Of the classic home coffee brewers, none may be more iconic than the Chemex. Invented in 1941 by Peter Schlumbohm, the Chemex has become a fixture of American coffee and culture, so much so that it’s a featured exhibit in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Its prominence can be chalked up to many things, perhaps most of all its design. The Chemex is made with a single hourglass-shaped piece of borosilicate glass and a wooden collar wrapped around the middle.
We’ve talked a lot at Raj’s Coffee about how to make coffee on some of the most familiar home brewers, including the AeroPress, the French press, the espresso machine, and the Moka pot. Here, we’d like to walk you through a brewing recipe for the Chemex. We will also discuss some strategies for cleaning and storing a Chemex. Finally, we’ll recommend some accessories you can add to enhance your brewing experience.
How to Use a Chemex
The first thing you should know about brewing with the Chemex is that it essentially acts a single-piece pour-over set. Water runs through a bed of grounds on the top so that coffee can flow to the bottom. There are a few different models of Chemex brewer available. For this recipe, assume we’re using the classic Six-Cup brewer, although this should work just as well on an Eight-Cup model.
The second thing you should know about using the Chemex is that, unlike other pour-over sets, it’s large enough to hold more than one serving of coffee. Personally, we really enjoy brewing on a Chemex when we’re making coffee for more than one person at a time. This recipe will guide you through that process.
Finally, before we begin, you must use the Chemex Bonded filters when brewing on a Chemex. Other commercially available filters, like those made by Hario, are not big enough or thick enough to use on a Chemex. So do make sure to pick up some Chemex Bonded filters along with your brewer.
Okay, now it’s time to get brewing!
Brewing Instructions
To use a Chemex, you need 6 items: the Chemex brewer, a box of Chemex Bonded filters, your coffee, your water, a kettle, and a scale.
First, boil your water and grind your coffee beans. We recommend using a 1:16 ratio for coffee to water. So, if you’re making 750 ml of coffee, you will need about 45 g of coffee grounds. If you’re using a stovetop or electric kettle, get your water to the boiling point and then take it off heat for about 1 minute. If you’re using a kettle with a thermometer, the temperature should read 200 degrees Fahrenheit when you start to pour.
Contrary to other pour-over recipes, we recommend a medium-coarse grind for the Chemex. When making larger portions especially, this allows for a nice, even draw-down time.
Next, wet the filter. Because the Chemex Bonded filters are so large and thick, it is extra important to wet the filter to eliminate any papery taste and warm the brewer. Dispose of the water by simply pouring through the spout.
Add your grounds to the filter and shake to level the bed. For your first pour, we recommend pouring about three times as much water as coffee. So if you have 45 g of coffee, pour about 135 g of water. You may notice here that the grounds will bubble. This is carbon dioxide, trapped from the roasting process, escaping the coffee. Allow this de-gassing to take place for about 30-45 seconds.
From here, you can begin pouring the rest of your water. Pour in small concentric circles, wetting the surface of the grounds. Take care not to let too much water touch the wall of the filter, as that water will encounter very little resistance on its way down the brewer, and we want that water to soak up all those nice coffee flavors! Continue pouring in circles along the bed of grounds.
When the water rises to about 1/4-1/2 inch below the top of the filter, stop pouring. Allow the bed of grounds to draw down and then continue pouring water, stopping as needed to let the bed draw down again.
When you’ve pour all your water, allow the bed of grounds to draw down completely. Dispose of the filter, and enjoy!
Cleaning Instructions
There are two ways to clean the glass brewer. You can put it in your dishwasher, although if you do this, take care that it is securely nestled in the rack and not touching any other dishes. The second way, and the preferred way in our opinion, is to hand-wash it. You won’t run into the same risk of breaking the glass as in a dishwasher. Plus, the wooden collar is not dishwasher-safe and needs to be hand-washed anyway.
To remove the wooden collar, simply untie it and carefully remove the collar from the glass. If you’d like to see instructions on how to re-tie the knot, and keep that classic Chemex look, instructions from the manufacturer can be found here.
Storage Suggestions
Being made of glass, the Chemex should be handled delicately and stored appropriately. Keep it at room temperature and securely stored in somewhere like a kitchen cupboard. You especially want to make sure the glass is not in contact with sunlight. You also want to make sure the Chemex is not touching any other fragile material like ceramic or other glass items.
Chemex Accessories
There aren’t that many available accessories for the Chemex, in part because the basic package comes with most everything you need. However, we do recommend a couple of items that could help you in your brewing.
First is the Coffeemaker Brush. This long thin wire brush is designed to scrub the inside of the Chemex filter. Other cleaning appliances may have a harder time reaching down through the hourglass opening and to the bottom of the brewer.
Second is something to set the Chemex on. The glass runs into some risk of breaking if you’re setting it directly on something like a marble countertop. If you’re set on picking up a Chemex, we recommend using a cork or leather coaster. Chemex does make branded versions of these coasters. Plus they include them in their starter kit!
Conclusion
There is an undeniable elegance to the Chemex. It’s aesthetically pleasing while allowing for a delicious cup of coffee. And as a bonus, you can use it to make pour-over quality coffee for more than one person at a time! If you’re interested in picking one up, many specialty coffee shops carry them, or you can pick them up online here and here. Go forth, and happy brewing!