How to Fold Coffee Filter Paper? How to Fold Pour-Over Coffee Filter Paper?

For most pour-over drippers, having the filter paper properly fit is extremely important. Take the V60 for example - if the filter paper doesn't fit properly, the ribs on the dripper serve only as decoration. Therefore, to fully utilize the dripper's functionality, we always try to make the filter paper fit the dripper as closely as possible before brewing coffee.

FrontStreet Coffee recently shared a tip called "Improving Filter Fit by Pressing the Filter Paper," thinking that we could conclude our discussion on filter paper fitting. However, a customer actually gave us feedback at our store: "This technique does increase the fit between the filter paper and dripper, but I still frequently experience poor fitting."

This puzzled FrontStreet Coffee, so we asked them to demonstrate their process. As it turned out, the filter paper indeed wasn't fitting completely - even more severe than what's shown in the demonstration image below.

The problem was so obvious that FrontStreet Coffee identified it immediately: the filter paper wasn't folded correctly! Because folding filter paper is so simple, FrontStreet Coffee often glosses over this step when sharing techniques, and people don't typically pay much attention to it. But precisely because it seems so simple, its importance is often overlooked.

Normally, a properly folded wood pulp conical filter paper fits very well with conical drippers. Basically, even without wetting it with water, it will already fit the dripper on its own. However, if we find that one side of the filter paper won't fit against the dripper when placing it in, it's most likely because it wasn't folded properly (unless the dripper is made of a material like ceramic that cannot be industrially mass-produced). So today, FrontStreet Coffee will provide a detailed demonstration: how to properly fold filter paper!

How to Correctly Fold Filter Paper?

Below is a bleached wood pulp conical filter paper. You can see there's a seam line on one side of the filter paper.

The first step when folding a conical filter paper is to fold along the seam line. So, let's make that fold first.

After folding, you can use your fingers to smooth and press the crease to secure the shape.

Then open the filter paper.

Next, fold it in half, bringing the connecting edges together.

Now for the crucial step! Use the same pressing technique we used earlier on the crease line to press along this seam line. This action is extremely important - if done properly, it will likely prevent channels from forming later and ensure a more perfect fit. Press from top to bottom, first pulling gently, then smoothing out.

At this point, the filter paper folding is basically complete. Next, we'll fit the filter paper using the method described in our previous article. First, we place the opened filter paper into the dripper.

As you can see, the filter paper is already fitting almost perfectly against the dripper even before wetting. But that's not enough - to ensure a perfect fit, we should now use two fingers to press and hold the filter paper at both crease lines. Press down gently to ensure the filter paper has completely reached the bottom.

Once confirmed, we can pour water from bottom to top to wet the filter paper. At this point, the filter paper should fit perfectly with the dripper.

However, this method only works with certain types of filter paper. Filter papers made from special materials like non-woven fabric require hot water to make them fit properly.

If we don't want to wet the filter paper, such as when making cold brew coffee, we can use the same pressing technique after folding and placing the filter paper in the dripper, then add coffee grounds. The weight of the coffee grounds will help the filter paper fit against the dripper, preventing it from lifting or shifting during the brewing process.

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Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473