The Hario Nouveau was, I admit, an impulse purchase, but I have to say I'd been admiring the form and design of the Hario Nouveau for over a year before I bought it. We happened upon a store in the Vancouver, BC region that stocked all sorts of Hario products, including the Nouveau, so I decided to buy one.

I'm glad I did. This is easily the best looking and best designed vacuum brewer in my collection of 35 devices, including a Cona vacpot. The materials used are all first rate, even the plastic used seems a few steps up in quality when compared to the plastics used in other modern-day vacpots. Everything fits great, and a lot of care and attention went into the manufacturing of this device.

Hario, which stands for "King of Glass" in Japanese is considered a very upscale glass manufacturer in Japan. I was told they are on par with Denby in N. America as far as their rep goes. Not too shabby, but I have to say that I've seen other Hario vac pots (namely the Technica), and while it looked good, I wasn't terribly impressed because it was very similar to another Japanese vacuum brewer I own - a Tayli syphon brewer.

The thing is, the Tayli model is much less expensive, though the apparent quality and design of the Hario Technica and the Tayli seem to be similar. Now that I have seen and used the Hario Nouveau, I am sufficiently impressed again with this company's products.

The Hario, in action

I will get into the design of the Nouveau more in my detailed review on the next page, but let me say here that a LOT of technological thought and effort has gone into this device. From the unique locking handle-bracket of the lower globe to the distinct and functional shape of the upper glass chamber, a lot of smarts are evident in the design of this device.

Since first spotting the Nouveau last year, the one thing I didn't like about it was the use of paper filters. The good news is, if you have a dislike of paper filters like I do, you can do one of three things. First, you can buy the new Melitta Flavorpore filters that let more of the oils through (you'll have to cut them to shape, or find round perc filters); you can buy a Hario ceramic/cloth filter setup; or you can seek out a Cory glass rod on eBay (but I don't recommend using a cory glass rod in a small vac pot - too much sediment passes through). I have now seen the filter assembly first hand, and while I still dislike the paper part, I have to say the filter assembly is very high tech, and does the job.

The Hario Filter Assembly, close up. Click image to enlarge.

Brewing times were pretty good. Dung Truong wrote an excellent, detailed review of a 5 cup Nouveau and he reported the unique wickless alcohol burner of the Nouveau was underpowered; however, with my 3 cup model this was not the case. Filled with cold water, the Nouveau took on average about 8 minutes to go from about 50F to 180F, when the kickup typically started to happen. The unit sends up two jets of blue flame that crisscross and pass the top of the circle pipe that is part of the assembly. I found the brew times very acceptable, but using an aftermarket heating device will speed this up substantially.

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