How to Brew with a Chemex
The cleanest cup any pour over makes, because the filter is roughly three times the weight of a normal paper. That same filter is why a Chemex grind has to be coarser than a V60 grind.
At a glance
- Coffee : water
- 1:16
- Active time
- 3 min
- Total time
- 8 min
- Makes
- 3 cups
- Serve
- Hot
- Kit
- Chemex + kettle
Ingredients
Note: Chemex filters only come in their own sizes. A V60 paper folded into a Chemex collapses and floods.
Method
-
Fold and seat the filter
Open the filter into a cone with three layers on one side and one on the other. Put the three-layer side against the pouring spout.
That thick side covers the air channel moulded into the glass. Get it the wrong way round and the brewer cannot vent, so the draw-down slows to a crawl.
-
Rinse it thoroughly
Pour hot water all around the paper until it clings to the glass. Chemex papers are thick and they genuinely taste of cardboard if you skip this.
Pour the rinse water out through the spout without lifting the filter.
-
Bloom with 60 g
Add the coffee, level it, then pour 60 g and swirl the whole brewer gently by the collar.
Bloom 45 seconds -
Pour in three stages
Take it to 200 g, then 350 g, then 480 g, letting the level drop most of the way between each. Keep the water off the paper.
The whole brew should finish between four and five minutes, which is slower than a V60 and correct for this brewer.
Finish by 5:00
Why this works
The filter is the entire character of this brewer. Chemex papers are bonded and about three times as thick as a standard cone paper, and they trap almost all of the oils and the fine particles. What comes through is remarkably clear, with a tea-like body and very little of the heaviness you get from a press.
That thickness also slows the flow dramatically, which is why the grind has to be coarser. Use a V60 grind in a Chemex and the bed will choke: the water sits on top, the coffee over-extracts while it waits, and you get a bitter cup out of a five-minute stall.
The air channel matters more than it sounds. The glass has a groove running up one side so displaced air can escape as the carafe fills. Cover it with the single-layer side of the filter and the brewer part-seals itself, which is the usual cause of a Chemex that will not drain.
Four to five minutes is the target. The longer contact time is what compensates for the coarser grind, so the extraction lands in the same place a faster, finer V60 brew does.
Variations
- Smaller: 20 g to 320 g in a three-cup, same timings.
- Lighter body: grind one step coarser again and expect closer to six minutes.
- Iced: 36 g of coffee, 350 g of water, poured onto 150 g of ice in the bottom.
Made it?
Ratings are the most useful thing you can leave. They tell me which recipes need another pass.
No ratings yet. Be the first.
Questions
Why will my Chemex not drain?
Nine times out of ten the filter is in the wrong way round and the thick side is not covering the air channel. The other cause is too fine a grind. Check the filter first.
Can I use normal paper filters?
No. A standard cone paper is far thinner and will slump into the neck, which floods the brew and lets grounds past. Chemex papers are the one genuinely proprietary part of this brewer.
Is Chemex coffee weaker?
Lighter in body, not weaker. The ratio is the same as a V60, so the strength is the same. The filter removes the oils that make a cup feel heavy, which reads as lighter even though the dissolved coffee is identical.
Do I need the wooden collar?
Only to hold it. The collar is there so you can pick up a glass vessel full of boiling liquid. Models with a glass handle work the same.