Chemex is another of alternative coffee preparations, which you can easily practice yourself at home. This designer glass flask vaguely resembles an hourglass and its prototype has been unveiled almost 80 years ago a German scientist in New York. A few years later, when the Chemex took its current form - a glass container with a mostly wooden fixation at the narrowest point, which allows comfortable handling even when the Chemex is hot, this preparation tool pure drip coffee became a phenomenon not only in America.
What is Chemex coffee like?
Thanks to special paper filters, the coffee is freed from all sediment that could contaminate the drink if it is properly prepared. They also stand out all possible tastes, which coffee beans carry with them from the very collection and processing method. The preparation of Chemex is therefore very suitable if you want to fully enjoy the flavor profile of the given grains. In addition, it is a beautiful ritual in which you have the filtration process firmly in your hands from start to finish.
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What is needed to prepare Chemex?
The preparation of Chemex is basically undemanding. However, it is very important to use high-quality coffee. It is also ideal home grinding just before the actual preparation. If you buy pre-ground coffee beans, you may not expect the best results. To achieve them, you should grains should be consumed fresh – the roasting date should be indicated on the quality packaging of coffee, which you can then refer to when consuming it. The beans should rest for about a week after roasting and are at their best for use in the second to fifth week after that. If you follow this and really go for quality, you can look forward to great tasting results. Grains for Chemex need to be ground more coarsely. The texture should be similar to granulated sugar, which it is a little more gently than when preparing a French press.
In addition to ground coffee, you will also need a suitable kettle for the Chemex itself, with which you will pour hot water over the coffee. Above all, the stream of water should not be too violent, so that the grains do not start to swirl under its force. Also, don't forget about filters. Paper ones are standard, which reliably catch every coffee speck and the resulting drink will be perfectly clean. However, there are also cloth or other reusable filters.
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What to watch out for?
Coffee is mainly made up of water. It is therefore good to respect this and not to prepare a cup of coffee using water containing limescale or its otherwise polluted form. Contamination often does not disappear by boiling. So either check the PH value or filter the water.
Also, be careful about what filters you actually use. Those for Chemex are a bit thicker and are made of a slightly different material, which affects the taste of the resulting drink. On the face of it, it might seem that a Chemex could be mistaken for a Pour over, but precisely because of the filters, this is not the case.
Chemex preparation procedure
- Bring the water to a boil and in the meantime grind the fresh coffee beans to the texture of granulated sugar (a little finer than for the French press) at a ratio of 35g/500ml of water.
- Once the water is boiled, let it sit for about 2 minutes to cool. If you used the hot one, you would burn the flavor of the coffee, which is not desirable.
- When the water is around 95 degrees, rinse the paper filter and place it in the Chemex. This will prevent an unpleasant aftertaste that would be transferred from it to the cup.
- Pour the ground grains into the filter and pour water from the kettle in a slow circular motion. At this stage, focus on the bubbling that the coffee will create. The more bubbles, the fresher it is.
- You should get to a total of 5 pours. At the first watering, up to 80 g, at the second up to 300 g, at the third up to 400 grams, at the fourth up to 500 grams and at the fifth watering up to 600 grams.
- When the extraction time is complete (time 4:30 min) remove the filter and enjoy.
The preparation of Chemex is really simple and has its own magic. Try creating this coffee ritual in the comfort of your own home.
