Pour Yourself The Perfect Chemex

Welcome back to another one of our brewing series! This time we have some Chemex brewing tips for ye. The Chemex is a beautiful piece of equipment. It has been featured in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and some wide eyed viewers may have spotted it in Brooklyn Nine Nine! Although it’s beautiful, the Chemex can be a tricky one to get right. So here are some tips to make yourself the perfect Chemex!

More Coffee? Grind a Bit Coarser

A Chemex is designed to make great, balanced cups of coffee. However, grinding the coffee too fine will make the coffee a bit bitter and burnt. We have played around with the grind setting, and we’ve found that if we are making a 6-Cup or above, we grind the coffee coarser, depending on the amount of coffee that we are making. We’ve made beautiful cups when we ground close to a traditional french press grind! We always try to brew between 4 and 4:30 minutes when we brew a Chemex so the grind setting is what determines this! Don’t be afraid to play around with the grind setting, it’s all about experimentation!

Bloom & Pour Evenly

With pour over coffees, we are always advised to pour evenly. Some recipes say you can pour water in at once, others say to pour it in stages but they all say to “bloom” the coffee. By this, they mean pour double the amount of water to coffee (i.e. 50 grams of coffee to 100 grams of water) and let it sit (or bloom) for 30-45 seconds. Then you can pour it all in or do it in stages! Make sure to pour around in circles to ensure you’re pouring evenly. You want to have a flat bed at the bottom and to have no coffee on the sides of the brewer. If you want, you can give the the Chemex a whirl when the last bit of water is added, to make sure everything is included in the “draw down”. Scott Rao demonstrates this with a V60, it works wonders with the Chemex too!

Give the Grounds a Stir

When blooming, give the grounds a stir with a chopstick or a spoon. This makes sure all the grounds are brewing. A simple but important trick!

What’s That Bubble for?

You know the bubble on the side of the Chemex? Ever wonder what that’s for? Well according the Chemex, you’re supposed to stop brewing when you reach the bubble but most people make as much as they can! The bubble will help you make the perfect amount of cups that your brewer says it can make. The more you know huh?

Want to Look Like A Boss?

We all do right? Well you’ll impress everyone with this trick! If you’re pouring for two cups, you can do it at the same time. Start pouring as normal then simply tilt the Chemex towards the second cup. Easy peesy! Disclaimer: We will not accept responsibility for the mess you make when you try this!

And as usual, these tips in conjunction with using a scales and timer will help you make great coffee and impress your friends!

Let us know what you think and if you have any tips of your own!

If you’re looking for a Chemex we have both a 3-Cup and a 6-Cup in stock.

We also have filters for the 3-Cup and the 6-Cup.

If you’re a French Press fan, check out our previous brew series blog post!

That’s all from us, see you soon for another few tips on brewing!