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It has a name because it's a specific size and shape of plastic funnel, for which specific paper filters are made. It's also usually not plastic?

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But is it even needed, you can put the paper filter directly at the opening of the mug, or a normal sieve found in every kitchen also works and then no paper needed. Wikipedia says Hario has perfected their product from 1980 until 2004 WTF?

It is needed if you want to control for taste. Paper filter vs metal filter makes a massive taste difference in lighter roasted coffees, along with other parameters like extraction time and water temperature.

For folks that only drink darkly-roasted coffees, there is a lot less variance in taste across brew methods.

Hario filters are pretty thin because they’re designed to sit in the cone. The cone is shaped to allow water to flow around the filter (bypass). To say this is equivalent to a sieve is a little reductive.

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