Sweet Sweet Coffee

Ah, the Chemex brewer - it's a classic.  Designed by Peter J. Schlumbohm back in the 40's, becoming popular in the 70's thanks to it's elegantly simple and pure functional design, the Chemex brewer is back and it's on my kitchen table brewing coffee (wow, that was a really long sentence). 

Yes, the Chemex brewer is back and it's sporting a brand new look.  It's not really that band new of a look.  The Chemex company updated the brewer by replacing the wooden collar and leather strap around the middle with a glass handle.  But other than that, the brewer looks exactly the same as the original.  It still has that glass navel signifying the middle of the brewer from the bottom of the handle down (volumnmetrically speaking).

Just looking at the brewer you can see it's chem lab roots.  Dr. Schlumbohn combined the powers of a glass funnel and an Erlenmeyer flask.  He was probably working late in the lab one night and instead of going to the corner cafe for a double double, the good doctor slapped a funnel on a flask, used some chem lab filter paper and brewed himself a cup of the heavenly black stuff (holy, another really long sentence).  Then he yelled eureka and the rest is history.  The brewer is so significant to American design history that it made it to the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York city - probably stored next the the Eames chair.

So to brew coffee in one of these things:

1. You first have to boil some water.

2. Fold the filter paper - get the filters when you by your Chemex brewer.

The filters are just big round filter sheets or big square filter sheets.  Just fold it into quarters.  Better yet, get your filter paper pre-folded.  I got the square papers because the extra paper at the corners makes it really easy to pull out the used filter and grinds to throw away.

3. Put folded filter in brewer.

4. Put coffee grounds in filter - use a regular grind, the kind used for drip coffee.

5. Let boiled water stand for 20-30 seconds.

You don't want boiling water to hit your coffee grounds; the water should be just a bit below boiling.

6. Pour a little bit of the hot water slowly onto the grounds and watch the ground bloom.

Basically, you want the water to wet all the grounds so that they'll swell and fill all the air gaps in between the coffee grounds.  This is to slow the hot water's movement through the grounds so that it can absorb more of the coffee goodness.

7. Now you can pour more water into the funnel opening of the Chemex brewer.

8. VERY IMPORTANT - Drink and enjoy your brewed coffee.

Drink your coffee soon after you've made a pot.  It cools fast; I blame the flat bottom.  To help it stay warm longer, I usually leave the used filter and grounds on the brewer after I've finished brewing.  I just lift the filter paper by the corners to pour myself a cup.  I don't know if it helps but in my mind, the filter and grounds act as a plug keeping in the heat.

9. Throw away filter and grounds and clean brewer.  Soap and water is fine.  The hard part is drying it.  I'd use one of those flask drying stands that you see at kitchen or wine shops or lay out a kitchen towel and place the Chemex on that upside down.

The coffee is similar to drip coffee but cleaner.  The Chemex filter paper is a thicker filters than the ones used in drip coffee so most if not all of the coffee grounds are filtered out of the coffee.  The paper also aborbs most of the oils.  I don't see the oily film on top of the cup like I would with coffee brewed using the french press.  This might be a bad thing for some because the flavors and the richness of coffee are in the oils.  But I see this as just a different way to enjoy coffee.  To me, the coffee is clean and crisp.

If you want a Chemex, you can get one directly from Chemex.  If you are from Canada, call the company and ask if they can send it by United Postal and not UPS in order to avoid the brokerage charges.  The nice lady on the phone at Chemex did that for me.  Sweet Maria's also sell the Chemex brewer but they don't ship brewers to Canada for some reason.  I find this odd because they're able to ship espresso makers and grinders to Canada.  If you're really lucky, you might be able to find one of the classic brewers in a thrift store.  My sister has one of these.  I never really like the wooden collar but Sandy thinks it's what makes the brewer cool.  I like the glass handle.