Why does the coffee filter rip?

February 2, 2019 12:59 AM

My husband prepares coffee using a Clever Dripper. Recently, the filter comes apart at the bottom seam so it lets grounds come through when he “releases” the coffee. We have tried two different types of filters and it happens to both. Not every time but enough times to be annoying. What are we doing wrong?

His coffee making steps:
- Place filter in coffee maker
- Add grounds (They are from Pact, pregeound to a consistency supposedly appropriate for this approach and our aero press)
- Pour freshly boiled water from the kettle onto the grounds
- Let it sleep for 4 minutes. However, an experiment showed it also burst as soon as he poured it.
- Release the coffee and be annoyed that the filter broke and now we have grounds in our coffee.

posted by like_neon to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Best answer: i too use a clever dripper. i use whatever #4 filters are available. i think i can count on one hand the number of times over the last five years a filter has failed.

four ideas here.

1) are you folding over the seams on the filter so it sits flat? this will help it be supported evenly once you add the water and grounds.

2) you should use less than boiling temp water for an ideal brew. try waiting a few seconds off boil before brewing?

3) pour initially enough water to wet the grounds, and then, after they've outgassed (about 20 sec) add the rest of the water

4) is there a sharp bit inside the clever dripper that is catching on the filter?
posted by zippy at 1:08 AM on February 2, 2019 [5 favorites]

Best answer: Folding the seams over makes a big difference to the integrity of coffee filter papers, so I'd agree that's the first thing to test if you're not doing it.
posted by howfar at 1:20 AM on February 2, 2019

Best answer: Agree with folding. This is the only way I make coffee, and I always fold first, always use boiling water, and I've never had a seam split.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 5:48 AM on February 2, 2019

Best answer: Adding on to the "fold it" pile, conversely, when I in my student years finally learned how to make coffee (we were a Tea Family) I had all seams split until I discovered that you need to fold them. This applies to all sorts of paper filters I've used (of course I also first tried several brands, and only then thought it through...)
posted by Namlit at 6:46 AM on February 2, 2019

I bought several reusable cloth coffee filters back when I used my Chemex every day and it was pretty great.
posted by nikaspark at 8:40 AM on February 2, 2019

Response by poster: Folding! *headslap* That sounds like it should work. I’ll set a reminder for a week’s time to update if this has resolved the issue as it’s an intermittent problem.
posted by like_neon at 10:53 AM on February 2, 2019

FWIW, for the cost If a couple of packs of filters, you could get a moka pot. It makes espresso, but then you just add hot water and get a nice americano. It has a metal filter so you don't have to buy those ever again.
posted by sexyrobot at 2:25 PM on February 2, 2019

Response by poster: Reporting back that folding seems to have done the trick!
posted by like_neon at 2:01 AM on February 9, 2019