Preparing filter coffee is easy if you stick to a few basic rules. The amount of coffee grounds per cup is just as important as the water temperature 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 will go through a brew step-by-step and illustrate it with images and videos.
With the right technique, it is very simple to make truly great filter coffee. At the same time, there is no more affordable way to brew coffee.
Who is this article for: anyone with little or no experience with filter coffee. This article provides a very solid foundation for you. Reading time: 14 minutes. Author: The author of this article was Swiss Filter Coffee Champion in 2014, 12th at the World Brewers Cup, and a 3-time Swiss Vice-Brewers Cup Champion.
How much coffee grounds per cup?
The right dosage of coffee per cup is crucial for the coffee to taste good. However, since cup sizes vary greatly, specifying the amount of coffee per cup is not particularly well-suited for reliably brewing delicious coffee.
We recommend using approx. 6 grams of coffee per 100 ml of brewing water. You can scale this up or down as you like. If you are brewing with 300 ml of hot water, the amount of coffee of choice is approx. 18 grams. For one liter, that comes to about 60 grams of coffee grounds.
If you find the coffee too strong at this brewing ratio, brew with 5 grams of coffee per 100 ml. If the coffee is too weak for you, increase it to 7 grams of coffee per 100 ml. Experience shows that Central Europeans prefer their coffee within this range.
A typical coffee cup holds about 150 ml of water. Following the logic above, 9 grams of coffee would be the choice amount. This type of coffee brewing, of course, requires a scale. If you have a kitchen scale on hand, the amount is quickly measured. For those who find constant measuring too tedious, you can measure how much water fits into your coffee cup and how much weight a heaped teaspoon of coffee grounds holds. Measuring briefly each time, however, removes the uncertainty of whether the coffee that tasted good last time will taste good this time too.
What temperature to use for brewing?
The perfect brewing temperature is around 92 – 94 degrees Celsius. Unfortunately, many filter coffee machines cannot be adjusted. This is one of the reasons 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 will have cooled down to the desired brewing temperature of 92 – 94 degrees.
This temperature is a guideline that is generally suitable for good filter coffee roasts. They taste neither too bitter nor too sour at this brewing temperature – in other words, they are "balanced." That is exactly what makes for good filter coffee.
Light-roasted coffees can easily be brewed at higher temperatures. At the World Filter Coffee Championship, for example, I brewed a light-roasted Kenyan coffee at 98 degrees Celsius. The balance of the coffee was still there, and at the same time, the entire complexity of the coffee bean was carried into the cup.
Darker-roasted coffees are rather bitter due to the roasting itself. Lower brewing temperatures are better here. High temperatures further increase the bitterness. We recommend brewing temperatures of 88 to 92 degrees, which is about 3 – 4 minutes after the water has boiled.
On the internet, you often find headlines like: how to boil filter coffee, boiling of filter coffee, and making coffee. We cannot recommend it! Boiling coffee causes strong bitterness rather than delicious coffee. That is why we speak of brewing filter coffee.
How long should 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 are brewing 200 – 300 ml of water, then I recommend a brewing time between 2 – 3 minutes. For every 100 ml, the brewing time can be extended by 30 seconds. From approx. 800 ml, other rules apply!
These guidelines can help you properly adjust your brew. Adjusting is the key word here. As with the espresso machine, with most filter methods (called Pour over or Drip methods in English), you adjust the brewing time via the grind size. The finer the grind, the greater the resistance for the water and the longer the brewing time.
With electronic filter coffee machines, the adjustment options are also limited. If brewing by hand, the speed of the brew can be adjusted by pouring the water slower or faster.
With all brewing methods, it is ideal if the majority of the coffee and the water used are in contact over the entire brewing time. If you pour quickly at the beginning, for example, a portion of the coffee grounds will stick to the upper edge of the filter and be difficult to bring back into the brewing process. In this case, this part of the coffee grounds is less extracted than the rest. These particles are “high & dry” (a common phrase in the Anglicism-heavy coffee jargon) and contribute nothing to the coffee taste in the cup. Since the coffee amount was tailored to the water, the taste result in the cup may not be perfect.
To perfectly adjust filter coffee machines, calculating the brew cycle is practical. This involves running a complete brew cycle without coffee grounds to measure the effective drip 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 section on brewing time has already highlighted the importance of the coffee grinder. Only those who can grind their own 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, the best-case scenario in that grinder before yours was not-so-great coffee, and in the worst case, grain or pepper.
Buying pre-ground is not an option either. In that case, the grind size is not set correctly. Furthermore, the 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 that. As soon as coffee is ground, the surface area multiplies a thousandfold. The reaction with oxygen and light begins immediately at every cutting and breaking point. Volatile aromas escape from the coffee. At the same time, an oxidation process begins that can be tasted very quickly.
Even inexperienced participants in our sensory courses discover the off-taste of “old coffee” just two hours after grinding. Coffee first loses complexity and then becomes rancid in taste.
With the grinder, you aim for a medium grind size. The coffee should feel somewhat like fine polenta. The brewing water should not glide through the coffee any faster or slower than approximately the time specified above.
What equipment makes sense?
Filter coffee is such a popular method also because it is so easy and quick for anyone to master. A huge budget is also not necessary. In many countries, filter coffee is brewed in cloth filters that resemble socks or tights. There are basically no limits to your own experimentation. A classic filter like those from the manufacturers Melitta, Hario, or Kalita doesn't cost much and is excellent. Cheap filter coffee machines are also available for well under 120 CHF/100 Euro.
However, in this price range, I would always advise you to go for a hand filter and spend more on the coffee machine. The main problem with cheap filter coffee machines is that they do not precisely control the brewing temperature. The second and even more important phenomenon is the water distribution over the coffee bed. Almost all cheap filter coffee machines drip steadily onto the same spot.
That is a problem! Especially at this spot, “turbulence” occurs, i.e., swirling between water and coffee. This spot is therefore particularly heavily washed out. This leads to over-extraction at this point and consequently to bitterness. Meanwhile, the remaining coffee grounds are not sufficiently wetted and thus cannot bring their delicious potential into the cup.
Better the hand filter!
Therefore, my advice: brew with a hand filter. It brings you closer to the coffee and allows you to really learn the preparation of filter coffee.
Those who prefer a stronger coffee – somewhere between filter coffee and espresso – will find the stovetop espresso maker to be an affordable and uncomplicated option. It brews much stronger than filter coffee with a TDS of 3–4%, but requires neither electricity nor special equipment.
I also recommend a simple grinder. A hand grinder is perfectly suited. Of course, many single dosing grinders are also well-suited.
The equipment is complete with a scale and can then be expanded as desired. The scale helps you to dose the amount of water and coffee. Any letter or kitchen scale will work. Coffee scales also have a stopwatch – a practical gadget that gives you control over the brewing time.
Paper, cloth, or metal filter – what is the difference?
The paper filter bag does a good job, just like the cloth or metal filter. All three separate most of the coffee grounds from the coffee beverage. The most consistent in this regard is the filter paper. While cloth and metal filters let some sediment and also coffee oils through, the filter paper stops the solids of the coffee almost completely, depending on the density.
Personally, I prefer drinking coffee filtered with paper. It is the clearest as a result, and no trace of sediment remains in the cup that might bother me during 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 with “elegance.”
Coffee filtered with cloth or metal is robust and, due to the taste of the coffee oils, can bring out different notes than coffee filtered with paper.
If the choice must be made between cloth or metal, I choose a very fine-meshed metal sieve or net, like with the Coffee Dribbler. We also shot a test video about the Coffee Dribbler that highlights the advantages of this fine-meshed filter.
The big advantage over the cloth filter is the relatively simple cleaning. Cloth filters get dirty quickly and heavily and must be cleaned very thoroughly by machine to develop little of their own taste. However, when using a cloth filter, you always drink a bit of patina. Unfortunately, it's unavoidable.
Soft water is good water
When brewing filter coffee, the rule applies: the softer the water, the more delicious your coffee. The nice side effect: your kettle will have less limescale.
Medium-hard and hard water buffers the acidity in the coffee. Acidity is very important for the balance and taste of all complex luxury foods. Without acidity, coffee tastes bland and empty. It is actually true: hard water turns a very good filter coffee into an average one.
A few years ago, I traveled through Switzerland and tested various types of water to see which ones are well-suited for brewing coffee. You can read the results here.
Soft and very good water for brewing filter coffee has less than 8 degrees of German hardness and more than 2 dH. You can filter this water or use mineral water.
Anyone looking to buy soft water will surely find the perfect mineral water in their region in this gigantic 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 just 1.5% dissolved coffee particles. These numbers 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 taste and easier to brew. Darker coffees tend toward bitterness. Lighter-roasted coffees show the typical flavor notes of the region of origin more clearly. Even the method of processing the green coffee after harvest is not overlaid by overly strong roast 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, in our view, is not ideal either.
Many good roasteries now make very good filter coffee. In Switzerland, besides our own filter coffees, I like drinking 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 will expand the list when the opportunity arises.
How fresh should the coffee be?
The perfect filter coffee is no older than two months. You can recognize this if there is a roast date on the packaging. If no roast date is visible on the packaging, that is a reason not to buy this coffee.
Only by the roast date can the freshness of the coffee be determined. I like to drink filter coffee starting from 3 – 5 days after roasting. The opened bag should then be consumed within 2 weeks. The reason is, as with grinding, the reaction with oxygen. By opening the coffee bag, fresh oxygen enters the bag each time, accelerating the aging of the coffee beans.
Coffee can also be brewed immediately after roasting. However, it is then still heavily charged 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 brewing does not proceed evenly. Therefore, a rest period of a few days after roasting makes sense. When preparing espresso, a “degassing” of carbon dioxide of at least 10 days makes sense.
Preparing filter coffee step by step
With the following pictures and video sequences, we go through the preparation of a filter coffee with the Hario V60 step-by-step. This guide is applicable 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 flushed through is a good guideline. Try tasting the rinsed water. You will taste that you don't want that in your coffee.
We now add water equal to three times the amount of coffee used. In the case of this example, we use 54 g of water with a temperature of 93 degrees. With this water, the entire coffee bed is wetted in a circular motion from the inside to the outside.
This type of pre-brewing is called blooming in English. The coffee literally blossoms while part of the carbon dioxide in the coffee dissolves and is released. Once the CO2 has escaped, a controlled brew is possible.
After 30 seconds, we increase the amount of water 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 the stream in a circular motion from the inside to the outside and back to the inside. With a good grind setting, the coffee bed does not rise above half of the filter paper (otherwise, set it a bit coarser next time).
With a fourth pour after approx. 1:30, I increase the total amount of water to 300 grams. Now the fill level of the water bed rises to the upper third. Using a stirring rod, I bring the entire amount of water into rotation. This continues to turn until the coffee has finally finished dripping after approx. 2:30 minutes.
Summary and brewing recipe
There is no one right brewing recipe! There is also not just one right way to delicious coffee. This is very important. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. When it comes to coffee: "the important thing is what's in the cup." If your coffee tastes good, you've done everything right.
- 6 grams of coffee per 100 grams, i.e., e.g., 300 grams of water to 18 grams of coffee
- Use 92 – 94 degree hot water
- 2 – 3 minutes contact time
- Soft water with a hardness between 2 - 8 dH
- Fresh coffee = 5 days old and no 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 remarks.
If you want to learn more about brewing filter coffee, then check out our channel on YouTube
Other brewing methods
- French press and plunger pot
- Tips for outdoor coffee and coffee on the go
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Stovetop espresso maker and Moka pot
- Important article on the topic: How much coffee per cup?
