Which Coffee Filters Are Worth Buying? How to Choose Coffee Filters: A Guide to 11 Types of Cone-Shaped V60 Filters

Coffee Beginner's Guide: How to Choose Filter Paper

For coffee enthusiasts who prefer buying coffee beans, using grinders, and brewing with their own equipment, choosing the right filtering method is essential. Let's analyze and compare the pros and cons of different filtering tools, including paper filters, metal mesh filters, and cloth filters, which offer both convenience and functionality.

Coffee Filter Paper

In pour-over coffee brewing, coffee filter paper allows for more even and thorough extraction of coffee essence, resulting in a purer coffee flavor.

How to Choose Coffee Filter Paper?

Bleached vs. Unbleached Filter Paper

Most coffee filter papers are made from wood pulp, which naturally appears brown after the wood cooking process. It requires several bleaching stages to become white.

The differences between bleached and unbleached coffee filter paper are as follows:

1. Bleached: Refers to coffee filter paper that has undergone bleaching treatment, making it appear whiter.

2. Unbleached: Refers to coffee filter paper that has not undergone bleaching treatment, making it appear light brown.

Simply put, filter paper is generally used for drip coffee brewing, filtering ground coffee beans (coffee powder) to extract coffee liquid into a cup. Filter paper also filters out coffee oils, producing a clean coffee solution. Good quality filter paper can remove impurities, resulting in a richer coffee taste with more prominent aroma.

Advantages: Highly convenient - disposable after use and easily replaceable with different brands; produces a cleaner taste; fewer impurities and off-flavors.

Disadvantages: Less environmentally friendly due to paper usage; unbleached paper may have a paper taste; filters out oils, resulting in coffee without oiliness and a cleaner mouthfeel.

While we've been comparing bleached and unbleached coffee filter papers, these aren't the only differences between filter papers. Filter paper quality is also crucial for maintaining coffee equipment cleanliness and ensuring proper flow rate. This might sound trivial, but it actually has a significant impact.

Additionally, be sure to choose filter paper that fits your brewer size, and pay attention to thickness and density - too thin or too loose filter paper will cause water to flow too quickly, while too thick or too dense filter paper will filter out more coffee oils (like Chemex).

Should You Rinse Filter Paper? To Rinse or Not to Rinse? That is the Question...

For beginners, the standard practice is to fold the filter paper, rinse it, and warm the brewer - just follow these steps. However, some experienced Japanese baristas don't rinse their filter papers, which might make you wonder, "Why is rinsing necessary?"

Let's analyze this in detail:

1. Considerations for Removing Paper Pulp Taste

In fact, as mentioned earlier when introducing bleached and unbleached filter papers, unbleached original pulp filter papers still retain strong wood pulp flavors, so they need to be rinsed. As for bleached filter papers, residual paper and bleaching tastes vary by brand. High-quality filter papers can indeed be processed to be very clean, making little difference whether rinsed or not.

2. Considerations for Fit with the Brewer

Rinsing filter paper helps improve its fit with the brewer, helping it conform to the brewer's ribbed design and brewing principles. However, in most cases, the fit between filter paper and brewer during brewing without rinsing is slightly worse than when pre-wetted and pre-rinsed.

3. Considerations for Filter Paper Absorbing Coffee Oils and Initial Extract

When brewing without rinsing the filter paper, it will absorb some moisture and oils during the blooming phase, potentially introducing some questionable off-flavors.

Therefore, considering the completeness of extraction flavor, it's more appropriate to rinse the filter paper.

Common Filter Paper Specifications

11 Types of Cone-shaped Filter Papers Introduction

Hario VCF-01-40W, Hario's bleached version, has a relatively soft texture with no obvious paper taste, but there are many counterfeits on the market, so be careful when purchasing. 0.6-0.8g/sheet

Hario VCF-01-40W, Hario's unbleached version, is also a relatively soft filter paper with no obvious paper taste, but I felt the aura was slightly different from the bleached version when I smelled it. Don't ask me what aura means - I'm just that kind of sensitive person. 0.8-0.9g/sheet

Kono MD-25, a popular filter paper used by many coffee shops, is colorless and tasteless, slightly firmer than Hario. 0.9-1g/sheet

Kono MD-25, same model as above but this is the unbleached version, slightly harder than the bleached version with very weak paper taste. 0.9-1g/sheet. Kono MD-26c, cotton material with very hard texture and very smooth interior, has a slight fragrance for some reason. 1.2-1.3g/sheet

Mola bleached filter paper, colorless and tasteless, legend says it's OEM by Sanyo factory, manufactured using the same machines as Kono, not sure if true, but the texture is similar and cost-effective is real. We'll see when the data comes out. 0.9-1g/sheet

Mola unbleached version, also with no obvious taste, quite soft to the touch, other aspects similar to the bleached version above. 0.9-1g/sheet

Mola hemp filter paper, slightly harder than their other two filter papers, no obvious taste, has a fresh aura for some reason. 0.8-0.9g/sheet

Kinto SLOW style, relatively hard with thick texture, coarse grain, also cotton filter paper with a special fragrance. 1.1-1.2g/sheet

National brand Bonavita, no obvious paper taste but very hard with sparse grain, feels like notebook paper to the touch. 1-1.2g/sheet

Kanazawa-ya cotton filter paper, the last cotton filter paper, still has a subtle fragrance but lighter than the previous two cotton filter papers, relatively light in texture, belongs to medium-hard category. 1.2-1.3g/sheet

Metal Coffee Filter

Metal filters eliminate the need for less environmentally friendly paper filters - simply clean after use and they can be reused multiple times. Made from stainless steel, they are also durable and sturdy.

Recommendation: After use, gently brush with a clean toothbrush and use food-grade baking soda to remove oils, which won't affect the taste of your next brew. Metal coffee filters allow oils to be extracted, resulting in a fuller flavor that's closer to the original taste of coffee beans. This difference can be detected even in blind tastings.

Advantages: More environmentally friendly, reusable through cleaning; better preserves the original taste of coffee with fuller body.

Disadvantages: Fine particles can cause over-extraction leading to excessive bitterness; fine particles may pass through the filter into the coffee, potentially resulting in a gritty texture.

Coffee Filter Cloth

Usually used with flannel filter cloths and siphons, the main inconvenience is cleaning and storage. If coffee oils on the filter cloth aren't thoroughly cleaned, they will affect taste over time. After cleaning, they need to be soaked in water and stored in the refrigerator, making multiple uses per day impossible - a rather troublesome aspect. The coffee flavor produced falls somewhere between metal and paper filters, balancing the advantages of both.

Recommendation: Filter cloth cleaning and storage must be done thoroughly, otherwise a rag-like taste may develop. It's recommended to clean with baking soda when needed. Flannel filter cloths have better permeability and heat retention, producing coffee with more saturated aroma and flavor.

Advantages: Fibers are coarser than paper, allowing oils to adhere and giving water and coffee more time to contact and merge.

Disadvantages: Storage is not easy, requires time and effort; requires more practice and skill.

Comparison of Three Filtering Methods

Each of the three methods has its own advantages and disadvantages. Filter paper is just one small part of coffee brewing, and many factors affect coffee taste. Each filter paper produces different flavors due to different flow rates. You can try several types - friends who prefer the original taste of coffee might consider cloth and metal filters, which better retain oils and original flavors, while those who prefer a clean, refreshing taste can use filter paper.

Making a cup of drip coffee isn't difficult, but making a good cup of drip coffee isn't easy either. Like espresso, many variables need to be mastered: filter paper is one variable, as well as water quality, water amount, drip time, coffee grind size, etc. You need to grasp each variable, adjust continuously, and eventually find the experience that pleases your taste buds.

At FrontStreet Coffee, we particularly prefer the KONO coffee filter paper for pour-over brewing. It's suitable for any conical brewer, whether Hario V60 or KONO brewers. The Japanese-imported KONO filter paper has medium texture - neither too thin nor too thick - with medium-strong water permeability and excellent fit to the brewer when pouring water.

Drip Bag Coffee

Finally, let's introduce a more convenient type of filter paper - drip bags!

The coffee powder used in drip bag coffee is ground from freshly roasted coffee beans. Drip bag coffee can preserve the original flavor of coffee to the maximum extent, typically using hot extraction.

Because there will be coffee grounds, a filter bag is necessary!

Filter Bag Material

The material used for drip bags is called biodegradable non-woven filter bags.

The inner membrane of drip bags is a filtering layer with mesh-like holes that helps even out the flow rate of coffee.

When hot water seeps through the coffee powder, it extracts its essence and oils, and the coffee liquid eventually seeps out evenly through the filter holes.

Grind Size: Due to this design, the grind size cannot be too fine, similar to sugar granules.

Four Simple Steps: Tear, Hang, Pour, Remove

A warm, aromatic cup of coffee is ready!

There's also another type of bag coffee on the market, similar to tea bags. It's made by grinding freshly roasted coffee beans and packaging them by cup in disposable filter bags to create convenient coffee packets. The material is similar to tea bags, mostly non-woven fabric or gauze-like materials that require immersion.

Important Notice :

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Tel:020 38364473