Making Filter Coffee: Grinding, Dosage, and Temperature

Making filter coffee seems like the simplest thing there is: put in the filter, add coffee, pour water over it. Yet the same coffee tastes full one morning and thin or sharp the next. This is almost always due to three things: how much coffee you use, how finely it is ground, and how hot the water is. Below you will read how to get these three right, with a hand filter and with a coffee maker, and what to do if the cup still doesn't please you.

Making filter coffee: the basics in three numbers

The same principles apply to almost every filter method. Remember them, and you can calculate any amount yourself.

• Dosing: 55 to 60 grams of coffee per liter of water. For a mug of 250 ml, that's about 14 grams. For a small cup of 125 ml, about 7 grams. If you want to know exactly how to calculate per brewing method, read our article about how many grams of coffee per cup.
• Water temperature: 92 to 96 °C. Hot, but not boiling anymore. If you don't have a kettle with temperature settings, let the water stand for a moment after boiling before pouring.
• Grind: medium fine. About the texture of table salt. Pre-ground coffee sold as 'filter grind' is around this size.

Weigh the coffee the first few times. A measuring scoop is unreliable because a scoop of dark roasted coffee weighs less than a scoop of light roasted coffee. After a week, you'll know how full your scoop should be.

Step-by-step: making filter coffee with a hand filter

With a hand filter, you have the most control over the result. This is the method for one mug of 250 ml.

1. Heat the water to 92 to 96 °C. If you use dark roasted beans, like our dark roast coffee beans, start at the lower end, around 92 °C.
2. Rinse the filter paper with hot water and pour that water away. This removes the paper taste and warms the filter holder and mug.
3. Grind 14 grams of coffee medium fine, just before brewing. Put the coffee in the filter and gently shake so the bed is level.
4. Let the coffee bloom. Pour about twice the weight of the coffee in water, so about 30 ml, just enough to wet everything. Wait 30 to 45 seconds. The coffee swells and bubbles: that is gas escaping.
5. Pour the rest in slow circles, in two or three times, until you reach 250 ml of water. Pour in the center and not along the edge of the paper, otherwise the water will run around the coffee.
6. Watch the clock. For one mug, the coffee usually finishes in two and a half to three and a half minutes, including the bloom.

If the coffee barely bubbles at step 4, the beans are often a bit older or the coffee was ground a long time ago. That's not a disaster, but you will taste it.

Filter coffee from a coffee maker

A coffee maker does the pouring for you. You only determine the amount of coffee, the grind, and whether the machine is clean. The same dosing applies:

• half a liter of water: 28 to 30 grams of coffee;
• one liter of water: 55 to 60 grams of coffee;
• a full pot of 1.25 liters: about 70 to 75 grams of coffee.

A machine takes longer than a hand filter. Four to eight minutes for a pot is normal, depending on how much water is in it. If it takes much longer, the grind is usually too fine or there is limescale in the machine. Descale according to the manual and rinse the pot and filter holder after each use: old coffee residues give the next pot a musty taste.

Do not let the coffee stand long on the warming plate afterwards. If you want to keep it warm, pour it into a thermos.

Does it not taste good? Change one thing at a time

The most tempting thing is to adjust everything at once: more coffee, finer grind, hotter water. Then you won't know what made the difference afterwards. Use the brewing time as a measure and adjust one thing at a time.

• Thin and watery, and fast through (a mug within two minutes): the grind is too coarse. Grind one step finer.
• Thin and watery, but the time is right: you use too little coffee. Go from 14 to 15 grams per mug.
• Sharp or sour: too little has been extracted from the coffee. Grind a bit finer or use water at the upper end of the range, around 95 °C.
• Bitter and dry in the mouth, and slow through (a mug takes longer than four minutes): the grind is too fine. Grind one step coarser.
• Bitter, while the time is right: lower the water temperature a few degrees or use slightly less coffee.

Note what you changed and how it tasted. After three or four mornings, you will have a recipe that fits your grinder, your filter, and your beans.

Frequently asked questions

How much coffee do you use for filter coffee?

For filter coffee, use 55 to 60 grams of ground coffee per liter of water, about 14 grams for a mug of 250 ml. Adjust the amount if the coffee is too weak or too strong, but then do not also change the grind.

What is filter grind?

Filter grind is a medium fine grind, about as coarse as table salt, intended for hand filters and coffee makers. For espresso, this grind is too coarse and for a French press too fine.

Why should you let filter coffee bloom?

Letting it bloom ensures that the gas in freshly ground coffee escapes first, so the water can then flow evenly through all the coffee. You wet the coffee with about twice its weight in water and wait 30 to 45 seconds.

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For those who want to go beyond this basic level, the e-book Level Up Your Brew offers more about adjusting and tasting. And if you make filter coffee every day, it is handy if the beans arrive on time automatically: subscribe and save 10%.