Wednesday, July 13, 2005


chemex filter feng shui

so today i get an email from long-time bccy pal and scaa pro member, oren. devoted readers will recall that oren recently sent me a chemex in a gesture of lovin' kindness, or maybe a desire to drive me insane.

because dialing in the grind for this puppy has been suprisingly difficult. on the other hand, once i figure out what grind works best -- then i know.

on my deathbed, that will be the last fact that ricochets around my brain, i'm certain. . .

oren casually mentions that, oh, by the way, the printed instructions on said chemex box are wrong. the paper filter in the chemex has to face a certain way.

um, what? where do i place the mirror again?

for those of you without the pleasure of experience here, chemex paper filters come folded in four, like a paper napkin. you pull the fourth layer away from the other three to form the cone that you put your freshly ground fresh coffee in when you brew.

the charming pictures that come with the chemex show the 3-ply section of the filter centered at a right angle to the chemex spout. whereas oren says the 3-ply section of the filter must be centered over the spout.

to follow the official chemex pix, oren says, results in slow-brewing, overextracted coffee. and for the most part, i've been getting slow-brewing, overextracted coffee, which i attributed to not yet having found the best grind.

ah, but now we have another variable! the filter feng shui!

i have no idea why the filter must be pointed towards the brightest star in the crab nebula for good chemex coffee, but i'll take oren's word for it. in fact, i'll make a deliberate experiment: brew it once oren's way, brew it again all cockamamie.

how have i been placing the filter so far? honestly, i have no clue; i never paid any attention to it, having been focused on the grind and the water temperature. . .

will check this out and report back in the next couple of days.

posted by fortune | 6:35 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments