Filter Coffee Preparation – Instructions for Delicious Coffee

Preparing filter coffee is easy when you follow some basic rules. The amount of coffee grounds per cup of coffee is just as important as the temperature of the water and the freshness of the coffee. In this guide, we explain everything you need to know to successfully prepare filter coffee. At the end of the article, we walk through a brew step by step and illustrate it with images and videos.

With the right technique, it is very easy to prepare really good filter coffee. At the same time, there is no cheaper way to brew coffee.

Who is this article for: for anyone with little or no experience with filter coffee. This article will give you a very good foundation. Reading time: 14 minutes. Author: the author of this article was Swiss filter coffee champion 2014, 12th at the World Championship in the Brewers Cup, and 3-time Swiss runner-up Brewers Cup champion.

How much coffee grounds per cup?

The correct dosage of coffee per cup is crucial for how the coffee tastes. However, since cup sizes vary greatly, specifying the amount of coffee per cup is not particularly suitable for reliably brewing delicious coffee.

We recommend about 6 grams of coffee per 100 ml of brewing water. You can scale this up or down as you like. If you brew with 300 ml of hot water, the amount of coffee of choice is about 18 grams. For one liter, that works out to roughly 60 grams of coffee grounds. Why this ratio works and how it shifts with espresso and French press is explained in the article on coffee dosage per cup.

If the coffee is too strong at this brewing ratio, brew with 5 grams of coffee per 100 ml. If the coffee is too weak, increase to 7 grams of coffee per 100 ml. In this range, Central Europeans tend to prefer their coffee.

A typical coffee cup holds about 150 ml of water. According to the logic above, 9 grams of coffee would be the amount of choice. This method of brewing coffee of course requires a scale. If you have a kitchen scale on hand, the amount is quickly measured. If constant measuring seems too tedious, you can measure once how much water fits in your own coffee cup and how much weight of coffee grounds a heaping teaspoon holds. Measuring briefly each time removes the uncertainty of whether the coffee will taste as good this time as it did last time.

What temperature for brewing?

The perfect brewing temperature is around 92 – 94 degrees Celsius. Unfortunately, many filter coffee machines cannot be adjusted. This is one reason why hand-brewed coffee often tastes better. The temperature is easy to achieve by boiling the brewing water in a kettle. After about 2 minutes, it cools to the desired brewing temperature of 92 – 94 degrees.

This temperature is a guideline that generally works well for good filter coffee roasts. They taste neither too bitter nor too sour at this brewing temperature – in other words, they are "balanced." That's exactly what makes good filter coffee.

Lighter roasted coffees can easily be brewed at higher temperatures. At the World Championship in filter coffee brewing, for example, I brewed a light-roasted Kenyan coffee at 98 degrees Celsius. The balance of the coffee was still present, and at the same time, the full complexity of the coffee bean was delivered to the cup.

Darker roasted coffees tend to be bitter from the roasting process itself. Here, lower brewing temperatures work better. High temperatures only increase the bitterness further. We recommend brewing temperatures of 88 to 92 degrees, so about 3 – 4 minutes after boiling the water.

You often find headlines on the internet like: brewing filter coffee, cooking filter coffee, and making coffee. We cannot recommend that! Boiling coffee causes strong bitterness and not delicious coffee. That's why we talk about brewing filter coffee.

How long should the hot water be in contact with the coffee?

The best brewing time depends heavily on the amount of coffee grounds and water used, the brewing method, and the roast. If you brew 200 – 300 ml of water, I recommend a brewing time of 2 – 3 minutes. Per 100 ml, the brewing time can be extended by 30 seconds. From about 800 ml, different rules apply again!

These guidelines can help you set up your brew correctly. Setting up is the key word here. As with espresso machines, with most filter methods (called pour over or drip methods in English), you adjust the brewing time using the grind size. The finer the grind, the greater the resistance to water and the longer the brewing time.

With electronic filter coffee machines, the adjustment options are also limited. If you brew by hand, you can adjust the speed of the brew by pouring the brewing water more slowly or more quickly.

With all brewing methods, it is ideal if most of the coffee and the water used are in contact throughout the entire brewing time. If you brew quickly at the beginning, for example, some of the coffee grounds stick to the upper edge of the filter and are difficult to bring back into the brew. This part of the coffee grounds is less extracted than the rest. These particles are "high & dry" (a common phrase in the anglicized coffee language), meaning high and dry, and contribute nothing to the coffee flavor in the cup. Since the amount of coffee was matched to the water, the flavor result in the cup may not be perfect.

To perfectly adjust filter coffee machines, calculating the brew cycle is practical. A complete brewing process is brewed without coffee grounds to measure the effective dripping time. Getting the best out of a filter coffee machine will be the subject of another article.

The coffee grinder as the key to good coffee

The chapter on brewing time already highlighted the importance of the coffee grinder. Only those who can grind coffee will be able to control the brewing time by adjusting the grind size. Of course, coffee can also be ground in many places at the roaster or in the supermarket. However, at best, the previous coffee in this grinder was not very fine, and at worst, it contained grain or pepper.

Buying pre-ground is also not an option. The grind size is not properly adjusted in that case. Besides, coffee loses quality with every second after grinding. The whole bean, in its unground structure, is a kind of protective layer for the coffee. Air only reaches the surface and reacts only with it. As soon as coffee is ground, the surface multiplies a thousandfold. The reaction with oxygen and light begins immediately at every cutting and fracture point. Volatile aromas escape from the coffee. At the same time, an oxidation process begins that becomes noticeable very quickly.

Even without practice, participants in our sensory courses discover the off-taste of "old coffee" as early as two hours after grinding. Coffee first loses complexity and then tastes rancid.

With the grinder, aim for a medium grind size. The coffee should feel roughly like fine polenta. The brewing water should not flow through the coffee any faster or slower than in roughly the time specified above.

What equipment makes sense?

Filter coffee is such a popular method also because it's so simple and quick for anyone to master. You don't need a huge budget either. In many countries, filter coffee is brewed in cloth filters that resemble socks or pantyhose. There are basically no limits to your own experimentation. A classic filter from manufacturers like Melitta, Hario, or Kalita doesn't cost much and is excellent. Inexpensive filter coffee machines are also available for well under 120 CHF/100 euros.

However, in this price range, I would always recommend a hand filter and spend more on the coffee machine. The main problem with cheap filter coffee machines is that they don't hit the brewing temperature precisely. The second, and even more important, phenomenon is water distribution across the coffee bed. Almost all cheap filter coffee machines drip monotonously on the same spot.

That's a problem! Especially at this point, "turbulence" occurs, i.e., swirling between water and coffee. This spot is therefore washed out particularly strongly. This leads to over-extraction at this spot and consequently to bitterness. Meanwhile, the rest of the coffee grounds are too little saturated and thus cannot bring its own delicious potential to the cup.

Better the hand filter!

That's why my recommendation: brew with the hand filter. It brings you closer to the coffee and enables you to truly learn how to prepare filter coffee.

Those, on the other hand, who prefer stronger coffee – somewhere between filter coffee and espresso – will find a cheap and uncomplicated option in the moka pot. It brews with a TDS of 3–4% significantly stronger than filter coffee, but requires neither electricity nor special equipment.

I also recommend a simple grinder. A hand grinder is perfectly suited. If brewing coffee becomes fun for you and you also want to delight groups or the office more often, then the electric Wilfa grinder is a good choice.

The equipment is complete with a scale and can then be expanded as desired. The scale helps you dose the water and coffee quantities. Any postage or kitchen scale works. Coffee scales also have a stopwatch – a practical tool that gives you control over the brewing time.

Paper, cloth, or metal filter paper – what's the difference?

The paper filter bag, like the cloth filter or metal filter, does a good job. All three separate most of the coffee grounds from the coffee beverage. The paper filter is most consistent in doing so. While cloth and metal filters allow some sediments and also coffee oils through, paper filter stops the solids of the coffee almost completely depending on density.

Personally, I prefer to drink coffee filtered through paper. It's clearest that way and no sediment residue remains in the cup that bothers me with the last sip. Coffee filtered through paper has a rather lighter body; it feels less heavy on the tongue. Well-brewed, however, this coffee makes up for it through "elegance."

Coffee filtered with cloth or metal is robust and can bring out different notes through the taste of coffee oils than coffee filtered with paper.

If I have to choose between cloth or metal, I choose a very fine-meshed metal sieve or net, such as with the Coffee Dribbler. We also shot a test video about the Coffee Dribbler that highlights the advantages of this fine-meshed filter.

The major advantage over the cloth filter is the relatively easy cleaning. Cloth filters get dirty quickly and heavily and must be cleaned very thoroughly by machine to develop little off-flavor. But you always drink a bit of patina with the cloth filter. Unfortunately, there's no way around it.

Soft water is good water

When brewing filter coffee, the rule is: the softer the water, the more delicious your coffee. The nice side effect: your kettle will scale less.

Medium-hard and hard water buffers the acidity in the coffee. Acidity is very important for balance and flavor in all complex delicacies. Without acidity, coffee tastes bland and empty. It's actually true: hard water turns very good filter coffee into an average one.

A few years ago, I traveled through Switzerland and tested various waters to see which were suitable for brewing coffee. You can read the results here.

Soft and very good water for brewing filter coffee has less than 8 German degrees of hardness and more than 2 dH. You can filter this water or use mineral water.

If you want to buy soft water, you'll certainly find the perfect mineral water for your region in this huge list.

It may sound exaggerated that water plays a role in this guide for good filter coffee. However, filter coffee consists of 98.5% water and only 1.5% of dissolved coffee particles. These figures alone illustrate the importance of water.

Which coffee is best suited for filter coffee?

Coffee beans that are light to medium-dark roasted are better suited for filter coffee. They are more balanced in flavor and easier to brew. Darker coffees tend toward bitterness. Lighter roasted coffees show the typical flavor notes of the origin region more clearly. The way the raw coffee is processed after harvest is also not overshadowed by overly strong roasting notes.

Many modern "specialty coffee roasters" tend to roast coffees too light. In this case, the coffee is under-roasted and the flavor is not yet sufficiently developed. This extreme is also not ideal from our perspective.

Many good roasteries now make very good filter coffee. In Switzerland, alongside our own filter coffees, I enjoy filter coffee from Vertical, Kafischmitte, or Stoll Kaffee. From Germany, I like the roasts from Mokuska in Stuttgart, Tegernseer Rösterei, Johannes Bayer, Backyard coffee, and many others. Internationally, Coffee Collective is a great choice. I'll expand the list when the opportunity arises.

How fresh should the coffee be?

The perfect filter coffee is not older than two months. You can tell this if a roast date is printed on the package. If no roast date is visible on the package, that's a reason not to buy this coffee.

Only the roast date can determine the freshness of the coffee. I like to drink filter coffee starting 3 – 5 days after roasting. The opened bag should then be used up within 2 weeks. The reason is, as with grinding, the reaction with oxygen. Every time you open the coffee bag, fresh oxygen enters it, which speeds up the aging of the coffee beans.

Coffee can also be brewed immediately after roasting. However, it is then still heavily loaded with CO2, which on the one hand does not contribute positively to the taste and on the other hand bubbles so strongly in the filter that the brew does not proceed evenly. That's why a rest period of a few days after roasting makes sense. When preparing espresso, degassing of carbon dioxide of at least 10 days is worthwhile.

Preparing filter coffee step by step

In the following images and video sequences, we walk through the preparation of a filter coffee with the Hario V60 step by step. This guide applies to any standard coffee filter. As an example, we use 18 g of coffee and 300g of water.

Rinse the filter paper with hot water to wash out the paper taste. Plenty of water doesn't hurt. 200 ml rinsed through is a good guideline. Try the rinsed water once. You'll taste that you don't want this in your coffee.

We now add three times the amount of coffee used as water. In this example, we use 54 g of water at a temperature of 93 degrees. With this water, the entire coffee bed is saturated in a circular motion from inside to outside.

This type of pre-brewing is called blooming in English. The coffee literally blooms as some of the carbon dioxide escapes and is released. Once the CO2 has dissipated, a controlled brew is possible.

After 30 seconds, we increase the water amount to 125 grams.

At a brewing time of about 0:50 minutes, I increase the water amount to a total of 200 grams. I pour in a circular motion from inside to outside and back inside again. If the grind is properly adjusted, the coffee bed should not rise above half of the filter paper (if it does, grind a bit coarser next time).

With a fourth pour after about 1:30, I increase the total amount of water to 300 grams. Now the water bed level rises to the upper third. Using a stir rod, I bring the entire water amount into rotation. This continues to rotate until the coffee finally drips out after about 2:30 minutes.

Summary and brewing recipe

There is no one correct brewing recipe! There is also not just one right way to make delicious coffee. That's very important. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. With coffee, the saying is: "what matters is in the cup." If your coffee tastes good, you've done everything right.

• 6 grams of coffee per 100 grams of water, for example 300 grams of water to 18 grams of coffee
• Use hot water at 92 – 94 degrees
• 2 – 3 minutes contact time
• Soft water with a hardness between 2 - 8 dH
• Fresh coffee = 5 days old and not older than 2 months

Have fun experimenting and brewing. How did it work out for you? What tips and experiences have you had? I look forward to your comments and feedback.

If you want to learn more about brewing filter coffee, check out our channel on YouTube

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