Siphon vs pour-over
Full immersion filtered afterwards, against water passing through a bed once — the difference decides which errors are possible and which cup you get.
| Aspect | Siphon (vacuum) brewing | V60 (pour-over) |
|---|---|---|
| How the water meets the coffee | Full immersion in the upper chamber — every particle sits in the same water for the same time | Percolation — water passes down through a bed once, and the bed's evenness determines what it meets |
| How the coffee is separated | A vacuum pulls the brew down through the filter when the heat is removed | Gravity, continuously, throughout the brew |
| Filter | Cloth traditionally; metal or paper on some models | Paper |
| Ratio | 60-75 g/L, typically 66 | 60-70 g/L, typically 63 |
| Body and clarity | Both at once — even extraction plus a filter that passes oils where cloth is used | Clarity foremost; paper adsorbs oils, so body is lighter by design |
| What goes wrong | A dry crust of unstirred grounds, a stalled draw-down, or bitterness from leaving the heat on | Channelling, an uneven bed, and pour rate — errors of distribution rather than of timing |
| Control | Two decisions: when to stir and when to remove the heat. The physics does the rest | Continuous — every second of the pour is adjustable, which is the appeal and the difficulty |
| Upkeep | Fragile glass, and a cloth filter that must be kept wet or frozen between uses | Rinse the dripper; throw the filter away |
Which should you choose?
The siphon's real claim is that it gets clarity and body at the same time, and that is a genuine consequence of separating the steeping from the filtration rather than making one bed do both. The V60's claim is control: you can change what is happening while it happens, which no siphon lets you do. Neither is more advanced. Choose the siphon if you want an even extraction and are willing to look after a cloth; choose the V60 if you want to adjust as you go and to throw the filter away afterwards.