Hario turns 100: Celebrating a Century of Innovation
Crossing 100 years mark in business is a serious achievement. For Hario, 2021 marks our 100th anniversary of creating innovative products. Though now we are synonymous with specialty tea and coffee equipment, that’s certainly not where we began. So, how did it start?
Well, Hario was founded in October 1921 by Hiromu Shibata. It is within the streets of Kanda Sudacho, Tokyo, where this Japanese coffee and tea equipment company began manufacturing and distributing laboratory glassware. Twenty years later, we constructed our own glass melting plant in Ueno Hanazonocho, Taito-Ku, Tokyo and then never looked back. In fact, in the 2010s, we expanded by opening branches in China, South Korea, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Hario's achievements
Throughout our history we’ve been banking a few achievements and awards, the main breakthrough for us, though came after commercially relaunching the V60 dripper in 2005. Nonetheless, our previous accomplishments are worthy of recognition and include JIS certification for glass manufacturing in 1961 and the Director-General Award in April 1982. Other achievements include several ISO certifications for the different factories. That said, the current global recognition that Hario enjoys today can be attributed to the V60 coffee extraction tool. This is true because the V60 emerged as the best coffee brewer during the World Brewers Cup (WBC) a few years after its launch.
The Iconic V60
We’re proud of lots of things from our 100 years, but the Hario product that has captured people’s imagination most is our iconic V60 coffee brewer. Named for the shape and angle of the sides, the V60 prototype had actually been knocking about since the 50s before going on sale in its first form in the 1980s. The design was then revisited in 2004, created in new materials and adding the signature ribs that ribs to aid brewing. Coinciding with the rise of third wave coffee; the new V60 quickly became a favourite across the coffee community; offering a manual brewing method that is celebrated for its combined simplicity and incredible results.
What drives Hario
Our team is inspired by the production of quality products that improve people's way of life. As a result, we produce quality eco-friendly and heatproof glass hence the trust of our customers. Additionally, at Hario we take great pride in our team of hardworking employees and supportive customers for allowing it to get this far. A congratulatory message from the chairman states, "First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the V60 Ambassadors who have been willing to share their knowledge, experience and above all, affection to the HARIO V60. Without your support, your creativity and your untiring efforts to try to make every cup of coffee the best cup of coffee anyone has ever tasted using our HARIO V60 is truly humbling and makes me - the Chairman of HARIO - filled with pride."
The future plans
We’re greatly looking forward to propelling through the next 100 years of business by serving and far exceeding our customer's expectations. Moreover, we pledge to protect the environment by manufacturing environmentally friendly and genuine products to our customers. The new Bloom range demonstrates that we’re already looking at the steps we can take and working tirelessly to make changes in the coffee and tea business areas.