CHEMEX BREWING GUIDE
What’s all the buzz around the CHEMEX Coffeemaker?
Besides its aesthetically beautiful design that looks great on our kitchen counter, the CHEMEX was created in 1941 by Peter Schlumbohm to extract a cleaner, smoother, and less bitter cup of coffee.
Suggested Brewing Steps
[1g of coffee : 16ml of water] - Servings: (3) three 8-ounce cups
Gear Needed: CHEMEX Coffeemaker, CHEMEX Paper Filters, Water Kettle, Kitchen Scale, Timer
Estimated time: 4 min
Measure out and Grind 45g of freshly roasted coffee on a medium-fine setting
Run your empty CHEMEX under hot water to warm up the vessel
Wet your CHEMEX filter with warm water, and place snuggly in the top funnel
Use a kettle (prefer an electric goose-neck kettle) to bring 750ml of water to a boil. When we start to pour the water in, we want the water to be within the range of 195-205 degrees fahrenheit - which is why a goose neck kettle is preferred, as it cools the water down from boiling point as you pour.
Evenly disperse your coffee grounds in the CHEMEX filter
Place CHEMEX with the grounds inside on a kitchen scale and tare/zero
Blooming Process (45 sec): Remove boiling water and pour 70g of water evenly over grounds in a circular motion. The goal is to soak the bed of coffee grounds, so that gases release causing the bed of coffee to bubble and breathe. You will be able to see the gas release and the breathing-like movement of the coffee bed.
After 45 sec of blooming, slowly pour your 195-205 degree fahrenheit water in a circular motion around the center of the bed of coffee grounds. Proceed until you finish the 750ml.
Once coffee is brewed, remove the filter and wet coffee grounds - Serve and enjoy!
Tips to Alter Taste:
Filtration speed: If your water is pooling too much (not able to almost consistently run water through the coffee grounds and filter), use a coarser grind size. If water is running through coffee grounds and filter too quickly and not fully immersing the coffee, use a finer grind size.
Bitter and Thick Coffee: Use a coarser grind size for your coffee. Use a higher water to coffee ratio. Try 1:18 (1g of coffee : 18ml of water) instead of the 1:16 ratio suggested.
Weak and Thin Coffee: Use a finer grind size for your coffee. Use a lower water to coffee ratio. Try 1:14 (1g of coffee : 14ml of water) instead of the 1:16 ratio suggested.
Sour Coffee: Make sure your water is in the 195-200 degree range when pouring into the coffee grounds. Try a higher water to coffee ratio. Try using finer coffee grounds.
Source: “Craft Coffee A Manual”_Jessica Easto with Andreas Willhoff_2017