Chemex Brewing

by Michael Allen Smith
INeedCoffee.com

In December 2002, I went to the Vital Forms art exhibit at the San Diego Musuem of Art. The gallery focused on American Art during the Atomic age of 1940 through 1960. One of the pieces that caught my eye was a glass carafe used for brewing coffee. The coffee brewer was the Chemex. After leaving the exhibition, I went home and ordered a Chemex coffee brewer. I may not know "good art", but I do know good coffee. And I wanted to find out if the Chemex could make good coffee.

How The Taste Differs

The Chemex brews coffee using the infusion method, which makes it most similiar to drip coffee in terms of body and taste. It's unbleached filters are a little thicker than those used by auto-drip filters. The result is a slower brew and a richer cup of coffee. Although not as rich as the french press, the Chemex does produce a sediment free cup of coffee that will impress anyone used to the weaker taste of most auto-drip coffee machines.

Although they use a very similiar brewing style, the Chemex and the auto-drip have some distinct differences. The first is the Chemex carafe is a heat-resistant glass beaker, not an electrical applicance. This means you will need a kettle to heat the water prior to using the Chemex. One of the complaints with many auto-drip machines is a brewing temperature that is too low. Although it is more work to heat up water in a kettle and then gradually transfer it to the Chemex, having complete control over the brewing temperature can yield a superior cup of coffee. And because it isn't an electrical appliance, the Chemex doesn't keep the coffee warm. It is your responsibility to keep Chemex coffee warm should you brew a full pot. The upside of not being an electrical appliance is you can take it camping. Just be sure to bring a kettle or pot to boil water over the campfire.

Chemex coffee also takes a little longer to make. The filters used are thicker than standard drip coffee filters. This translates into a longer saturation period before passing through the filter. Those used to auto-drip coffee will be able to detect the richness difference immediately. The Drip Coffee Brewers page on the Sweet Maria's web site says this about the Chemex coffee filters:

They are 20-30% heavier than any other filter and are a special paper formulation to remove undesirable sediment but allow positive aromatic compounds to pass through. The fine paper grain holds back "mud," while permitting correct filtration speed: a Chemex brews at least 1-2 minutes slower than normal paper filters, more in line with the optimal time that hot water and grinds should contact each other: 4 minutes.

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