How to Make Filter Coffee at Home

Filter coffee is the best way to taste what makes a coffee special. It's clean, clear and full of flavour, and you don't need an expensive machine to make it brilliantly at home.

What you need

• A pour-over brewer, such as a Hario V60, Chemex or Clever Dripper
• Freshly roasted coffee, such as our Santa Lucia
• Coffee scales
• A kettle

The recipe

• 15g of coffee to 250ml of water (60g per litre)
• A medium grind, like coarse sand
• Water just off the boil, 93 to 96°C
• Total brew time of around 3 minutes

Step by step (V60)

1. Rinse the paper filter with hot water to remove any papery taste and warm the brewer, then pour that water away.
2. Add 15g of ground coffee and level the bed.
3. Start a timer and pour about 40ml of water to wet all the coffee. Wait 30 to 40 seconds while it 'blooms'.
4. Pour the rest of the water slowly in circles, up to 250ml, by about 1:30.
5. Let it drain. It should finish around 2:30 to 3:00.

Fixing your brew

Sour or weak? Grind finer. Bitter or dry, or taking much longer than 3:30? Grind coarser. Change one thing at a time.

Which coffee to use

Filter brewing shows off single origins. Choose from our single origin coffees, roasted fresh in Fife and ground to order for filter if you don't have a grinder.

Black filter coffee is only around 5 kcal a mug. See what milk adds in our coffee calorie calculator.

Shop single origin coffee