Chemex Brewing Instructions

Chemex brewing is one of our favorite methods of brewing coffee. It provides one of the cleanest cups of any brewing method, it’s easy to do, and it impresses your friends. In addition, the Chemex brewer was on exhibit in MoMA. Its design was inspired by the Bauhaus art movement. In the movie From Russia with Love, James Bond uses a Chemix for his morning coffee.

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Order some of the best roast-to-order single origin coffees that are perfect for Chemex brewed coffee! 

Grimpeur Bros. weekly and monthly roasted coffees feature tasty coffees from Central America, South America, Africa, and Asia. Order your beans today!

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One of the basics of pourover brewing is to follow a 1:17 coffee to water ratio. That’s 1 gram of coffee per every 17 grams of water being brewed. After experimenting for years with the Chemex, we have broken from that rule and use 1:15.6 because we feel the following method below produced a fantastic and lovely cup of coffee! 

 

1. Set your kettle of filtered water to boil.
2. Weigh 48g of coffee beans.
3. Put the Chemex paper filter in the top portion of the Chemex with the 3 sides of filter facing the spout. Rinse the paper filter with hot water to eliminate a paper taste in your coffee. Pour the hot water out.
4. Put the Chemex on your scale and tare to zero.
5. Grind the coffee in your conical burr grinder. We recommend a mid-to-fine filter drip grind. Pour the freshly grounded coffee into the Chemex with the rinsed filter. Tare the scale back to zero.
6. Take the boiling kettle off the stove. Ideal temperature can range from 206 to 209F. For dark roasted coffees, use a lower temperature. For light roasted coffees, use the higher temperature.
7. “Bloom” the coffee grounds by pouring 50 to 80g of water onto the grounds, taking care to wet the grounds evenly. Let the coffee grounds bloom for 30 seconds.
8. Using a continuous circle motion, slowly pour the water over the coffee. Avoid directly pouring onto the sides of the Chemex but make sure to pour in a circular motion. Pour water slowly until you reach 750g. If you start approaching the rim of the Chemex, stop pouring and let the water & coffee level drop at least 5 cm from the rim.
9. Your coffee will be ready once the liquid drips come every couple of seconds. Remove the filter and grounds and ENJOY your coffee!

Eco tip: Compost the paper filter and grounds if you can as they are excellent for compost piles. Dan's Mom used to save her used coffee grounds and mixed them with leftover crushed egg shells for her garden. She would pour the grounds directly onto the base of her vegetable garden plants. His family's backyard tomato and pepper plants loved them!