Chemex
Glass decanter with thick filter. Light body and high clarity.
How the Chemex works
The Chemex is a glass decanter with a proprietary filter 20 to 30% thicker than regular paper. That filter holds back more oils and fines than any other method — the result is the cleanest, most translucent cup in pour-over, light-bodied with clear sweetness.
The price of that clarity is flow: the thick paper drains slowly, so the Chemex wants a coarser grind and more patient pours than a V60.
Grind, ratio and temperature
Medium-coarse grind — one step coarser than your V60 setting — a ratio of 1:16 to 1:17 and water between 94 and 95°C. If the drawdown runs well past 5 minutes or the bed floods, the fix is a coarser grind, not slower pouring.
Which recipe to pick
The Classic Chemex is the brand’s own recipe: 1:16, four pours, a balanced cup for 2 to 3 people. The Chemex 5-Cup (Hoffmann) is the batch version — 45 g for 765 ml at 1:17 — built to serve the whole table without losing control of extraction.
Common mistakes
Seating the filter the wrong way — the three-layer face goes toward the pouring channel, otherwise the paper seals the glass and creates a vacuum that stalls the flow; grinding too fine and turning the drawdown into an endless drip; and using too small a dose in the large cone, which leaves the bed shallow and the extraction uneven.
