At Dying Art Media, we live on two pillars: Gaming and Coffee. If an all-night session of Marathon or a late-night Cyberpunk run is the mission, then a solid Chemex brew is a great choice.
The Chemex isn’t just a coffee maker; it’s a piece of gear that looks good on your desk, more scientific than barista-friendly at first glance. It delivers a clean, bright, and sediment-free cup that lets the nuance of your specialty beans shine through. Here’s how to dial it in.
The Loadout
- The Chemex: 6-cup or 8-cup (your choice of size).
- Chemex Bonded Filters: Don’t skip these; they are the most important element of this guide.
- The Beans: 30g of fresh, specialty coffee (check our friends at Cannonball Coffee if you need that high-caffeine hit).
- The Water: 500ml, heated to about 93°C (or 60 seconds off the boil).
- The Grind: Aim for a Medium-Coarse setting—think sea salt or raw sugar. You can get away with off-the-shelf ground coffee here. It’s the beauty of pour-over.
The Walkthrough
1. The Prep Phase
Open your Chemex filter so one side has three layers. Place that triple-layered side against the pouring spout. Rinse the filter with hot water to preheat the glass and kill any papery taste.
Pro Tip: Don’t forget to dump the rinse water before you add the coffee.
I’ve missed this step before, and “paper-water-infused coffee” is a mid-tier experience at best.
2. The Calibration
Add your 30g of ground coffee. Give the Chemex a gentle shake to level the bed.
You can go to town weighing the water and coffee, making sure you get the perfect quantities, and sure, the Chemex lends itself to this nicely.
But you’ll get used to the method and start to feel your way through.
3. The Bloom (0:00 – 0:45)
Start your timer and pour about 60g of water. Just enough to saturate the grounds.
You’ll see the coffee “bloom” and bubble as it off-gasses. This is the coffee version of a loading screen—give it 45 seconds to finish before you proceed.
Because of the nature of pour-over coffee makers, both the Chemex and the Aeropress give you a lot of scope for this level of control.
4. The Main Pour (0:45 – 3:00)
Slowly pour the remaining water in concentric circles. Avoid hitting the very edges where the water can bypass the coffee. Keep a steady, slow rhythm.
Go until about three quarters full. Then let it draw down.
5. The Draw Down (3:00 – 4:30)
Give the brew a very gentle swirl to knock any grounds off the side of the filter. Now, we wait. The coffee should finish dripping through by around 4 minutes to 4 minutes 30 seconds.
Running too fast? Your grind is too coarse. Tighten it up next time.
Taking forever? You’ve gone too fine. Dial it back toward the “coarse” side of the scale.
You can see in the filter how sludgy, or perhaps grainy the coffee looks after water has been run through it. Use that as a visual guide to adjust your grind accordingly.
6. The Finish
Remove the filter, toss it in the compost, and give the Chemex a final swirl to aerate the brew.
Pour it into your favourite mug, head back to your desk, and enjoy the cleanest cup of coffee in the game.
Better still, because the size of the Chemex is pretty big (even the 6-cup). You can keep it with you and top-up your cup. The Chemex does a great job of keeping the coffee warm.
One real surprise is just how well it delivers a lighter roast. The cleanest coffee you can get means those lighter and more subtle flavours really get to pop out, too.
Chemex
The Chemex is well-recognised as a go-to coffee carafe on TV. But most people couldn’t tell you what it is, or what it’s called.
So our advice would be to get one, find some nice beans from an independent coffee roaster and follow our Chemex guide. You’ll never get a cup of coffee quite so clean, and that’s not bullshit. Give it a go and see!
