Chemex 8-Cup Coffee Maker

Total Brew Time: 5 -6 minutes

The Chemex is one of our absolute favorite ways to brew coffee. Designed and first produced in the early 1940s, the Chemex is a true classic and is every bit as relevant today as when it was created. Brewing coffee with a Chemex generally produces a very clean, bright cup compared to some other pour over methods, which we think really showcases the flavor profiles of our washed single-origin coffees.

THINGS YOU’LL NEED

• Water kettle
• Digital scale (ideally w/ 0.1g accuracy)
• Timer
• Spoon
• Chemex brewer & filter
• 750g filtered water
• 45g of coffee (ground medium-fine, see Notes below)

BREWING

1. Insert the filter into the top of the Chemex with the thicker fold pointing towards the pouring spout.
2. Rinse the filter with hot water, then discard water. This removes any paper taste and pre-heats the Chemex.
3. Place your coffee grounds into the filter and create a small well in the center of the grounds using the spoon or your finger. This helps to evenly saturate all the grounds during the bloom phase.
4. Place the Chemex onto your scale and tare/zero scale.
5. Ensure water is between 195-205F, or just below boiling depending on your altitude. If brewing with light/medium roasts (like ours), the hotter the better. Darker roasts don’t require the water to be quite as hot to achieve the same amount of extraction.
6. Start your timer and pour about 90g of water (2x the weight of your ground coffee) over the grounds to bloom. Pick up the Chemex and gently swirl the coffee/water slurry to make sure the grounds are fully saturated.
7. Allow the coffee/water mixture to sit (bloom) for 45 seconds. This allows trapped CO2 to escape, which will improve the extraction of your brew.
8. When the timer hits 45 seconds, add more water aiming for 60% of the total brew weight (450g in this case) in the next 30 seconds. In other words, for this recipe your scale should read 450g by 1:15 seconds into your brew. The cone (top) of the Chemex should be pretty much full of water, which helps maintain the correct brew temperature.
9. If necessary, allow the water to drain a little and then add the remaining water in the next 30 seconds. In other words, for this recipe your scale should read 750g by 1:45 seconds into your brew.
10. Using your spoon, stir gently around the outer edge of the water once clockwise and once counter-clockwise to knock off any coffee grounds stuck to the side of the filter.
11. Allow the water to drain a bit, then carefully pick up the Chemex and give the coffee/water mixture a gentle swirl. The objective here is to create a nice, flat coffee bed at the bottom of the brew chamber and give you the most even extraction possible.
12. Finally, allow the water to drain completely through the coffee/filter. The total brew time should be between 5-6 minutes for this recipe, but this will depend on your water:coffee ratio, filter, and other variables.
13. Enjoy!

Some Notes:

• You can adjust the amounts of coffee and water to your specific tastes, but we like a 16.6:1 starting ratio of water to coffee.
• We always recommend grinding your coffee right before you brew. We use the Fellow Ode (Gen 2) grinder, and we typically grind our coffees between 6 and 7 on this grinder when we’re brewing on the Chemex.
• There are tons of how-to videos out there for brewing coffee with a Chemex. This recipe is based on James Hoffman’s ‘The Chemex’ brew guide, which you can reference here if you have any questions. A big thanks to James and his team for developing these great, easy to follow recipes backed by tons of data and testing. We highly recommend watching this video, and his ‘Ultimate V60 Technique’ video that this recipe is based on, before you brew.