Pour over · Chemex
Chemex coffee recipe
A Chemex is a glass carafe with a very thick bonded paper filter, and this recipe is written around that filter.
- Coffee
- 30 g
- Water
- 500 g
- Temp
- 95 °C
- Time
- 4:30
It makes 500 g of coffee, enough for two mugs, and it suits anyone who serves more than one person and prefers a drink with little sediment and no oil film. The cost is patience: the thick paper drains slowly, so the whole brew takes four and a half minutes, nearly all of it waiting. If you brew for one, use the balanced pour over instead; its smaller cone and thinner paper drain faster.
The spec
| Part | Amount |
|---|---|
| Coffee | 30 g, medium |
| Water | 500 g at 95 °C (1:16.7) |
| Pours | Bloom to 90 g, then 300 g, then 500 g |
| Total time | 4:30, of which 2:05 is drawdown |
| Filter | Bonded Chemex-style paper, rinsed |
You need
- A Chemex-style carafe and its matching bonded filters.
- A gooseneck kettle, because the last pour is 200 g and you want control of it.
- A scale and a timer. Pre-warm the carafe by rinsing the filter with hot water, and pour that rinse water away.
Ratio 1:16.7 · Grind: medium · grind chart
Starting ranges come from your grinder maker’s own guide. Burrs, beans and calibration vary, so treat them as where to begin.
Steps
- 0:00, Bloom to 90 g.
Add 30 g of grounds and pour 90 g, three times the dose, over the first 45 seconds. Slow pouring is deliberate here.
- 0:45, Pour to 300 g.
Add water up to 300 g, which takes about 40 seconds.
- 1:40, Pour to 500 g.
Add up to 500 g over 45 seconds. Your first pour finished at 1:25, so this leaves 15 seconds of rest.
- 2:25, Let the brew draw down.
Stop pouring and let the carafe fill. The bed should be dry around 4:30.
My notes for this recipe
Why these numbers
Medium grind and 1:16.7. The thicker paper restricts flow more than a thin cone filter does. A medium grind, coarser than the 20 g cone recipe, and a slightly higher water-to-coffee ratio keep the drain from stalling. Both are authored.
A 45-second bloom. This is longer than the 10 seconds used on the small cone because 90 g is poured into a deep bed of 30 g, and the thick filter slows the water leaving. The pause also lets the bed wet evenly before you add volume.
Two main pours, not three. The recipe goes from 90 g to 300 g to 500 g. Fewer additions means less handling, which suits a recipe that is already slow.
95 °C. A one-degree edge over the cone recipe; authored, and meant to offset heat lost to the large glass body.
What changes the cup: filter thickness and drawdown
The drawdown is where the Chemex differs most from other pour overs. 125 seconds of waiting is normal, not a fault. If drawdown runs much longer than 4:30, fines are likely blocking the paper: coarsen the grind. If it ends well before 4:00 and the cup is weak, go finer.
The fixes below are CupTune's judgement, not tests of any filter.
- Paper folded wrongly. The three-layer side should face the spout, and the paper should not seal the air channel. A sealed channel makes the carafe drain unevenly and slows the whole brew.
- Paper tastes of paper. Rinse more thoroughly, and discard the rinse water before brewing.
- Bed collapses with a ring of grounds on the wall. Pour closer to the centre during the last 200 g.
- Cup thin despite a long drawdown. Check that the real water mass reached 500 g, then grind finer.
Evidence and limits
No outside source is cited here. The 1:16.7 ratio, 95 °C water and four-and-a-half-minute sequence are CupTune-authored starting preferences, not a manufacturer specification. Longer drawdown through a thicker filter is expected behaviour rather than a defect, but CupTune has not measured filter permeability or sediment for any filter. Chemex sizes and filter generations differ, so treat the 125 s drawdown as a planning figure and rely on your own timing.
Questions
Can I use a normal cone filter in a Chemex?
The carafe is built for its own paper. A thinner filter will drain faster, so the grind and timing here would need to change.
Why does my Chemex take longer than my cone dripper?
The paper is thicker, the batch is larger and the bed is deeper. That alone explains the extra minute or more.
Is 30 g enough for two cups?
It makes 500 g of coffee; at that volume each mug gets about 250 g. Scale the dose and water together to keep the ratio.