How to Make Chemex Coffee at Home

Learning how to make Chemex coffee gives you a simple way to produce clean, smooth and flavoursome filter coffee at home.

The Chemex is instantly recognisable for its hourglass-shaped glass brewer and distinctive paper filters. Its filters are designed to produce a particularly clean cup, making the brewer well suited to coffees with delicate or complex flavour profiles.

Although it looks impressive, the brewing process doesn’t need to be complicated.

This guide explains how to make Chemex coffee step by step, from choosing your beans and grind size to blooming, pouring and adjusting the finished brew.

What you’ll need

Before learning how to make Chemex coffee, gather:

• Chemex brewer
• Chemex paper filter
• Freshly roasted coffee beans
• Burr grinder
• Kettle
• Gooseneck kettle if available
• Digital scales
• Timer
• Mug

A gooseneck kettle isn’t essential, but the narrow spout gives you more control over your pouring speed and position.

Step 1: Choose your coffee

The Chemex works with many different coffees, but its paper-filtered brewing style makes it particularly good at showcasing clarity.

Light and medium roasts can highlight fruity, floral, sweet and more delicate characteristics. Darker roasts can also be brewed successfully if you prefer deeper, richer flavours.

There’s no single coffee you must use.

Browse our freshly roasted coffee to explore different origins and roast levels.

You can also read our guide to choosing the best coffee beans if you want to understand how origin, roast and freshness can influence your cup.

Choosing good beans is an important first step in how to make Chemex coffee with plenty of flavour.

Step 2: Choose your coffee-to-water ratio

For a straightforward starting recipe, use:

30g coffee

500g water

That’s a ratio of approximately 1:16.7.

You can adjust this later according to your taste.

If you want to brew a different quantity, scale the coffee and water together while maintaining approximately the same ratio.

Digital scales make this considerably easier.

Using accurate measurements is one of the simplest ways to make how to make Chemex coffee repeatable rather than relying on scoops and guesswork.

Step 3: Grind your coffee

Start with a medium-coarse grind.

Chemex filters can create more resistance than some other paper filters, so grinding too finely may result in a very slow drawdown.

However, there’s no universal grind setting that works for every coffee and grinder.

Use taste and brewing behaviour to guide you.

If the water drains very quickly and your coffee tastes weak or under-extracted, try grinding slightly finer.

If the brew drains extremely slowly and tastes unpleasantly harsh, try grinding a little coarser.

Understanding grind size is an important part of how to make Chemex coffee consistently.

Step 4: Prepare the Chemex filter

Open the Chemex paper filter and place it into the brewer.

With traditional folded Chemex filters, position the thicker multi-layered side towards the pouring spout. This helps prevent the filter from collapsing into the spout and restricting airflow.

Rinse the filter thoroughly with hot water.

This helps seat the paper against the glass while also warming the brewer.

Carefully discard the rinse water.

Add your ground coffee to the filter and gently level the coffee bed.

Correct filter preparation makes how to make Chemex coffee more consistent from one brew to the next.

Step 5: Bloom the coffee

Place the Chemex on your scales and tare them to zero.

Start your timer and gently pour around 60–90g of hot water over the grounds.

Try to saturate the coffee evenly.

Allow the coffee to bloom for around 30–45 seconds.

Freshly roasted coffee releases carbon dioxide when it comes into contact with hot water, which causes the coffee bed to expand and bubble.

You can gently swirl the brewer if necessary to help wet any dry areas.

Blooming is a useful stage to master when learning how to make Chemex coffee.

Step 6: Begin pouring

Once the bloom is complete, begin adding more water in a slow, controlled pour.

Work around the coffee bed while avoiding repeatedly pouring directly against the paper filter.

A gooseneck kettle makes controlling the flow easier, but careful pouring with a standard kettle is still possible.

You don’t need to copy an elaborate pouring pattern.

Aim for consistency and even saturation.

The official Chemex brewing instructions also demonstrate the basic preparation and pouring process for the brewer.

Controlling the pour is one of the main skills involved in how to make Chemex coffee.

Step 7: Continue pouring to 500g

Continue adding water in stages until your scales reach 500g.

Try to maintain a controlled water level without filling the brewer excessively.

Allow some water to drain between pours rather than adding everything immediately.

Once you’ve reached your target weight, stop pouring and allow the remaining water to pass naturally through the coffee bed.

Your pouring technique affects agitation and flow, so consistency is important when practising how to make Chemex coffee.

Step 8: Watch the drawdown

For this 30g/500g recipe, a total brewing time somewhere around 4–5 minutes can be a useful starting point.

Don’t treat that range as an absolute requirement.

Different coffees, grinders, filters and pouring techniques can alter how quickly the water passes through the bed.

Taste the finished coffee before deciding that a brew was too fast or too slow.

If it tastes good, the stopwatch doesn’t need to match somebody else’s recipe.

Connecting brew time with flavour is much more useful when learning how to make Chemex coffee.

Step 9: Remove the filter and serve

Once the water has drained through, carefully lift the filter containing the spent grounds out of the Chemex.

Dispose of or compost the grounds and filter where appropriate.

Gently swirl the brewed coffee inside the Chemex before serving. This helps mix the different stages of the extraction.

Pour the coffee into your mug and allow it to cool slightly before tasting.

That’s the basic process for how to make Chemex coffee at home.

Why is my Chemex coffee weak?

If your coffee tastes thin or weak, avoid immediately changing the entire recipe.

Try adjusting one variable at a time.

You could:

• Grind slightly finer
• Increase the amount of coffee
• Adjust your pouring technique
• Increase contact time

Taste the result after each adjustment.

Changing one variable at a time makes it much easier to understand what is affecting your brew when practising how to make Chemex coffee.

Why is my Chemex draining slowly?

A slow drawdown can happen for several reasons.

Your coffee may be ground too finely, or your grinder may be producing a large number of very fine particles.

Aggressive pouring or stirring can also move fine particles through the coffee bed and contribute to filter clogging.

If your Chemex drains very slowly and the finished coffee doesn’t taste good, try grinding slightly coarser.

Don’t adjust purely because of brew time, though. Taste should guide your decision.

Do you need a gooseneck kettle?

No.

A gooseneck kettle makes controlled pouring easier, which can improve consistency, but you can still brew Chemex coffee with a standard kettle.

If you’re just beginning to learn how to make Chemex coffee, use the equipment you already have before deciding whether you need anything else.

Concentrate on pouring gently and consistently.

If the Chemex becomes one of your regular brewing methods, you can consider adding a gooseneck kettle later.

Chemex vs V60

Both the Chemex and V60 are pour-over brewers, but there are differences in their design and filters.

The Chemex uses its distinctive paper filters and combines the brewer and serving vessel into a single piece.

A V60 uses a cone-shaped dripper that sits on top of a separate mug or server.

Both can produce clean, flavourful coffee, but differences in filters, grind and technique can result in noticeably different cups.

Our guide on how to make V60 dripper coffee explains the V60 method step by step.

Comparing the same beans with both brewers can help you discover which style you prefer.

Chemex vs cafetière

The difference between a Chemex and cafetière is much greater.

A cafetière is an immersion brewer with a metal mesh filter. It typically produces a fuller-bodied cup containing more coffee oils and fine particles.

A Chemex passes water through a bed of coffee and a paper filter, generally producing a cleaner cup with less sediment.

If you prefer fuller-bodied coffee, see our guide on how to make cafetière coffee.

If you enjoy clarity and a cleaner texture, the Chemex may suit you better.

Clean your Chemex

Remove the filter and grounds promptly after brewing.

Rinse the Chemex thoroughly with warm water and clean it according to the manufacturer’s care instructions.

Because the brewer is glass, handle it carefully and avoid sudden temperature changes that could damage it.

Coffee oils can build up over time, so regular cleaning helps keep the glass fresh and prevents old residue from affecting flavour.

Good equipment care is an often-overlooked part of how to make Chemex coffee consistently.

Make your Chemex coffee

Start with 30g coffee, 500g water, a medium-coarse grind and a total brewing time of roughly 4–5 minutes.

Treat those measurements as your starting point rather than rules you can never change.

Taste the coffee and adjust one variable at a time.

Once you’ve mastered how to make Chemex coffee, experiment with different origins, roast levels, grind settings and pouring techniques.

The Chemex gives you plenty of room to refine your recipe while keeping the basic brewing process straightforward.

Now that you know how to make Chemex coffee, choose some freshly roasted beans, heat your water and enjoy your next brew.