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Why Do Few People Use Non-Woven Filter Paper for Coffee Brewing?

Published: 2026-01-27 Author: FrontStreet Coffee

Last Updated: 2026/01/27, In our daily coffee brewing, the filter paper used to separate coffee grounds is typically made from virgin wood pulp. It offers excellent filtration performance, resulting in exceptionally clean-tasting coffee (free of particles). But did you know that besides virgin wood pulp, there are many different materials used for filter paper?

Introduction to Non-Woven Filter Paper

In our daily coffee brewing, the filter paper materials used to filter coffee grounds are mostly made from virgin wood pulp. It has excellent filtering performance, resulting in coffee with a particularly clean taste (free of impurities).

But did you know that besides virgin wood pulp, there are many different materials of filter paper? Among them, there is a filter paper made of non-woven fabric, which is the protagonist of this article. Many people may feel unfamiliar with this material, but in fact, it is the most common material in our coffee filters.

Non-woven fabric, also known as non-woven cloth, is a type of fabric made from composite fibers through special processes. As mentioned above, it is the most commonly used material in coffee filters! Of course, this filter doesn't refer to pour-over coffee filter paper, as the most commonly used filter paper is still made from virgin wood pulp! Besides filter paper, what else is used for filtering? That's right! The filter bags of drip coffee bags!

Characteristics of Non-Woven Filter Paper

It's somewhat similar to metal mesh filters, with slightly larger gaps than virgin wood pulp filter paper. Consequently, its filtering performance is slightly weaker, allowing it to retain some coffee oils during brewing, making the coffee taste richer and more full-bodied! However, larger gaps don't necessarily mean faster flow rate. FrontStreet Coffee conducted an experiment, filtering 200ml of room temperature water using both virgin wood pulp filter paper and non-woven filter paper. The results were quite similar: the virgin wood pulp filter paper took 35 seconds, while the non-woven filter paper took 36 seconds!

Special Properties and Pre-Wetting Requirements

When the water finished permeating, the non-woven filter paper showed a rather special phenomenon: it was still dry! As if coated with a layer of wax, it was barely wetted and therefore didn't conform to the filter cup at all! This means we need to use hot water to rinse it, reducing its "waterproof ability" to help it better conform to the filter cup!

After several experiments, FrontStreet Coffee discovered that it requires about 200ml of 95°C hot water to eliminate its "waterproof ability" and conform to the filter cup. So, theoretically, it's somewhat wasteful of water... Next, let's conduct a brewing experiment to see what differences coffee made with non-woven filter paper might have.

Brewing Experiment

The selected beans for this brewing experiment are Brazil·Queen's Estate, which has traditional Brazilian flavors of nuts, cream, and chocolate, and is very clean. Brewing parameters: 15g coffee dose, grinding setting: Ek43's 10.5 scale with 60% pass-through rate on a #20 sieve. Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:15 (225ml hot water). Brewing water temperature: 88°C. Brewing method: Three-stage pour. Using filter cup: Kono. First, we rinse the filter paper with hot water to help it better conform to the filter cup. Then we add the coffee grounds and begin brewing.

Following the usual procedure~ we use twice the coffee dose in water (30ml) for a 30-second bloom, then pour in a large, slow circle with 120ml of hot water. When the drip is about to finish, pour the remaining 75ml of hot water in a small circle at the center, and wait for the dripping to complete~

You can see a layer of faint substance floating on the coffee's surface - this is what we often refer to as "oils"! Moreover, the entire cup of coffee appears much more turbid compared to coffee brewed with virgin wood pulp filter paper.

Taste and Aroma Profile

In terms of aroma, it has a light nutty flavor. Because the gaps are slightly larger, it can filter out many more substances. Besides the expected flavors of nuts, cream, and chocolate, the additional substances make the entire cup of coffee feel more full-bodied. It feels somewhat similar to flannel filtering, just in paper form!

Usage Tips and Considerations

Due to the characteristics of non-woven fabric, it adds more cumbersome steps to our daily operations, so people still prefer the convenient and quick V60. However, if friends want to try non-woven filter paper, they can pay attention to these two points: First, due to the material, its folding and shaping ability is weaker. It cannot be shaped with a single fold like virgin wood pulp filter paper, so we need to spend more time folding it;

Second, if you want it to conform to the filter cup, you must use higher water temperature. Before using 95°C boiling water, FrontStreet Coffee tried 300ml of 45°C warm water, 300ml of 65°C warm water, and 300ml of 75°C hot water, but none could make it conform to the filter cup. It wasn't until switching to 95°C boiling water that it could "let down its guard" and achieve a conformed state with the filter cup. Once you've completed these two steps, you can brew with normal parameters~