It’s The Chemex.
The Chemex was actually originally invented in 1941 by an “eccentric chemist,” Dr. Peter Schlumbom. During this era, the only way to make coffee was via a percolator, or the traditional drip coffee maker. When The Chemex was created, Schlumbom had chemistry in mind. Dr. Schlumbom created a tool that would perfectly extract the flavor profile and caffeine content of a coffee bean via a pour-over method. He used only glass, rawhide, and a wooden collar to craft his coffee maker. This simple design remains the same today.
Resurgence of / all hail The Chemex.
Around since the 1940’s, the popularity of the Chemex today can be attributed to its simple and beautiful design, ease of use, and practicality. In a world where everyone wants their living room to look like a Swedish coworking space, it makes sense that this gadget has regained and maintained popularity.
It brews a darn good cup of coffee too. “Maintains body and balanced floral notes,” according to Stumptown Coffee Roasters. We have to agree. There’s something rewarding about doing something for yourself. The Chemex requires a little labor of love. Think: weighing out coffee grounds, heating water to the correct temperature, and waiting a few minutes. If you love good coffee, you’ll agree that it’s worth it.
Personally we’ll wait for pour over any day, but coffee is our business. We encourage you to try the pour-over method the next time you come in to Hartford Baking. It will take a little longer than getting your average cup of joe, but the reward is a special cup made just for you with an extraction method proven by science.
Feeling Crafty?
You can make your very own perfect cup of pour-over every morning. If you visit the Chemex website, you’ll find every hand-blown accessory under the sun to outfit your kitchen in style. If you choose to take matters into your own hands, we recommend you use Stumptown Coffee Roasters Whole Beans to get the best cup. We’ve included a Brew Guide from their website below to get you started. The Chemex also doubles as a gift for the caffeine fiend in your life – or for the person who dries their own jerky.
To Begin: Prep and preheat
Place the Chemex Filter in the brewer with single fold away from the spout and multiple folds lined up against the spout. Rinse the filter with hot water to get a nice even seal all the way around. This preheats the brewer and gets rid of any paper flavor from the filter. Dump the rinse water and fold the filter toward the spout to reinforce this area.
Weigh and grind coffee
Add 42g or about 6 Tablespoons of coffee ground kind of like Kosher salt. Center the coffee in your brewer and zero out the scale.
Photo Credit: Tyler Nix on unsplash
Saturate grounds
Start the timer when you add the hot water. Pour until all the grounds are saturated or until you reach about 150g. Stir with a chopstick or spoon to make sure there are no dry clumps.
Add more water
At :45, start the second pour, making sure to reintegrate the coffee and water. Pour with a wiggling motion, then a gentle spiral until the volume reaches about a fingertip down from the top of the rim or 450g of water. Pour over the dark spots and avoid the light ones.
Photo Credit – Jannis Brandt from unsplash
Fill to the top
At 1:45, fill the brewer flush to the top or about 700g of water.
Let the coffee brew
At 4:00, you should be pretty close to volume. Look at the glass bubble or belly button, which indicates 20 ounces. Lift the filter. It’s okay to hover for a couple of seconds to make sure you have enough volume. Then pull the filter out completely and let it drain into the sink.
Photo Credit: najib-kalil from unsplash
Serve and enjoy
Swirl the Chemex around a little and you’re ready to serve two cups of brewed coffee.
Photo Credit: Nathan Dumlao from unsplash
View the full tutorial HERE
Like what you see?
We’ll be doing a live demo on The Chemex at our Farmington Ave location as part of our Artisan Brew Methods series. This demo will take place on Friday, December 7th at 1:00 pm. This series is a weekly event, and each week we’ll be featuring one of our favorite methods. The event is free, and a great way to deepen your coffee knowledge or get started on your home barista journey. We’ll also be offering samples of our two partners, Stumptown Coffee Roasters and Giv Coffee.