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How To Brew Chemex Coffee

How Much Coffee Should I Use

HOW TO BREW CHEMEX COFFEE | a simple chemex brewing guide

The final amount will all depend on how much coffee you want to make or need to make I could easily drink two cups in a morning! The best recommendation is to add eight tablespoons of ground coffee for 25 ounces of brewed coffee.You can up the ante and add 10 tablespoons for 25 ounces of coffee if you want a richer, more flavorful cup of coffee. Twenty-five ounces is a good amount for two people if you are drinking out of 12-ounce mugs.

What Does Chemex Coffee Taste Like

Chemex coffee tastes a lot more balanced than other coffee brewers out there. The coffee filter used for Chemex filters out a lot of imbalances of the coffee beans, and you are left with a balanced, subtle, and overall super great tasting coffee.

When I compare Chemex coffee with French press coffee, for example, the Chemex coffee has much more flavor on some taste notes. Because of the filter, you get to taste much more flavors than other coffee brewers. The coffee gets more interesting.

The flavor of Chemex coffee all depends on what kind of coffee beans youll use. There are multiple coffee roasts and coffee origins for you to choose from. When you read along, youll find the coffee roast and origin I recommend starting with.

Complete Three More Pours

The next three pours should be split into three equal parts. Pour your next round of water in the same concentric fashion and use about 200g of water. As the coffee drains down, repeat this for your last pour to finish up with your goal weight: 800g.

Try not to let the coffee bed completely drain in between pours. Youll want to see the coffee about 1 inch from the grounds before your next pour. If the coffee is draining too quickly, make your grind finer, and vice versa.

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How To Brew Coffee In A Chemex

Liz ClaytonWhere to Drink Coffee Nice Coffee Time New York Coffee Map 2015Editorial Process

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It’s easy, it’s delicious, and it couldn’t be more stylish. In recent years, the super-simple Chemex coffee brewer has come out of the garage sale and into the limelight and regained its place on the counter and coffee bar. The handsome flask-carafe is American-made item of both form and function, available surprisingly widely from grocery store aisles to haute cafes.

It comes in a confusingly similar variety of shapes and stylesthree-cup, six-cup, twelve-cup, wooden collar, glass handle, individually handblowneach with its own slight pros and cons, but all working on the same easy principles.

Though there are some famous detractors of the brew method, who believe the Chemex loses too much heat, extracts unevenly, and doesn’t produce a full-bodied enough cup, others find it produces a highly flavorful, clean-tasting coffee with little fuss. Let’s brew a cup and you be the judge:

Goosenecks Scales And Burr Grinders Oh My

How to Brew Chemex Coffee

The special equipment required for making a perfect cup of coffee in the Chemex can be overwhelming at first! When we first starting using a Chemex, we made coffee with our normal teapot and a standard cheap coffee grinder with blades. What we found was that on some days the coffee was perfect, but on other days it ended up tasting a little off.

Why use a gooseneck kettle? Switching to a gooseneck kettle provided a huge advantage: you can slowly pour the water onto the coffee beans, allowing it to extract maximum flavor. . And why use a burr grinder? Grinding the beans with a burr grinder is probably the best thing you can do for a great, consistent cup of coffee. You get the exact same coffee grind every day and can really hone your technique for a brilliant cup!

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What You Need To Make Chemex Coffee

Before you learn how to use a Chemex, youll need a few pieces of coffee gear. Heres what you need, and links to what we use ourselves and show in the video. It might seem like a lot of gear, but homemade Chemex coffee ends up being cheaper than a coffee shop in the long run! Also, you can use your kettle and food scale for things other than coffee .

How To Brew Chemex Coffee At Home

Theres no doubt about it, whatever your thoughts of it as a brewing method may be, a Chemex makes a gorgeous design object. But, as far as home brewing goes, very few of us spend as much time brewing from it as the Chemexs rich history and elegant aesthetic deserves.

The Chemex continues to be one of our classic, best-loved coffee brewers to this day, largely due to its combination of a slick design, its ease of use and the divine, crisp coffee flavours that it brings through into the cup.

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How To Brew Coffee With A Chemex

Before I show you how to brew some amazing coffee using a Chemex, I would like to share the ratio of coffee to water with you. I have made a table to show you how much coffee you are going to need when using a certain amount of water:

The total amount of brewed coffee: Amount of coffee needed:
84 grams 4 cups

Lets get into the brewing guide. Im using 42 grams of coffee to 2 cups of water for the brewing of my Chemex coffee which you can see in the photos down below.

1. Start grinding your coffee beans to a medium to fine grind size. I have shown you above how I like to grind my coffee beans for the Chemex.

2. After you are done with the grinding of your coffee beans, boil your water. Boil a bit more water than you are going to need for the brewing of your coffee. Use the extra water to rinse the coffee filter and heat up your Chemex a bit. Throw out the water that has run through the filter:

3. Add your ground coffee beans to your Chemex and make a small hole in the middle of your coffee grounds. This hole will help wet all the coffee grounds for the blooming part:

4. Slowly start pouring 1/4 of the total water on top of your ground coffee beans. The coffee will now start to bloom. Leave the coffee to bloom for 30 seconds before moving on to the next step:

6. When all of your water is in, grab a small spoon and go around the edges of the Chemex. This makes sure that all the coffee grounds are in the middle of the filter and will extract every coffee flavor:

What Type Of Coffee Should You Use In A Chemex Pour Over Coffee Maker

How to Brew Chemex Coffee

It is best to use coffee beans that have been ground to a medium grind in a Chemex. You can browse all of our coffees to find a roast or flavor that best suits your taste. At checkout, just select Medium as the grind type, and youll have freshly ground coffee ready to be used in your Chemex delivered to your doorstep in no time!

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Chemex Coffee Maker Necessities

If youve purchased or plan to purchase a Chemex, youll also need the following accessories:

  • Chemex Filters: The branded filters from Chemex are great, but you can find slightly cheaper, just-as-good .
  • Coffee Scoop or Scale: Using a scoop works just fine in a pinch, but a coffee scale will do you wonders!
  • Grinder: The best coffee grinder for a Chemex will always be a burr grinder, since burr grinders provide more consistency in grind size and resulting taste than blade grinders. Not sure where to start? Check out the Baratza Encore, our pick for the best entry-level burr grinder.
  • Gooseneck Kettle: Gooseneck kettles provide more control and thus, more precision, than standard stovetop kettles. Weve found electric gooseneck kettles to be the easiest to use.
  • Fresh Beans: Last, but never least, always use fresh coffee beans.

What Else Should I Know

Although they use a very similar brewing style, the Chemex and the auto-drip have some distinct differences. The first is the Chemex carafe is a heat-resistant glass beaker, not an electricalappliance. This means you will need a kettle to heat the water prior to using the Chemex. One of the complaints with many auto-drip machines is a brewing temperature that is too low. Although it is more work to heat up water in a kettle and then gradually transfer it to the Chemex, having complete control over the brewing temperature can yield a superior cup of coffee. And because it isnt an electrical appliance, the Chemex doesnt keep the coffee warm. It is your responsibility to keep Chemex coffee warm should you brew a full pot. The upside of not being an electrical appliance is you can take it camping. Just be sure to bring a kettle or pot to boil water over the campfire.Chemex coffee also takes a little longer to make. The filters used are thicker than standard drip coffee filters. This translates into a longer saturation period before passing through the filter. Those used to auto-drip coffee will be able to detect the richness difference immediately.

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How To Use A Chemex Coffee Maker In 9 Steps

October 12, 2021

We love to start our mornings with a slow, aromatic pour over, which makes the Chemex one of our favorite ways to make coffee here at Bean Box. The classic carafe makes a clean cup of coffee with far less sediment than any other brewing method. And not only is the Chemex surprisingly easy to use, but it’s also easy on the eyes, making it the perfect coffee gift and addition to any kitchen.

What Is The Best Chemex Grind Size

How to Brew Chemex Coffee

Based on my research , it seems a medium to medium-coarse grind works best. When you grind your coffee to this consistency, it should resemble the texture of sea salt. If you grind your coffee too fine, it will take longer for your coffee to brew given the increased thickness of the Chemex filters.

When grinding coffee at home go with a burr grinder for a more even consistency. Youll find burr grinders ranging from economical to expensive. I purchased a middle-of-the-road Cuisinart Burr Grinder and have been quite happy with it.

Most coffee aficionados will say that you should grind your coffee beans right before you brew, for the freshest coffee. And I dont doubt that. But the reality is I usually grind enough coffee for a week or so. I store my grinds in an airtight glass Weck Jar and use this 2-tablespoon coffee scoop to scoop out my grinds as needed. If you want to label your glass jar as I did, read my pantry organization post.

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Add Your Ground Coffee And Pour The Water

Now add your designated amount of medium-coarse ground coffee to the filter portion of your Chemex.

Once your water reaches a boil, remove it from the heat and let it sit for about 30 seconds before pouring.

Your initial pour is critical, so pay attention to this part:

Instead of pouring all the water at once, only pour enough to saturate the grounds. Soaking the grounds this way allows them to bloom,. In other words, it allows trapped carbon dioxide to escape from the grounds for optimal extraction and to get rid of the bitter, sour taste.

So, soak your grounds and let your coffee bloom for 30 seconds. During this time, feel free to give your soaking grounds a light stir with a wooden spoon.

Which Chemex Should I Choose

But lets keep it simple.

There are only a few consideration you need to make to decide which version is perfect for you.

Easy cleaning vs. classic design

The Chemex that has been around for decades and is quite literally a museum piece comes with the wooden handle and the leather cord. A newer version is entirely made of glass. While beautiful, the classic version is a tiny bit more difficult to clean. You can submerge the full glass Chemex in soapy water, rinse it, and dry it with a kitchen towel. Easy-peasy. The classic version can be rinsed and washed, but I wouldnt submerge it. That might affect the leather . And drying the Chemex near and under the wooden handle is, well, less easy. Dont get me wrong, the classic Chemex is a joy to use and easy to clean. But the glass version is just a bit easier to clean.

In a way, size doesnt matter with the Chemex. At least not for the flavor of your coffee. Automatic drip coffee makers usually perform best when you brew a full carafe of coffee. For the Chemex, the only thing that matters is the amount of coffee and the amount of water, not the size of the Chemex.

But one thing to consider is the size of your kettle. Many kettles brew 34oz or 1 liter of water whereas the 10-cup Chemex has a capacity of 50oz or 1.5 liters, and the 8-cup Chemex has a capacity of 40oz or 1.2 liters. So, if you have a 34oz or 1-liter kettle, youre probably best off with the 6-cup Chemex.

The normal vs. the hand blown Chemex

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Can You Make Iced Coffee In A Chemex

Yes! Head over to our Chemex Iced Coffee recipefor the instructions. The nice thing about making iced coffee in a Chemex is that its seriously quick: it takes only 10 minutes! You dont have to chill overnight or for hours: you make it right when youre craving it. Honestly, one fact makes us make this Chemex iced coffee all the time. The main idea is that youll make the hot coffee over ice, which instantly cools it. Go to the recipe for more!

How Does Chemex Work

How to Make Chemex Coffee

The Chemex is a very functional brewer as it serves as a strainer and receiver vessel at the same time. To make the perfect cold brew, most coffee gurus use a fine sieve made of mesh to drain out the coffee grounds after steeping the cold brew, but with the Chemex, its easier. The brewer can strain out even the finest coffee grounds and sediments, which gives me a clean, crisp, and smooth cup of cold brew with an incredible taste.

The Chemex has thick paper filters that hold back all the fine coffee particles and impurities, making for a delightful cold brew quest. It also feels good and stylish to pour out cold brews from my Chemex on a hot summer day, especially when I have friends.

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Homebrew Chemex Coffee Recipe

  • Weigh out 30g of coffee at a medium-coarse grind.
  • Pop the filter in the Chemex and reset the scale.
  • Set the timer to three minutes.
  • Boil some water, so that it reaches 97°C. You will then pour over your water bit by bit .
  • For your first pour, gently pour 60ml of water over the coffee grounds, in a circular motion. This is the preinfusion phase . It allows the coffee to de-gas a little bit and soak in that first splash of water.
  • After the bloom phase, briefly wait before you go ahead and pour in more water. For the second pour, you will pour an extra 140ml of water into the Chemex .
  • Stop and let it drip for a while, before you continue pouring. For this, the third pour, gradually continue to pour the water until you have added 400ml .
  • Once the water has reached the bottom of the coffee grounds , top it off with the final 80ml of water.
  • And there you have it a step-by-step guide to a stunning Chemex coffee.

    Start Your First Pour

    Place your ground coffee into the filter and slowly pour over 100 grams of heated water, starting in the center and working your way out. It’s important to have a slow, controlled pour, which is why we recommend using agooseneck kettle when using the Chemex. This will be one of four pours in total.

    Nextthe best partlet the coffee bloom, a process that saturates the grounds and doubles the weight of your coffee. A coffee bloom occurs when water hits the fresh coffee grounds and releases rainbow-colored bubbles of carbon dioxide from the coffee. The fresher the coffee, the longer it will bloom. Let the coffee bloom for about 30 seconds while you enjoy the heavenly aromas!

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    What Type Of Coffee Do You Recommend

    Oh, geez. Im probably the worst person to ask this question as my tastes are not the most discerning. Currently Im enjoying this one. But what I can say is do pay the extra and buy organic coffee. Conventional coffee is one of the most heavily chemically treated foods in the world. So I choose quality over quantity.

    Most of the time I drink my coffee black with a little stevia. But if Im wanting some dairy-free creamer, Ill usually add a little homemade Cashew Milk or vanilla-based Cashew Cream. So good.

    I hope this post on brewing coffee with a Chemex was helpful and if you still have questions feel free to pop them in the comments section below. Lastly, if it just so happens to be blazing how where youre at right now and the thought of hot coffee doesnt get you excited, dont forget about my Cold Brew Coffee Recipe. That will definitely cool you down.

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