Unsophisticated device called Chemex possesses a wide range of advantages. Invented in 1941 by Peter Schlumbohm, a German Doctor of Chemistry, the device not only save your time on brewing coffee, but entirely deliver the finest delicate taste of each sort.
The Chemex looks very simple – it is a joined funnel and a flask made of heat-resistant glass. The process of brewing in it takes only 4 minutes and seems very easy, but on practice it turns to be intricate. To slightly waive the rule is enough to spoil the brew. So, it’s of great importance to follow the proportion of the ingredients and take only freshly roasted coffee (slightly sour sort will do).
You will need about 31 gram of coffee on 500 ml of filtered water. For measuring, it’s better to use kitchen scale, or you won’t avoid over or under extraction. The grind should be coarse, a bit less than for a French press. That determines only experimentally. If you need a large brew volume, coarser grind is required, and more amount of coffee respectively.
First boil 50 ml of water and cool it a little, nearly to 95 °C. A teapot with long and thin nose will perfectly do: it’s much convenient to pour the water carefully. Put the paper filter so that you get a cone with walls of 1 and 3 sheets on the opposite side. Put it into the Chemex with the thickest side to the nose. Then flow through the filter 200 ml of hot water and pour it out through the nose.
Put freshly roasted coffee to the filter and make a small hollow in the hill. Moisten a little higher coffee layers for the first preliminary extraction and leave for 45 seconds. When the whole water is soaked, went on pouring it in small portions, moving around, from the edges to the centre. Pull the filter out and swirl the Chemex around in order to give the brew oxygen saturation.
The taste of the coffee should come bright and rich. Maybe, you will be lucky to sense flavor of honey, cherry, chocolate or something else, promised on the pack.
