the perfect dripper for anyone newly excited about pour over coffee because it can evolve with you as your skills develop. 

Use it like the Clever, as an immersion dripper, when you’re a beginner, and you’re virtually guaranteed a delicious cup of coffee. You’ll learn basic pour over techniques – like dialing in the grind size, the coffee-to-water ratio, and preparing the bed of ground coffee – without being punished if your pour pattern or rate aren’t perfect (2).

This is also a great option as you’re building up your coffee bar. The hybrid immersion brewing method is a lot more forgiving if you don’t have an expensive grinder or gooseneck kettle.

Alternatively, leave the switch open, and it acts like a regular V60 cone, a pour-over coffee maker beloved by top baristas worldwide. Provided you have the skills required, it delivers exquisitely clear, complex, and nuanced cups.

But the real fun, in my experience, comes in combining the two methods – ie. really taking advantage of what makes this device unique. For example, check out the Devil Switch Technique, a recipe devised by Brewer’s Cup Champion Tetsu Kasuya. Designed to get the best from your single-origin specialty beans, it involves a timed series of pouring and steeping phases.

The stand, cone, and switch all come apart, and the components are dishwasher safe for easy cleaning.

What Is The Best Grind Size For The Hario Switch?

The best grind for the Hario Switch is a medium-fine, the same as you would use with a standard V60 brew. However, as I said earlier, this device is quite forgiving. Typical medium coffee grounds also deliver tasty results.

What Kind Of Coffee Can You Expect?

The brewing control described above gives you a lot of options when it comes to coffee flavor, which is what makes this brewer so appealing. 

You can achieve the full body, heavy mouthfeel, and robust flavor of an immersion brew. You can enjoy the clean cup and subtle flavors of a typical pour over. Or you can find a perfect blend of the two brewing methods to suit your taste.

When I’m brewing lighter roasts, I’ve had success using hotter brew water, a slightly finer grind, and an extra 30 seconds of immersion time. This yields a bright and complex coffee with plenty of sweetness. With darker roasts, I like to cool the water a tad but extend the bloom time for a sweet and smooth extraction. 

Ultimately, it’s up to you to experiment to suit your favorite coffee beans and your taste buds. With practice and dialing in, there is no limit to the cafe-quality coffee flavors you can create with this device.

Design, Portability, and Aesthetics

I wouldn’t call the Hario Switch a work of art, but it is a beautiful piece of coffee gear that you can proudly showcase on your coffee bar. It is essentially the Hario V60 glass cone with internal spiral ribs set in a black silicone rubber base with a plastic switch on the side. 

There is also now a ceramic version of the Switch, which, to my eye, is much lovelier to look at. It’s available in four colors: pink, white, black, and turquoise. I haven’t tried it personally, but I suspect it is very similar to the ceramic V60 in performance.

It comes in two sizes, corresponding to the regular V60 02 and 03 sizes. The 02 size holds 200 mL of water (1 to 2 cups), while the Switch 03 holds 360 mL (2 to 3 cups). 

Travel Friendly?

The V60 The Hario Switch dripper is good but not ideal in terms of portability. It’s very light and fairly compact for travel, but the glass cone will break if not treated with care. I’d probably recommend the all-plastic Clever Dripper if you’re looking for something rough-and-tumble ready – or, even better, the Aeropress.

Is The Hario Switch Good Value For Money?

The Switch costs around $45 for the smaller size and $65 for the larger size. It’s pricey but not unreasonable if you think of it as two brewers in one. For comparison, the basic glass V60-02 is around $25.

I wouldn’t mind seeing them expand the line to include a lower-priced plastic option, particularly given that they already make a plastic V60. This would lower its cost, and make it more portable. And many people consider plastic coffee makers to have superior thermal properties for percolation brewing (3).

Conveniently, the Switch immersion dripper uses the standard Hario V60 filters, which are inexpensive and readily available.

Skim through our comparison table to see how the Switch stands against other drippers on the market:

Brand	Hario	Chemex	Kalita	Hario	Origami	HandyBrew	Zero	Hario	Goat Story	Hario
Model	Switch	Chemex	Wave	V60	Origami Dripper	Clever Dripper	Bee House Dripper	Woodneck	Gina	W60
Coffee Style	Pour over, immersion	Pour over	Pour over	Pour over	Pour over	Pour over, immersion	Pour over	Drip pot	Pour over, immersion, slow drip cold brew	Pour over
Shape	Conical	Conical	Flat-bottom	Conical	Conical	Conical	Wedge	Conical	Conical + carafe	Conical
Flow control	Small hole with valve	One large hole	Three small holes	One large hole	One large hole	Small hole with valve	Two small holes	One large hole	Small hole with valve	One large hole
Available sizes	02 (1-4 cups), 03 (1-6 cups)	3 cups, 6 cups, 8 cups, 10 cups	155 (1-2 cups), 185 (1-4 cups)	01 (1-2 cups), 02 (1-4 cups), 03 (1-6 cups)	Small (1-2 cups), medium (1-4 cups)	One size (1-4 cups)	Small (1-2 cups), large (1-5 cups)	Small (1-2 cups), large (1-4 cups)	One size (1-5 cups)	02 (1-4 cups)
Available materials	Heat-proof glass	Borosilicate glass	Stainless steel, ceramic, glass, Tsubame steel	Plastic, glass, ceramic, stainless steel, copper	Ceramic, AS resin	Tritan plastic	Ceramic	Heat-proof glass	Ceramic	Ceramic
Baseplate included	Yes	Includes carafe	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Includes carafe	Includes carafe and stand	Yes
Dishwasher safe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Filters	Conical V60 filters	Double-bonded Chemex filters	Flat-bottom wave filters	Conical V60 filters	Standard conical filters	Standard conical filters	Standard conical filters	Hario handled cloth filters	Standard conical filters	Conical resin mesh
Weight	17.6 oz	21.6 oz	5.6 oz	14 oz	6.4 oz	9 oz	7.2 oz	14 oz	49 oz	17.6 oz
Dimensions	4.6" x 4.5" x 5.2"	8.5” x 5.3” x 5.3”	2.8’ x 4” x 4.4”	5.5” x 4.7” x 4.0”	3.4” x 5.5” x 5.5”	6" x 5" x 6"	3.5” x 4.5” x 4.5”	3.7" x 3.7" x 6.6"	6.0" x 6.7" x 13.8"	6.2" x 5" x 4.3"
Current Price	$44.50	$49.50	$39.99	$20.00	$40.00	$25.00	$23.99	$28.40	$190.00	$43.50
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Don’t Buy the Hario Switch If…

• You’re only interested in immersion brewing: Stick with a standard immersion brewer like a French press, or go with a paper filter option like the Aeropress.

• You’re only interested in pour-over brewing: If you have no desire for the bolder flavors of an immersion extraction, there are many excellent pour-over brewers to choose from. That includes the aforementioned Hario V60, along with other popular options like the Kalita Wave and Fellow Stagg.

• You’re not interested in manual brewing: If you want the flavor of a pour-over but aren’t interested in learning the technique, take a look at something like the Oxo Brew 9-cup automatic drip coffee machine. It will cost you a fair bit more, but it’s designed to operate like a trained barista with only the push of a button.

The Verdict

The Hario Switch V60 pour over brewer is a good coffee maker for beginners and coffee experts alike. If you’re new to specialty coffee, it’s a great way to gain experience with techniques and brewing methods while still enjoying reliably excellent coffee. And if you already know your way around a pour over brew, you’ll appreciate that the Hario immersion dripper switch lets you experiment with unique new brewing recipes.

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