Filter coffee, end to end

Filter coffee is hot water flowing through a bed of grounds, with a filter catching the spent coffee. It's the most common home brewing approach worldwide — and the one with the biggest gap between a mediocre cup and an excellent one, all without a pressurised machine. This page is the whole arc: what you need, what each number does, how the technique runs, and how to tell if the cup is good.

What you need

Four things, in order of impact:

1. Fresh whole-bean coffee — roasted within the last three weeks. This is the single biggest contributor to cup quality. Pre-ground coffee loses aroma in hours.
2. A grinder — manual (Timemore C2, 1Zpresso Q2) or electric (Baratza, Wilfa). Grinding fresh is the second biggest jump after fresh beans.
3. A dripper and filters — Hario V60, Melitta, Chemex, Kalita Wave, AeroPress. Each has its own technique quirks; we list recipes per device in Recipes.
4. A scale and timer — without weight, you're guessing. A $20 kitchen scale with a built-in timer solves both.

A gooseneck kettle helps but isn't required to start. See Equipment for the full list.

The four numbers that run the show

Every filter recipe reduces to four variables. That's it.

• Dose — how much coffee. 15g is a good single-cup starting point.
• Water — how much liquid total. For 15g, 240g is the default (1:16).
• Ratio — coffee divided by water. 1:15 brews stronger, 1:17 lighter. See Ratio.
• Temperature — 92-96°C for most beans. Hotter extracts more (good for light roasts), cooler extracts less (good for dark). See Temperature.

Write those four down before you brew. Without them, you can't repeat a great cup or fix a bad one.

Step by step

The dripper changes; the sequence doesn't:

1. Heat water to 92-96°C. If the kettle just boiled, wait 30 seconds.
2. Rinse the filter with hot water. Removes the paper taste and pre-heats the dripper.
3. Grind the coffee — medium for V60 and Chemex, medium-coarse for Kalita, medium-fine for AeroPress. Grind is the single biggest lever for dialling in.
4. Add grounds to the filter and tap gently to level the bed.
5. Bloom — a small first pour, twice the coffee weight (30g for 15g of coffee). Wait 30-45 seconds while CO₂ escapes. See Bloom.
6. Main pours — pour the rest in spiralling circles from centre out, never on the paper. One pour or several, depending on the recipe.
7. Drawdown — let the water finish dripping. Total brew sits between 2:30 and 4:30 depending on dripper. See Time.

How to tell if it's good

Taste it. A well-brewed filter cup has three signs:

• Obvious sweetness without needing sugar.
• Pleasant acidity (fruit, citrus, not sour or harsh).
• A clean finish without bitterness that lingers.

If it's sour or thin, extraction was too short — grind finer, brew longer, or raise the temperature.

If it's bitter or astringent, extraction was too long — grind coarser, brew shorter, or lower the temperature.

If it's weak, more coffee (or less water) — go to 1:15.

If it's too intense, less coffee (or more water) — go to 1:17.

One change at a time. Take notes. Three different brews and you'll understand how your kettle, grinder, and beans talk to each other.

Where to go next

You don't have to master every method. Pick one and stay with it for a month:

• Hario V60 — the classic cone; teaches pour technique.
• Chemex — thicker filter, very clean cup.
• Kalita Wave — flat-bottom, forgives imprecision.
• AeroPress — immersion + pressure hybrid, great for travel.
• French press — pure immersion, more body.

The difference between filter and immersion is covered in Filter vs immersion.

For specific recipes with weights, times, and technique from named baristas — James Hoffmann, Tetsu Kasuya, Lance Hedrick, Patrik Rolf — they're catalogued in Recipes.