Coffee filters are a common and eco-friendly option for brewing coffee. They are typically made from paper, metal, or linen, and are compostable. However, the presence of bleach and bonding agents can complicate the process. Brew Rite, a manufacturer of eco-friendly, compostable, and 100% natural coffee filters, offers white paper filters that are oxygen whitened, not chlorine bleached.
These filters are made without harsh bleach or chemicals, and are made from 99 renewable wood pulp fibers. They do not use elemental chlorine for whitening. Brew Rite’s unbleached coffee filters are also biodegradable, leading to less environmental waste. Composting guides suggest adding ground coffee beans, coffee grounds, and filters to the composting pile.
The cellulose content in paper filters makes them inherently biodegradable, but the presence of bleach and bonding agents can complicate the process. However, reusable coffee filters and compostable paper filters can be beneficial for the environment.
In summary, coffee filters are a valuable resource for brewing delicious coffee. They are compostable, biodegradable, and compostable, with a focus on cellulose, a natural compound found in plant cell walls. By using reusable coffee filters and composting biodegradable paper filters, you can contribute to a healthier and more sustainable coffee production process.
📹 Coffee Filter Paper: The Key to a Perfect Brew
If you’re a coffee lover or involved in the coffee business, choosing the right coffee filter paper is crucial. Our premium coffee filter …
Is a coffee filter recyclable?
Coffee filter paper is not recyclable like other paper, and they are mainly used in composting. However, they should not be discarded as part of paper recycling. If you use plastic coating filters, they should be thrown in the trash. Coffee filters are often thrown in the trash without considering their potential for recycling. To be more responsible, we should consider the different types of coffee filters available, including those that are biodegradable, compostable, and recyclable. By doing so, we can reduce our environmental impact and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Is coffee filter paper environmentally friendly?
The disposal of paper waste has a detrimental impact on the environment, affecting not only the quality of the air, water, and soil but also the health of trees. An alternative option is to utilise a French press or unfiltered coffee in place of a filter. For those desirous of a filtered experience, it is recommended that a reusable, organic cotton filter be utilized. Organic cotton is a renewable, economical, and sustainable material that can replace up to 12 boxes of paper filters. Such an approach could result in a notable reduction in paper waste.
What is coffee filter paper made of?
Coffee filters are made from 100 g/m 2 filter paper, made from coarse long fiber from fast-growing trees. Melitta uses up to 60 bambus filters since 1998. Both bleached and unbleached filters are available. Filaments are approximately 20 micrometres wide, allowing particles less than 10 to 15 micrometres to pass through. Some baristas claim that paper filters have a “paperish” taste and recommend washing them with hot water before filling ground coffee into the filter.
Are coffee filters biodegradable?
Coffee filters, typically made from paper, are a biodegradable material that can aid in composting organic materials. They break down quickly, especially when wet, and worms in the compost pile can easily digest the filter material. Both bleached and unbleached filters can be composted, but unbleached filters are eco-friendly and leave no chemical traces. Bleached filters can be composted, but they should be wet, as dry filters take longer to decompose.
Unbleached filters are widely available and eco-friendly. When choosing coffee filters for composting, ensure they are made from 100% recycled paper to avoid deforestation or synthetic chemicals. Synthetic filters should not be composted as they do not break down naturally and can have negative environmental effects.
Can you compost brew Rite coffee filters?
Composting coffee filters is a sustainable practice that reduces waste and enriches soil with organic matter. This process not only reduces landfill waste but also promotes healthier plant growth. By incorporating composted coffee filters into the soil, valuable nutrients are returned to the earth, fostering a beneficial cycle. Composting coffee filters is a cost-effective way to contribute to sustainable practices, aligning with environmentally conscious efforts to minimize waste and foster a more eco-friendly lifestyle.
How fast do coffee filters decompose?
Coffee filters, a common household item, can take six to eight months to decompose once they start the biodegradable and composting process. This is a relatively quick and normal process for organic decomposition. Coffee filters are used at least once a day, and their grounds can be used as compost. However, it would be beneficial to compost coffee filters together instead of constantly scraping off the grounds and storing them separately.
There are different types of coffee filters available, and some coffee drinkers prefer certain types due to their manufacturing process. A comprehensive list of compostable household items can be found here. Different types of coffee filters can be used to reduce waste and improve the environment.
How long does it take coffee filters to break down in compost?
Coffee filter decomposition time depends on factors like size, additives, and compost pile conditions. Unbleached filters can decompose within a few months under optimal conditions. Composting tea bags with coffee filters depends on the bag material. Unbleached paper tea bags without plastic components can be composted alongside coffee filters, while non-biodegradable tea bags with staples or nylon strings should be discarded.
Do coffee filters contain microplastics?
Ahlstrom-Munksjö is a leading global manufacturer of tea and coffee filter materials, primarily made from abaca, a natural fiber originating from the Philippines and Ecuador. Nearly half of the filter material volume uses heat-seal fibers, traditionally plastic, which are fused within the paper. All Ahlstrom-Munksjö products undergo rigorous safety testing and comply with safety directives to ensure consumer safety. They also produce fully compostable and biodegradable “Fiber+” filter materials, which use PLA (polylactic acid) as the heat-seal fiber.
Other tea filter materials are commonly used in “string and tag” applications. Ahlstrom-Munksjö’s Beverage and Casing business also produces materials for single-serve coffee solutions and fibrous casings, with a focus on sustainability. The Beverage and Casing business accounts for about three percent of the company’s sales, with key markets in Europe and North America. The company aims to continue offering unique plastic-free, biodegradable, and compostable tea bag materials and single-serve coffee solutions.
Can I put coffee filters in my garden?
Coffee grounds and paper coffee filters can be added to compost to increase nitrogen, a crucial composting material. Coffee grounds contain nutrients like phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. There are two types of compost material: brown and green. Green compost materials, such as food scraps and grass clippings, contain nitrogen. To maintain a balanced compost, coffee grounds should be balanced with brown compost material, such as dry leaves and newspapers.
A 4-to-1 ratio of brown and green compost material is recommended. It is recommended that coffee grounds comprise no more than 20% by volume to promote healthy microorganisms. Cool coffee grounds are added to prevent heat-killing beneficial microbes.
Do filters decompose?
Paper coffee filters, primarily made from cellulose, are biodegradable and can be broken down by bacteria and fungi under certain conditions. However, some filters may contain bleach, a minimal amount of which can introduce harmful chemicals into the compost pile, potentially affecting the breakdown process and harming beneficial microorganisms. Additionally, some filters may contain synthetic binders to improve their strength and structure, which can also hinder biodegradability and should be avoided for composting purposes.
Can coffee filters go in food waste?
If your local council offers a food waste collection service, you can dispose of food waste in your bin, including paper coffee filters. However, avoid adding plastic, packaging, liquids, or garden waste. If not, food should go in your general waste bin. If space permits, you can purchase subsidized home composters or wormeries from the council to dispose of organic waste like fruit and vegetable peel.
📹 Ceramic Coffee Filters: Magical or Maddening?
I first came across ceramic filters about ten years ago in Japan but I heard from a lot of you recently with curiosity to understand …
I used to be a researcher in optics and lasers a few years ago, so I can add some perspective with the physics at least of FIR. I suspect the claims around FIR are purely marketing. All objects at everyday temperatures emit FIR by a mechanism called black body radiation. The FIR range of the EM spectrum is predominantly what makes up the heat radiation we generally feel near hot objects. Dark coloured materials tend to emit more black body radiation, so a dark ceramic might make it more emissive than some other materials. However, it seems unlikely that this would be particularly meaningful to the brewing of coffee, particularly as water is not even very transparent to FIR. Anyways, great article!
Coming from a ceramic industry perspective, this looks almost exactly like the material grinding wheels are made from. The material probably contains no clay, and is made from grains of an arc fused mineral (brown alumina grinding wheels are made from aluminum oxide fused by an electric arc at around 2200 degrees Celsius.) This material would be ground, graded to a very consistent grain size, and pressed with some type of organic binder (probably a glycol of some kind) and fired until the particles are sintered together, which also destroys the binder. Firing temperatures for this are probably very high (1300 to 1650 degrees C) the rough surface is necessary for flow, as smaller pores would have a higher capillary force and require significant pressure for water to flow through. There is much more, but I don’t know the finer details of how this particular product is manufactured.
Paper filters and coffee grounds to some extent are amazing in compost. The acid can be tricky directly on plants but in compost it’s amazing. I can actually use paper filters to create more vegetation and food. This thing is the most surface level good but icebergian awful device I have seen in a long time. It’s wild it passed R&D.
For as iffy as they are, I do love mine for my home bar. I tend to make a lot of clarified milk punches as tiki mixes, and the uniform porosity of these really helps speed up the process and cut waste filters. For most people the filters used are not an issue, but sometimes going through a dozen or more conventional paper filters really ups the waste and costs… this can just be hit with the faucet and your good to go…. essentially using it as a VERY fine mesh strainer works a treat. As far as the odd flavor goes, running some high proof neutral spirit through before firs use really cuts all of the odd pepperiness flavor it has.
The fact that porous clay can affect the taste of the brew is a well known fact in the world of tea. With certain clays and teas it’s actually a highly desirable trait. It then comes down to figuring out the right pairing of clay and tea, and combined with the fact that if you “marry” the two together the clay will absorb the flavour of the tea over time, it can really enhance the experience. I wonder if the same could be true with coffee if this was explored further, however then there’s the convenience factor, which will probably make this unpractical. Brewing tea with clay is no more or less practical than brewing with porcelain or glass, but this does seem pretty messy.
I totally agree with James about that “taste” I can’t get over. It changes the flavour of coffee too much. I have the original one from Kyumon. Hence, I just use it with my drinking water. It does make my already filtered tap water taste better (I could discern the difference 80% of the time in AB testing).
My wife went to Japan and bought a Cera Filter from 39 Arita for me. My experience is completely different from what James is describing. This brewer has the fastest drawdown of all the brewing methods I tried. I dialed my recipe to use the same grind as I do for my Aeropress, almost espresso grind. I do a traditional pour over, pouring slowly and keeping the water line just above the coffee bed. I get very good coffee. I’ll need to try again with a paper filter to see if I can taste the difference but I don’t think I can (except for the difference due to grind size). Cleaning is very easy in the kitchen sink. Water goes right through it.
Hey James. As one of the people that had asked you about this, I’m glad I’m right on board with your analysis. I bought one of these a year ago because of my initial interest. I can say that the taste WAS funny, but I couldn’t pinpoint why. My taste-buds were saying “over-extracted/over-filtered”, which is just weird (to me). I wanted to mention a point about cleaning it with FIRE: every coffee you brew after that tends to have a burnt taste, which (after running only drinking water through it) I know the “burnt” taste is coming from the filter. It is also never the same after the first two uses. My first use, it brewed in about 7 minutes. Ever since then, I can only ever get it to finish up in about 20 minutes, which is insane.
I got the Loca brand one some months ago and I was really looking forward to seeing you cover these! I don’t drink a lot of coffee and really enjoy the ritual in the morning – before I used to hand-grind beans and do a moka pot thing in the morning and now most days I’ll make a cup with the ceramic filter. It’s definitely a process and so is the cleaning, but it is, as you said, fun. I don’t think I’ve noticed any “brewer taste”, but I’m of course nowhere near your level of refinement when it comes to these things. Coming from mostly drinking espressos or moka coffee, I find the coffee made with this filter pleasantly mild and sort of earthy.
A friend shared a gofund me for a similar device and I voiced the same concerns you covered…and I hadn’t even tried one. Also, between my v60 and Chemex, another pour over device isn’t needed at my coffee bar. So, your question of “who is this really for?”, is absolutely valid. I am happy people are trying to reduce out carbon footprint, and while this takes a great stab at it, it just does quite get the job done with the amount of water waste and or time involved. Thanks for this article, love what you do.
Lol, just to clarify, the company is claiming that the black body radiation of the ceramic has an effect on the coffee?? That’s hilarious! And absolute pseudoscience, as far as I’m concerned. Lol, calling the black body radiation of a ceramic filter “Far Infrared Radiation” reminds of the Simpsons: “each copy contains a percentage of recycled material” “what percentage?” “Zero. Zero is a percentage”
As soon as the article started, my immediate thought was around cleanup…. Glad to see that is the primary gripe. Odd that it imparts an off flavor, didn’t expect that. Assuming it’s giving off some minerality, I wonder if long term use would eventually have the material breaking down with the high water temps and acidic coffee running through it.
with the amount of HOT water you need to use to clean it, and the “15 minutes over a gas flame” bit, I have a hard time believing it’s more environmentally friendly than some paper filters.. not to mention the amount of them that will get used a few times and then thrown out/left to collect dust because the cleaning process is so cumbersome
I don’t own one but I 100% agree with your final thoughts on it. It’s less sustainable than even a cloth/metal mesh filter because of all the hot water. Then there’s the residual flavor, the buildup of residue over time, the time investment after each brew. Just no. From the very start of the article I knew this was a bad idea.
Hi James for me unglazed ceramics always taste like stone, as do both clay or stoneware perhaps this is the taste that is added in the brewing. Here’s something to try, when it is clean and dry lick around the opening, to avoid where coffee oil residue may be, and see if it has a similarity to the taste you find in the coffee after brewing.
Tokyo Hands 😍 I bought a beautifull wooden Kalita hand grinder, a V60 and a weird metal home roaster when I was there in 2013. And wasnt realy in to coffee at the time, but just fell in love with the design My visit to Japan is what started my coffee journey. The Japanase have a great dedication for food and drinks…. James, please start a coffee travel series around the world. That would be amazing.
Got one and it makes funny coffee with a thinner body but in a pleasant way. Just that the maintenance is just a bit troublesome and it really will clog easily. And yes after a some time it start to taste like a stale mix of all sorts of coffee it brewed and now it’s more of a collective sitting on the display shelf
I have one of these from a recent trip to Japan. At first I really enjoyed it, but yes mine also clogged over time, what started as a 3.5 min pour over became 6-7 minutes. Cleaning it as they recommend every year (the burning) I found after the first year, it was unable to stay good for another year, and the time between deep cleans shortened and shortened until I don’t use it anymore.
As a tea drinker myself this reminds me a lot of Yixing teapots (minus the dubious marketing these filters have) where it would predominantly change how well rounded the flavor is in the mouth and the minerality of the tea… err coffee. But its something that you also actively have to find the right coffee to compliment it, so not for daily use for any old coffee but for specific ones that might benefit from that mineral note.
for cleaning using heat to decompose the organic material is quite the obvious choice. you can place it in the oven at pyrolysis temperature probably just barely works. Or you can heat it with a blowtorch, which should be achieved relatively quickly and with approximately 1/4 to 1/2 camping gas canister. but… just get a fine mesh coffee sieve instead 😁
i don’t know about this particular material but similar materials or materials with similar concept has been used in the building industry for a very long time. a lot of cities choose to use some form of porous pseudo concrete block to tile pedestrian paths. the reasoning is they allow water to drain without the need for building additional ugly gutter/ditch aloneside the paths for storm water. but those tiles only last a few years needing to be changed due to clogging. it’s hard to imagine this filter somehow solves the clogging problem. because they would’ve been in the lucrative business of government infrastructure contracting, rather than making super niche consumer product.
I totally agree with all of your findings. I wanted to love it. I thought it could be great to save on paper filters, and it fit perfectly into my stainless one cup coffee filter. However I can get very inexpensive paper filters and I compost the coffee and filters so that’s not really a savings. It has a funny taste to me as well. I can’t put my finger on it but it does detract. Additionally it takes longer to brew so the coffee is not as hot by the time it is finished.I have used it for a couple months and it is brewing even more slowly. As far as cleaning it, that’s a bust too. I can scoop out the coffee into my compost bucket pretty easily but it takes so much water to rinse it and I never feel like I can get it fully cleaned. I might try putting it in boiling water and see if that helps it brew faster and taste better. If that doesn’t work I may plant an orchid in it!
As a ceramicist, I would assume that the metallic oxides (dark brown/black colorants) in the porous (or perhaps ‘low-temperature’) ceramic material is causing a catalytic reaction with the coffee providing a distinct taste. Much like how ceramic catalytic filters are used in industrial application to modify liquids quickly with heat.
Hi, I have a brewer made of this. I initially found using it madening as the fines clog it up and the instructions to put it over a flame for 15 minutes didnt work. However, i do not have such problems as instead of a 15 minute burn, i do a 45 minute burn. This completely carbonises and removes any sort of debri in the filter and makes it brand new again. I hope this helps.
Try the ‘Cowboy’ method of coffee. In short; brew grounds with the water under a rolling boil for at least 10 minutes. (this breaks down the acids that lead to bitter coffee) After that, run some cold water around the inner edge of the pot. This will knock the grounds to the bottom and keep them there. What’s left should be a full flavor smooth cup of coffee.
I did a rough carbon footprint analysis when deciding whether to default to the cloth filter or paper filter when using my V60. Depending on one’s particular set up things may vary, but I have a very efficient natural gas water heater (~70%), heat the water by ~45°C, and found that it took at least a litter of hot water to adequately clean the cloth filter. Given these figures, I found that the carbon footprint of heating the water to clean the filter to be ~0.014 kg of CO 2. The carbon footprint of 1.5g of paper (the weight of my filters) is ~0.0018 kg of CO2. I should note that manufacturing, packaging, and transporting the filter will certainly add to this carbon footprint, but given how much more carbon intensive heating water is (nearly 8x), I’m fairly certain the paper would come out way ahead regardless. Obviously, if you have a carbon free source of hot water, that changes the calculus.
I tried one of those before and I had the exact same reaction regarding the flavor. At first I thought that maybe it was the barista who didn’t know how to use it probably but then I realized it was coming from the material this brewer is made of… It is still a very interesting brew méthod and would love to have one in my collection.
I bought this when I traveled to Japan. I found it fancy when salesman demonstrated how to use it. Things begin to change when I got home and brewed coffee with it. James is 100% right. Coffee brewed with it has sort of old fashion way taste. What annoyed me most is the cleaning part. It is almost impossible to clean every organic material left in this filter through daily bases. Therefore, right now, at this moment, it stays in my shelves for a long period.
Basically, it’s like having any porous material, it’s create an area where mold, bacteria or fungus can grow. You can also get a bio-film that would clog the filter. That’s the reason you should cook it on a gaz flame. The heat will go inside the porous cavity and kill everything. It’s basically a bad design and could be a health risk.
I may have several cleaning suggestions, want to do the experiment? – using high pressure water jet to reverse cleaning the filter. I always use this method to clean some filter (not coffee filter) – using ultrasonic cleaner method. maybe it is very easy to vibrate all dirt off with the help of water or with additional solvent? – vibration with something attached? I think it is the fast and clean method, but it need to test what is the frequency of the ceramic to vibrate to get the best result
I’m a engineer (maybe a bit more of a scientist these days), and I’ve worked on ceramics of various kinds for like 4 or 5 years over my career so far. I’m sorely tempted to buy one of these as a neat piece for a technical ceramics collection, but I probably wouldn’t actually use it to brew coffee more than a couple times. I don’t think I can really justify the cost / manufacturing impact of buying one just to put it on a shelf next to my aerogel chunks, but I am tempted.
I haven’t used this, but i have been using coffee socks for my single-cup pourovers, and it’s been a nice balance between using a paper filter every time and the metallic taste of metal reusable filters. i like that you mentioned the cradle-to-grave and water usage of this, the big picture thing is usually something that gets forgotten in the marathon that’s sustainability. the only cleaning i have to do outside of the typical clean out the old grounds (which you’d have to do with any reusable filter) is boil it in water for 10 minutes every two months. i’d be curious to see your thoughts on it or other reusable cotton filters you could find!
I use a stainless steel filter that works the same way, and I love it. I drink one cup of coffee a day so an electric coffee pot produces too much, and I really don’t like Kcups. This thing doesn’t have a lot of the problems that the ceramic does. It doesn’t clog, rinses very easily, and doesn’t hold or have any taste. I also use finely ground coffee with no problems.
For reusability, I’m pretty fond of my filters made out of alternately cotton and linen (sewn from well-woven stuff I found at fleamarkets). I use them almost daily for the grounds that end up too fine for the french press, and keep them submerged in cold water in the fridge. Usually I treat them with some baking soda followed by a good boiling about once a week. Pretty sure the inspiration for this came from one of James’ earlier articles. I’m also in possession of a Don Pedro (Bodum) sifon/”vacuum” brewer which makes really good coffe, somewhere in between pour-over and french press to my tongue.
Hey James, I think that the water issue is more complex. I actually doubt that this requires as much water as paper coffee filters. Paper and cardboard require absolutely massive amounts of water for manufacturing. It’s enough that using a bidet actually conserves water relative to TP. And it’s not just the manufacturing, there’s the transportation, the packaging, the human labor required to stock them on shelves. It all adds up. The ceramic filter is just making the water use more immediately visible to you. I think that a more efficient way to wash it would be to immerse it in water and shake it out a bit. But also–I’m a gardener, and an avid composter. For me I’d use as much water as needed and just use it on my plants or my compost. Plus, on top of all that–even if the ceramic filter IS using more water we have to compare the actual chemical makeup of the waste water. The ceramic filter is just water and coffee–not really a big deal. In contrast, the paper mill wastewater is going to have bleach and various other contaminants. That’s not to harp on you, or anyone else using paper filters–between my mental health issues, and grad school I am back on paper filters myself. I’m just pointing out that it’s much more complex. I also wonder if using a bigger powered torch on it to incinerate any coffee might work–not that Bripe little one. Or maybe even clean it out with water and put it over an alcohol candle or inside the oven when you bake something.
Today I just took 11g of coffee (Cafe du Monde chicory blend), put it in 1000g of water, brought it up to boil and let it simmer for 4 minutes and then poured it over a paper filter in a funnel… Tastes good enough for my dead taste buds… Used 9g of coffee yesterday and it seemed a bit milder that I would prefer…
Hi James, I wish I had watched this article earlier. Last year I was sweet talked into buying this at Tokyu Hands (the very same department store where you got yours!), and my experience has been largely the same as yours: cleaning this thing is such a hassle, and I agree that there is some strange addition to the flavour that I can’t quite put my finger on.
This filter reminds me of my Colin’s perk bong, it has a similar style percolator, made of crushed glass though. Cleaning has many of the same problems. The porousness traps all the dirty stuff where I can’t see it, so I just pour alcohol in and out until it doesn’t come out brown, but it almost always has a slight tint to it no matter how many times I clean. I also end up having to use tons of water to rinse it thoroughly. It’s a cool idea but really doesn’t seem to work any better than a normal percolator with a normal sized hole, and just adds a lot more pain to the cleaning process.
I do wish you would review a syphon brewer/vacuum pot. It’s how I brew coffee typically and while I do believe that a lot of the cult following around it likes to overblow its benefits, it’s a very interesting system that to me has some of the benefits of a French press or aeropress while being ostensibly more efficient in its extraction. Like a French press or aeropress it involves separate infusion and filtering stages with the main difference being that the pressure is applied by suction from the vacuum being built up in the carafe. Honestly a lot of my interest in seeing you review it is seeing how much of the dogma stands up to your scientific approach. I have seen a couple scientific recipes for brewing with it, which involved weighing the coffee and using a thermometer and so on, but I wonder how or if they could be improved.
I actually work in porous ceramics in a completely different field (catalysis) and this was a really interesting watch. Can confirm the most easy way to clean (remove organics from) such materials is by heating them to a high temperature. I do that in a oven at +500 degrees C, so not really feasible for home use..
I live in the arid mountain west of America and anything that requires that much water to clean is a no go. Simple unbleached coffee filters can be composted with the coffee. Similarly a main advantage of aeropress is popping the cute little disks of coffee and paper out. Quick rinse and all done. I’d rather boil water with coffee and wait for it to settle than make coffee in a dirty brown thing that looks like a peat pot.
Non bleached Bamboo filter papers are the way to go, or hemp filter papers. Sustainable, Affordable, and by far some the cleanest tasting filters I’ve tried. I’ve had metal filters before but they tend to corrode over time. There are so many good options out there that I couldn’t see buying this except for pure novelty.
The infrared radiation does improve the taste of coffee, not significantly, because as the radiation hit the coffee ground, the coffee ground will receive some form of microscopic energy, causing it to vibrate, which will resulting in improved extraction and at this point you should stop reading because I have no idea what I’m talking about and I simply made these up.
that style of manufacture is called sintering. that’s exactly how it’s made, they press together and heat large grains of material and it forms a porous solid. sintered filters are very common in the world, particularly with inline hydraulic and fuel filters. also, fyi EVERYTHING emits far IR. so those claims are basically bunk.
Would you do a article (or even series) on vacuum brewers at some point? We use v60 with cloth filters for our daily brewing, but we also have a Bodum Pebo that we use regularly. I would love to know more about how a pro regards that kind of brewing. I personally love it (and it looks cool), but I’m a novice, and I don’t have the experience to level up my brewing with it.
About clay changing the taste, here in Brazil it’s pretty common to find clay filters for water, and I always had the impression that the water from those filters taste different. Dunno if it’s a temperature thing, since it’s pretty good at keeping the water cool in a hot climate. Could be a fun experiment, brewing coffee with water filtered in one of those and compare with other filter methods.
Hey James, there is another one that came out. Cofil Fuji Dripper. I’ve tried for almost 6 month and I rather say I quiyr enjoy the result. Usually I got that round juicy and long after taste. It would be great if you can do review about this dripper and also the maddening cleaning part. Thank you 🙂
I am owning one of these and just like you I picked on up at Tokyo Hands in Tokyo about 4 years ago. I used it a couple of times but very quickly it stopped working, it clogged up so quickly. Back then not many information was found on the www but I also tried the burning of residues and the boiling method but with very little success. THe coffee is alright, but the effort and time it takes just annoys me. The coffee is cold before it has run through and the tip of the filter is already not letting a lot of through anymore so all what I am getting is coffee run through / out of the top sides. Too much hassle, and water waist, I don’t mind the work. I rather have something simple like that than a smart coffee machine.
Out of idle curiosity would this make a super clean cup if you used a paper filter with it? The majority of the fines/contaminants would be captured by the paper….. or would it just serve to highlight the odd taste from the ceramic? Maybe the taste is associated with the build up within the ceramic filter…. stream of conscious activated 😬
Ive been eyeing one of these in a local store for a while wondering if i should try it so a really helpful review. Related but slightly off topic are you aware of any good resources regarding the sustainability of the coffee industry as a whole you would be willing to share? (Apologies if this has been covered before, new to the website)
maybe the weird taste is that of your own skin-cells rubbing off onto the filter… seems like something you would boil (if possible) in mineral water or something to try and get all the oils and particles out of it. Maybe a fast-drying alcohol may work to clean it better than just hot water alone… since we do not have to worry about build-up of alcohol vapor in the item (which is why I would not use alcohol in a brewer…) itself, it may be a reasonable alternative. If you are not keen on it, why not give alcohol a try as a cleaning agent and then brew a bit and see if that taste goes away.
My first thought when I saw the coffee seeping through the ceramic was, “How on Earth can you get that really clean?” Answer: you can’t. Case closed. I’ll throw in a tip for anyone who needs to clean coffee gear … baking soda easily removes the coating that dishwashers can’t get off. Try on the inside of a white cup or mug.
I think you might be tasting the ceramic or possibly the binder. Whilst ceramic is incredibly hard the micro structures might be eroding as the coffee flows through it. But it might also be the binding agent used to create the pores in the ceramic. I know off PLA having ceramic being suspended in it, made into the desired shape then burning off the PLA leaving a porous solid ceramic piece behind. There might still be some of that material inside the filter and as you pour water through it could be eroding and mixing with your coffee
This taste you’re talking about, Is is like a vegetal note to the coffee, like the one you get with cold brewed coffee or coffee wine? Because I’ve found it very strange the first time I tasted coffee mead, but it won me over rather quickly after the first awkwardness. You could consider microwaving the thing for some minutes on the way out to work, leave as it does its thing and come back to a clean filter (and no smells), incidentally.
A buddy of mine had one of the ones from Japan. It was specifically marketted as being for tea, and the documentation even mentioned to avoid using coffee with it. Being an amateur chemist myself, I can’t help but think this is because tea is generally much less acidic than coffee. A liquid with a higher acidity going through a strainer like this is probably (i am not 100% certain, though from your description of the taste, it sounds about right) going to dissolve away some minerals within the strainer and affect the taste. (These assumptions are based purely on my observations of the Japanese version my buddy had and used. I acknowledge that different companies use different materials and have different standards for manufacture of their products. This is only to share my guess as to what that mystery taste was that he detected after using the strainer.)
I would not clean it that way. Water on the inside will inevitably force tiny coffee particles into the medium. I would, I think, boil a small pot of distilled water, invert the cone, and pour through the bottom. Only after doing that would I rinse out the inside. I can see why, doing it the way suggested in the article, brewing would 1. get slower over time and 2. the coffee would develop a taste – from the tiny coffee particles embedded in the ceramic.
I don’t care about half of the “claims” that are made. Alot of these “green” products do more harm than good by making false claims next to actual fact and so make the actual benefits appear doubtful as well. What I do like about this is the simplicity and the longer contact time. As I prefer a cooler but longer brew. So this is easy for me to just use cooler water but still extract the caffeine from the slower drip
Suggested experiments for cleaning the thing: vinegar OR food grade hydrogen peroxide. Both should in theory work to chemically dissolve any detritus in a way that’s not actually harmful after being rinsed (Provided that it is fully rinsed before use. Maybe this will require less water than the method in the article? Maybe it won’t?) Note, that 3% hydrogen peroxide purchased in the brown bottles at the pharmacy are NOT food grade, and contain stabilizers that are hazardous in a culinary context so only true food grade hydrogen peroxide would be proper for this experiment. Additonally, you can find food grade peroxide in higer concentrations than 3%… these would work wonders for cleaning but would require proper PPE for safe use so probably just stick with 3% unless you know what you’re doing. If you’re using this strictly for one cup a day, an overnight soak in either liquid should be sufficient to chemically dissolve any detritus, and a thorough rinse in the morning should hopefully bring it at least closer to a true clean. BUT I haven’t tried any of this, and I don’t have any of these gizmos so I’m not making any claims just an idea.
Years ago I read in a paper about research considering a health issue caused by the way people made their coffee. I forgot what the health issue was. I’m not even sure if it was coffee as the determining variable. But one part of the sample were Swedish. The result was that making coffee with a paper filter is healthier, than the other way. The paper filtered something? out, but maybe that’s what your tasting with this filter, that something. In my imagination it probably more acid, in the wrong way.
Two years ago or so, I bought a reusable, washable filter of polymer and metal. I thought it was amazing at first. Until it wasn’t. Because there are areas and surfaces that just cannot be washed. Coffee is oily. And that oiliness causes grease to build up in there and it stays. And it clogs the pores. Every time I use it, the filtering goes slower and slower. If I toss it now, I will have caused more trash to be created than if I had used paperfilters that can just decompose with the rest of the biological garbage
Hello Mr. Hoffman. Firstly thank you, thank you, it was a blessing discovering your website. I have thoroughly enjoyed your articles and the results from following your recommendations. My coffee enjoyment has increased exponentially. I am Colombian and it is great to discover how to honor this product for which my country is famous by trying to brew and enjoy it properly. I would love to see your take and advice on cold brew, please. My gear(the one I have used since I started perusal your website) Hario grinder, HSL mesh V60 and aeropress. Recently I bought the Hario Smart Handy motor for the coffee grinder and it works very well. Best wishes.
compressed sputtered ceramic filters have been around for a LOOOOONG time. That company was able to start making them in the 80’s because the patent that was made to cover when the original company’s trade secret got out had expired. Grind coarse AND mesh-out the fines: if you’ve got an espresso sifter it works well for this.
Hi I am a student in high school and I am taking ceramics and every once in a while I accidently get a little bit of clay in my mouth and for me the taste is almost like cardboard or like a book mixed with dirt kind of taste if that makes sense so I totally understand where you get that weird sort of taste from.
Honestly if you just left cleaning this to cleaning alongside stuff in the sink (dump the boiling water in, or clean it in said water then dump it in) you could just use the more than clean enough water to clean whatever dishes need hand scrubbing. In that respect it’s not bad, but outside of that it is pretty wasteful for cleaning.
I’m afraid the “far infrared radiation” effect claim .. holds no water. Water is pretty much opaque to 8-12 µm (thermal) infrared, and there are numerous FLIR camera articles around on youtube that drive home the point that when it comes to that, water looks like colour-changing acrylic paint. So whatever comes from the outside as radiation immediately stops at it hits the water. It certainly won’t touch the coffee grounds. What the sintered filter does (when pre-heated with hot water before adding the coffee) is keep warm. This might keep the newly added water for the brew a little hotter.
So, have you tried coffee out of a slightly rusted kettle yet? I suggest you pour boiling water from the slightly rusty kettle into a filter with coffee, not sure I can recommend-yet-brewing coffee in a slightly rusty kettle. But that might taste even better. it’s a thing in Japan and many Asian counties.
I assume that manufacturing white paper do spend much more water, considering the tree consumption and the manufacturing itself, not to talk about the waste management of it. Dont consider one filter but millions of it each day.Perhaps letting it rest in water my help cleaning? I bough an aeropress with a stainless steel filter that does the job, its easy to clean and reduces the filter waste that works fine. Cheers.
The way James’ hands move in this article, it actually looks weirdly like one of those sketches where one person does the talking and a second person is “hiding” behind them with only their arms coming through a specially made coat as hilarity ensues. I think it’s because his arms move but his shoulders do not! I can’t unsee it now unfortunately but it has also kinda just made me love him and this website all the more 🙂
When I lived in Myanmar we used a water filter that was just a clay pot that had been dipped in silver nitrate, it effectively filtered our water. The tap water wasn’t safe to drink so we’d run it through the filter, that’s also the water I used for specialty coffee and it was perfect. I had great results with flavor, but it was a much larger filter and I didn’t use it instead of a paper filter.
This object falls into “I really want to like it” territory for me. It’s gorgeous, it’s appealing on a bar, essential level… but it’s thoroughly impractical for what it aims to do. Unless one has a fresh stream nearby to rinse it, I would tend to agree that it’s an example that novelty needn’t be reserved for Made in China yellow plastic trinkets, but may also sneak upon a more discriminating audience.
Is that really ceramic though, we have ceramic filter parts here used in Water Filters and it normally drips water extremely slowly. Pretty much filtering out everything else, even stuff like tea. Im curious what they have done to make it just flow so fastly and consistently. And shouldn’t ceramic filters cool down the water considerably? How would that affect the pour over?
First quick-rinse it, then, for heat, use a oriental wok white-gas stove; place the cone over the burner, low 30 seconds, medium low 30 sec, medium 30 sec, medium high 30 sec, high at least 30 sec; leave it in place to cool; extreme temp changes to quickly will destroy it, but extreme temp is the ONLY way to clean it. The real reason for this is not at all to ‘save the earth’ –if the people who wanted this were that stupid they would be using the bleached paper. It’s for the ultra concerned for not ingesting unknown compounds by using other philters, paper, metal, etc.. Mostly paper, because nothing filters as good as paper except this. Side note the carbon from heating it is a longevity ingredient –keeps your telomeres long.
Actually there are several kinds of ceramic filters with different shapes and sizes and some have internal and external ribs and some even have a ceramic dripper attachment to make faster drawdown rates. Experimented on them a lot as I have more than 20 different kinds of and like pour overs, results are different on each. It’s still an acquired taste and its had more earthy flavors and cleaning it is a pain in the neck as you need to bake it in an oven or a grilled for 19 minutes every 5 uses to burn the clogged coffee oils and sediments in the ceramic filters. Examples of this ceramic filters are kyeumon, Arita, Cofil, suncera, calacera, Fumao, 1939gama.
I recently saw an ad for a ceramic coffee filter and wondered if they would be any good. Having French presses, Aeropresses, a Palm Press, an It’s American Press… I’m a little fascinated with methods of making coffee… yet I’m not entirely a coffee snob. I usually just make a double shot of espresso on my Breville, put in some frothed milk and be done with it. I was concerned with how the cleanup would be with a ceramic filter… and yeah, it’s what I expected. LOL Maybe someday I’ll buy one just to try it out. Or I’ll just convince myself that it’s a waste of money and keep using my Breville every day!
This product is a good example of greenwashing. They claim it’s greener because you don’t throw anything in trash but the energy required to manufacture and maintain it is thousands of times that of a paper filter therefore leaving a way greater carbon footprint. Same thing happens to famous cotton bags, unless you recycle an old shirt or something.
So I hadn’t used it yet but decided to try my Kyuemon ceramic filter after perusal this article. I already bought it. I love it! I purchased the medium size filter and it’s perfect for me since I only drink 1 to 2 cups of coffee a day. I began by rinsing it with some cold water a of couple times since it’s my first use. I put 2 tablespoons of a course organic ground coffee from Sam’s Club. The 1st cup I put to the side and let cool. I sipped the 2nd cup and it was delicious. The floral and fruity notes of the coffee really came through. Then I rinsed my filter right away by dumping out the grounds and then I rinsed it under hot water and then I put the filter over a small cup and let hot water drain through it until clear which was only about may be a cup of water. I didn’t feel like I was using massive amounts of water, actually quite the contrary because I wasn’t using soap. Of course this is my first you so we’ll see what happens after a month in. Oh, so the first cup I had let cool was a little weird. It tasted oily and there was all this residue on the bottom which the 2nd cup didn’t have. Maybe just because first use?!
Interesting. I only got back into drippers in the last few years. And filters were my main bugbear. This looks like an interesting alternative. I may give it a go (with reservations). A big plus re filters for me also is that I discovered they can go into the food waste bin. Apparently worms “love them”! Possibly the caffeine buzz helps them compost faster!!!
I’m no physicist but the Stefan-Boltzmann law describes infrared emission as Watts = Material Emissisivity * 5.67e-8 W/m2K4 * (Area m2 * Surface Temp^4 – Ambient Temp^4) K. Assuming the object is made of matte earthenware (emissivity 0.93) with 500 cm2 of area in a 20C room at 90C it would emit about 26 watts of infrared energy. An IR heater filaments made with a cermaic metal composite with an emissivitity of 0.9 at 110C would emit about 36 watts of infrared energy …huh. I actually did not expect the amount of energy to be anywhere near comparable After looking into it the temperatures needed for far IR emission are actually quite low, I expected the IR emission of that ceramic filter to be negligible but it is not. Regardless it seems like correlating that with some sort of positive drinking effect is marketing mumbo jumbo. Far IR is good for people so it makes it an easy selling term for being good for anything else too
As someone who makes ceramics for a living, and is very familiar with how that is made, I would never recommend someone use this. You cannot clean that, and by most potter’s standards, that would not be food safe. That will just trap bacteria and become a possible health hazard overtime. Great for watering plants, but I would never use one on a regular basis.
My dad drinks multiple cups of coffee every day and he just has a reusable filter basket for his generic drip machine. It’s like 15 years old now. It’s just some mesh on a plastic frame. Rinsing it takes all of one or two smacks into the bin and a few seconds under the tap, then back in the machine it goes. I don’t get why drip machines don’t just come with something like that and slap a big old “Never buy another filter again!” On the box. Reusable filters aren’t a new thing, this looks to me like people just trying to capitalize on a trend. Also there’s really only one option to fully get rid of the waste from drinking coffee. STOP DRINKING COFFEE. Simple? Yes. Easy? Depends on how addicted to caffeine you are.
There are also ceramic water filters. Ceramic/silver filters even, for supposed antimicrobial benefit. However, any filter that isn’t properly maintained actually creates and harbors more contaminates than they are thought to remove in the first place. CHANGE YOUR FILTERS!! Getting a soda at the C store? Check for dates on their filters..
This brewer annoyed the heck out of me after being amused by it. I’ve tried cleaning it over stove top while being submerged to hot water, tried putting it in flames, and after sometime, it just easily clogged up. After sometime, I moved houses and forgot this by the window, so then it was the end of its life with me. One of the worst $44 I spent on, sadly.
This looks like a hard pass for me. -Has a stupid holder -Brews REALLY slow -Transfers a weird taste -Clogs easily -Has a crazy cleaning process that is wastefully in all aspects (15 min over an open flame just to clean is insane) -Like most “miracle” products like this, the “health” benefits are heavily over hyped
Also an idea for cleaning (definitely not every day, but only if it gets clogged): some ovens have a “self-clean” function, where it heats up to very high (few hundred Celsius usually) temperature. In cooking its used to season stainless steel pans, but the main goal of the self-clean is the same as here: it gets very hot, turning most stuff into ash. Maybe worth a try.
“claims that are…” Come on James, the word you’re looking for here is BUNKUM!!! “… Difficult to prove” Oh James, so spectacularly diplomatic and open minded. Well played sir. Still I desperately wanted you to smash it for six rather than play a straight bat on this one. I really admire your ability to maintain charming curiosity when addressing such outrageous twaddle. I don’t seem to have the energy, but I prefer your approach, and aspire to it.
After seeing your article with Tom Scott I thought you’d be a fun YouTuber to watch since I’m quite interested in coffee and you seemed like a fun dude to watch. But then this article wasted my time with “filler” and babble, and given the just-barely-over-10-minutes length, I’m guessing you padded it out for YouTube’s ad algorithm.
The far infrared claims are enough to make me say NO. Because that’s bull. But the cleaning they suggest? Ain’t nobody got time for that. But the truth is that from a health and safety point of view, it’s a huge no. You can’t clean it. Period. Even burning it on the stove won’t clear out those pores completely. And bacteria will love that moist porous environment. BTW–a very similar kind of ceramic is used in aquariums to GROW bacteria on purpose. So yeah. I’m kinda grossed out. Especially after seeing clear water go in and brown water come out when no coffee is present. Ew.
Far-IR may interact with some of the chemicals in the coffee to help them dissolve better. Depending on the chemical structure, they will react to different wavelengths and their atoms will vibrate differently (there is an entire field of analytical chemistry based upon this). By vibrating specific bonds then it will change how fast they dissolve. Far IR refers to wavelengths more than 3um and the OH bond does fall into this at 2.8-3.5um. This means any organic acids and/or alcohols will more rapidly dissolve. However, without analyzing all the many thousands of chemicals in a coffee then it is impossible to determine if it is positive or negative to teh coffee. In fact, it is possible the far IR spectrum may cause more toxic compounds to dissolve… I would suggest it does change the flavour, but I would expect the addition of minerals from the ceramic would have a much greater affect on the flavour than any additions from the coffee by this process, particularly Aluminium compounds.
Dear Mr Hoffman, (and fellow coffee nerds), have you tried the Primula coffee brewer? I bought one after seeing 7000+ positive reviews on the thing but I just can’t seem to get a good cup of coffee from it. Usually I use a v60 + soto filter holder when I’m outdoors or on a job site, and I thought this would be a good replacement as I wouldn’t need to carry filters with me. If anyone has any tips, that would be much appreciated!!