The Roast-Den® Blog

Making the Perfect Filter Coffee

When making a filter coffee there are a few things to consider, you will either be making a filter coffee with the aid of a filter machine, or you could be making it by hand. A hand pour is more manually involved but for many coffee lovers, this is the only way to make a drip, or filter, coffee. The machine should have a water tank, dripper basket and receiving vessel, for hand pours the dripper basket may be integrated i.e. a Chemex or separate i.e. V60 either way you need a dripper basket and receiving vessel. You will also need the consumables which are Filters, Coffee and Water.

1. Grind your coffee to a medium level, the finer you grind, the stronger the extraction will be but the extraction time will be extended. Drip/Filter coffee works by gravity so the greater the resistance to the water flow, the longer it will take to pass through and extract the oils and flavours.

2. Use a high quality filter, a better filter makes a better coffee (it really does). We recommend Chemex Round filters for cone based extraction and Melitta Basket filters for basket based extraction.

3. Measure out your Grinds -- using a scale will improve your coffee making and allow you to achieve consistent results, getting the water/coffee ratio correct (and the same every time) is the key to great filter coffee. We like to use 8g coffee grinds per 120ml water with a medium grind.

4. Place the filter into your dripper basket and add in the coffee grinds. Smell the dry aroma.

5. Measure out your water and pour into your kettle or filter machine (remember the coffee:water ratio is very important), if you are making 6 cups of coffee you would add 48g of ground coffee and 720ml of water (you can use your scales to accurately weigh your water [720ml = 720g]).

6. If you are hand pouring your coffee (no machine) you can use a normal kettle but a goose neck kettle will dramatically improve your control of the extraction and is highly recommended.

7a. The filter machine is easy after measuring out the water and coffee, just switch he machine on and wait for a delicious cup of coffee to be brewed, the machine should take control of the temperature and flow rates.

7b. For a manual pour you need to get your water to 93 Deg C (either wait a few minutes from a boiled kettle or use a coffee thermometer). When the water is 93 Deg C wet the grinds in the filter and allow the coffee grinds to "bloom" this is a critical step, the grinds should rise and open a little as some gas is released, this will prime the extraction. When the coffee grinds just start to subside down again you should pour the water through the grinds in a slow circular motion, never letting the liquid rise above the lip of the dripper. Continue until all the measured quantity of water has been added to the grinds. Wait a few moments for all the water to flow into the receiving vessel.

8. When the coffee has been extracted and is in the receiving vessel/jug it is ready to serve. We do not recommend adding anything to Speciality Grade coffee but your enjoyment is more important than protocol so if you like to add Milk, Sugar, Cream etc then now is the time.

9. Sit back and enjoy your Coffee!