There are a variety of different ways to make coffee. You can use a regular drip brew machine; you can use an espresso machine (or a moka pot) to extract a rather robust brew; you have french presses that crank out a nice, decently strong cup of joe, and then there are some other less conventional methods like the hario v60, the aeropress (made by the same people that make Frisbees), and a japanese siphon pot. These days I use a combination of a cold brew french press through a chemex filter. Yes, it sound like it would be a pain to do, but it’s ridiculously simple.
Basically, you put grounds and room temperature water in a french press and let it sit overnight on the kitchen counter. In the morning you push down the press and strain it through the chemex filter, which is a paper filter (thick and bulky, made with 36-pound-weight paper) that goes on a chemex pot. That’s pretty much it. The french press sifts out most of the grounds and gets you a drink that loosely resembles used motor oil. The chemex will filter out the rest of the silt to get you a translucent drink. And there ya have it. Make sure to use beans that have been roasted within the last two weeks (let it sit after roasting for 3-5 days for the excess CO2 to come out) and grind right before you add the water.
The beauty of this is that the combination of french press and chemex will net you a good tasty cold brew without the silt that is commonly associated with this form of extraction. With the chemex, you control all the variables of the brew, and it gets most of the silt out of the coffee. It’s definitely even better for regular hot coffee, which was what the intended purpose of the chemex. It was created by a chemist named Peter Schlumbohm in 1941, and hasn’t really changed since then. The wood and leather strap that goes across the middle like a belt add to both form and function of this object, which, 70 years ago, was added to the collection at the Museum of Modern Art in new york.
If you want some Chemex coffee without the commitment of a $40 pot, it’s offered at a few third-wave shops in SF and around the bay. In my opinion, it’s definitely worth the investment for an object that’s been on the cutting edge of coffee for the past 70+ years.
Basically, you put grounds and room temperature water in a french press and let it sit overnight on the kitchen counter. In the morning you push down the press and strain it through the chemex filter, which is a paper filter (thick and bulky, made with 36-pound-weight paper) that goes on a chemex pot. That’s pretty much it. The french press sifts out most of the grounds and gets you a drink that loosely resembles used motor oil. The chemex will filter out the rest of the silt to get you a translucent drink. And there ya have it. Make sure to use beans that have been roasted within the last two weeks (let it sit after roasting for 3-5 days for the excess CO2 to come out) and grind right before you add the water.
The beauty of this is that the combination of french press and chemex will net you a good tasty cold brew without the silt that is commonly associated with this form of extraction. With the chemex, you control all the variables of the brew, and it gets most of the silt out of the coffee. It’s definitely even better for regular hot coffee, which was what the intended purpose of the chemex. It was created by a chemist named Peter Schlumbohm in 1941, and hasn’t really changed since then. The wood and leather strap that goes across the middle like a belt add to both form and function of this object, which, 70 years ago, was added to the collection at the Museum of Modern Art in new york.
If you want some Chemex coffee without the commitment of a $40 pot, it’s offered at a few third-wave shops in SF and around the bay. In my opinion, it’s definitely worth the investment for an object that’s been on the cutting edge of coffee for the past 70+ years.
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