Filter Coffee (Drip)
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[edit] FILTER COFFEE (DRIP)
This TMC Wiki page is about the filter (drip) method of preparing coffee. It is still a stub that requires the addition of further content, certainly some corrections, images, links and all that.
There are many different kinds of drip coffee, the most common certainly are simple coffee machines with a heating plate and paper filters. There is the plain old Melitta porcelain filter, which too uses paper filter. There is the Chemex, which strictly is also drip coffee but seems to yield quite different results to normal drip coffee. I'll start with making coffee manually with a porcelain filter, please somebody (James? :)) add some insight to Chemex coffee making.
[edit] Porcelain Filter
This is a straightforward method and known to many if not most adults (I believe) that have been in contact with coffee making at home.
- put filter on mug
- put paper filter in porcelain filter
- some people recommend to wet the filter with hot water, I haven't made 'studies' on that. But it's a good opportunity to get the filter and cup up to temperature so I'm doing it, too
- add ground coffee (quite a bit coarser than espresso grind, finer than french press grind, about the same fineness like for vacpot)
- How you pour the water does have a considerable impact in how the cup finally tastes. What works for me (currently) is:
- Wet the grounds evenly with about 50-100ml of water; let it bloom for a while
- If it does not bloom, the coffee wasn't fresh; repeat with fresh coffee ;)
- slowly pour the water, so that you maintain nearly the same level of water in the filter over the whole brewing process
- Enjoy!
As always, there are many pitfalls in the details:
[edit] Grind
It's not too easy to dial in the grind for filter the first time. Give yourself time if you just started an let your tastebuds decide. If you know how your coffee tastes with other brewing methods you have a point to compare to, if not, just compare your results with each other.
[edit] Water temperature
Boiling water is too hot (as always for coffee), I use water 10-20 seconds off the boil and pour from a little higher
[edit] Time
How long the process takes is mostly determined by the grind used. For a one/two cup filter, the time should be arond 1-2 minutes. For a litre around 4-6 minutes. If it takes too long, either the dose was too high or grind too fine and vice versa.