I Cannot Live Without Coffee. But It Has to Be My V60.

I cannot live without coffee. Okay… technically I can. But take away my Hario V60 and you will hear about it.

I am particular about this. The coffee I love is pour-over coffee, brewed with my V60. I love the flavour, but my interest goes beyond what ends up on my tongue. If something is going to be part of my life regularly, I want to understand what it is doing to my body too.

That means looking properly at two claims: paper-filtered coffee is a better choice for cholesterol, and caffeine can help with fat burning. Both have some science behind them. Both also get exaggerated. Even Coach’s favourite drink has to face the evidence.

Why my coffee has to be a Hario V60 pour-over

There is something satisfying about making a cup with your own attention. The aroma. Watching the grounds bloom. Controlling the pour. Waiting for the coffee to drip through.

I enjoy that process. It makes the cup feel earned. And yes, I like being able to taste the coffee clearly. Give me a cup that is worth paying attention to.

You might find it funny that the person who wrote “I Don’t Like to Waste Time” enjoys standing over a coffee dripper. But time spent enjoying something deliberately is time well used. I can spare a few minutes for a good cup.

Then there is the small, ordinary piece of paper doing a useful job.

Does pour-over coffee raise cholesterol?

Coffee contains oily compounds called cafestol and kahweol. These diterpenes, particularly cafestol, can raise LDL cholesterol. Paper filters retain much of them, so less reaches the cup. A metal filter does not provide the same filtration.^[1]

A six-month randomised trial compared cafetière coffee with filtered coffee in 46 adults. At the high intake tested—five to six strong cups daily—the cafetière group developed higher LDL cholesterol than the filtered group.^[2] A meta-analysis of 14 controlled trials also found that unfiltered coffee increased total and LDL cholesterol, while filtered coffee produced very little increase.^[3]

That gives me a sensible reason to prefer a paper filter. It does not give me permission to claim that V60 coffee can never raise anyone’s cholesterol. The evidence is about brewing and filtration, not proof of a special health effect from the Hario brand.

What about espresso machine coffee?

Conventional espresso passes through a metal basket, so more of those oils can remain. A 2025 laboratory study found lower diterpene concentrations in paper-filtered brews than in many machine coffees, with wide variation between espresso samples. It measured coffee chemistry; it did not test whether switching to a V60 lowered people’s cholesterol.^[1]

Serving size and frequency matter too. One small espresso and several large coffees are different exposures. “Machine coffee” is also too broad a label: a machine brewing through paper can filter these oils.

My takeaway is practical: for a regular coffee habit, paper filtration is a reasonable way to reduce exposure to cholesterol-raising coffee oils. If LDL is already a concern, review your coffee habit with your clinician alongside the rest of your diet and treatment.

Can coffee actually help you lose fat?

This is where the marketing gets ahead of the research.

Small human experiments have shown that caffeine and caffeinated coffee can temporarily increase metabolic rate. The effects on fat oxidation varied between participants.^[4] That is interesting physiology. It does not tell us how much body fat someone will lose over the next three months.

In a randomised crossover study of 18 active men, caffeine increased the maximum rate of fat oxidation during a cycling test. However, it did not significantly increase total energy expenditure during that exercise.^[5] Using more fat as fuel during a session and losing stored body fat over time are different outcomes.

A 2019 meta-analysis of 13 caffeine trials suggested possible reductions in weight and fat mass, but results differed substantially across studies. Caffeine interventions are not automatically equivalent to a cup of V60 coffee.^[6]

A newer review, published in 2024, compared tea and coffee beverages across 22 randomised trials involving 1,710 adults. It did not establish a significant weight-loss benefit for coffee. Much of the evidence was low certainty, and the trials were generally short.^[7]

Coach’s interpretation: caffeine may offer a little support, but I would never build a fat-loss plan around it. There is no convincing evidence here that a Hario V60 burns more body fat than espresso.

If a plain coffee replaces a sugary drink, that can help you reduce the calories you consume. Add syrup, condensed milk and a pastry, and the total changes. The word “coffee” does not cancel the rest of the order.

For lasting fat loss, I still want you to pay attention to your overall food intake, resistance training, daily movement and recovery. Those habits deserve far more attention than a promise printed on a “fat-burning coffee” packet.

Coach’s standard for enjoying coffee

1. Use the paper filter.It is the relevant detail for reducing coffee oils. Swapping it for metal changes that part of the equation.
2. Keep the extras intentional.Enjoy what you choose, but count the whole drink when managing your food intake.
3. Respect your sleep.In one controlled study, a substantial 400 mg caffeine dose disrupted sleep even six hours before bed. That does not mean every cup has that effect, but it is a good reason to move coffee earlier if your sleep suffers.^[8]
4. Know your own limit.The FDA cites 400 mg of caffeine per day as an amount generally not associated with negative effects for most adults. That is not a target. Count all sources, and remember that brewing strength and serving size vary. Anxiety, palpitations or poor sleep are reasons to reassess your intake.^[9]

If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, taking medication or managing a condition that affects caffeine tolerance, get individual advice about your limit.^[9] Loving coffee does not mean ignoring how your body responds.

I am keeping my V60

The taste is enough to make me love it. The ritual adds something I value. The evidence on paper filtration gives me another reason to feel good about the choice.

The fat-loss story? Interesting, but it has limits. I can love my coffee without asking it to do my training for me.

So yes… Coach is keeping the Hario V60. And I am keeping the same standard I bring to coaching: enjoy your life, understand your choices, and be honest about the results.

Be optimal. Not normal.

Want help turning good intentions into repeatable habits? Read about my DreiOptima Performance Protocol© (DPP©), or start with small daily progress.