The Correct Way to Use Coffee Filter Paper - Why You Should Wet Your Filter Paper Before Brewing Coffee

When brewing coffee, people typically prepare a filter paper by folding it and placing it in the dripper before adding coffee grounds. What purpose does this filter paper serve? Additionally, many friends ask FrontStreet Coffee about the difference between white and natural wood-colored filter papers—which one is better and what are the distinctions?

In reality, both types of filter papers have their unique advantages. Today, FrontStreet Coffee will provide a detailed explanation and comprehensive understanding of what filter papers truly are.

The Origin of Filter Paper

Filter paper originated in Dresden, Germany, when a woman named Melitta Bentz used her son's homework paper as a filter, placing it in a perforated copper bowl to serve as a filter cup for extracting coffee. Actually, before paper filtration, coffee was typically filtered using cloth fragments. Compared to cloth, paper material proved more effective at filtering out unwanted flavors.

Consequently, Melitta Bentz founded the Melitta company in 1908 and began producing improved filter cups and filter papers. The filter cup design invented by Melitta in 1937 became the prototype for the filter cups we know today.

Bleached vs. Unbleached Filter Papers: Pros and Cons

Given that both bleached and unbleached filter papers exist, do they affect health? Filter paper manufacturing is indeed a science. Below are the differences between the two types:

Bleached Filter Paper

Advantages:

1. Less pulp taste, resulting in purer coffee flavor.

Disadvantages:

1. Many manufacturers still use chlorine for bleaching, which can cause environmental pollution if not properly managed. However, in recent years, many reputable manufacturers have switched to eco-friendly bleaching methods using oxygen-based or fluorescent-free processes. Some even produce bamboo fiber filter papers from bamboo, which not only protects the environment but also gives consumers peace of mind.

Unbleached Filter Paper

Advantages:

1. Fewer processing steps, making it more environmentally friendly.

Disadvantages:

1. Coffee may have a papery taste if the filter paper isn't rinsed with hot water first. Although there's no strict requirement to rinse unbleached filter papers before brewing, achieving excellence in coffee brewing requires attention to controlling the flavor profile of each batch. Additionally, some professional baristas use alternating hot and cold water rinses to remove any paper taste and maintain the purity of coffee flavor.

What Filter Paper Sizes Are Available?

Filter papers are typically divided into the following two sizes:

1-2 Person Size:

The amount of coffee grounds for one person is approximately 10 grams, so this type of filter paper can hold up to 20 grams of coffee grounds.

3-5 Person Size:

This allows brewing more coffee at once, and the filter paper itself is larger.

Which Filter Paper Should You Choose?

If environmental concerns are your priority, unbleached filter paper is the preferred choice, as rinsing it with hot water 1-2 times can effectively remove the paper taste.

Based on FrontStreet Coffee's experience, if you want to skip the hot water rinsing step, you can still purchase oxygen-bleached filter papers that are better for the environment. Generally speaking, filter paper quality reflects its price—better filter papers are more expensive, but they have less pulp taste compared to cheaper alternatives.

Filter Paper Manufacturing Techniques

Even filter papers made from the same material can have significant differences due to variations in manufacturing techniques. These differences primarily manifest in the filter paper's construction, such as the use of textured creases or thickness variations. The two filter papers shown below are both made from natural wood pulp, but their manufacturing processes differ, allowing us to see their distinctions directly from their surface appearance.

Manufacturing differences exist not only between different manufacturers but even within the same company producing filter papers using various techniques. The reason is simple: filter paper structure affects water flow rate, which is a crucial factor in coffee extraction. Therefore, many manufacturers develop different filter paper structures based on various brewing characteristics!

Take Japan's Sanyo Sangyo as an example: they designed three versions of filter papers for different roast levels—T-83, T-90, and T-92, corresponding to dark, medium, and light roast beans (the model numbers correspond to the recommended water temperature). For specific differences, you can refer directly to the images~

As you can see, although the filter paper material is the same, their water permeability rates differ due to structural variations. This isn't limited to Sanyo Sangyo—other filter paper manufacturers have implemented similar approaches. FrontStreet Coffee is just using this as an example and won't elaborate further~

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