Improvised coffee filter

January 20, 2018 11:44 PM

No coffee filters. But I have printer paper, paper towels, socks, dishrags, and possibly other useful items. I'm hoping to have a nice cup of coffee with NO GRIT, and minimal levels of chemicals that will harm me/throw off the taste of the coffee. What's my best option?
posted by pH Indicating Socks to Food & Drink (18 answers total)

Paper towel. I haven't had to do this for years, but it's the least terrible option of the ones you've offered. Another: Cowboy coffee. No filter needed, just pour carefully.
posted by rtha at 11:54 PM on January 20, 2018 [10 favorites]

Yes, definitely paper towel.
posted by essexjan at 11:59 PM on January 20, 2018 [1 favorite]

This sounds like a good opportunity to try Scandinavian egg coffee - the egg should to a lot of the filtering for you, and the straining at the end is extra (tea strainer?). The Spruce has instructions, can’t link on my phone.
posted by jrobin276 at 12:51 AM on January 21, 2018 [2 favorites]

After the eggsperiment, which you should totally do, the next thing I'd be trying is an origami paper towel filter, with a cup of plain boiling water poured through it before adding any grounds just to wash out as much as possible of anything that tastes particularly like paper towel. Worth trying the same process with the dishrags as well if they're clean, but I'd use two layers for better grit trapping. Socks I would expect to be too open-pored a fabric to be useful, plus elastic flavours ewww.
posted by flabdablet at 1:01 AM on January 21, 2018

I have successfully used a paper towel as a coffee filter. I'd try that.
posted by Pig Tail Orchestra at 1:35 AM on January 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

A paper towel is basically just a thick coffee filter.
posted by FallowKing at 2:00 AM on January 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

One important thing to note about "cowboy coffee" and other unfiltered preparations is that repeated consumption of them can elevate cholesterol levels.
posted by XMLicious at 2:53 AM on January 21, 2018

Also BTW if you can get hold of a used disposable single-serve coffee pod like a K-cup, it will have a coffee filter built into it which you can cut away the foil and plastic to get to, underneath the pod's own coffee grounds.
posted by XMLicious at 2:56 AM on January 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've used paper towel as a filter when visiting my uncle who does not drink coffee but keeps a coffee maker for guests. The half dozen of us coffee-drinkers present found it drinkable. The trick is to make sure the improvised folded filter shape doesn't collapse and let grounds around the edge.
posted by abeja bicicleta at 4:56 AM on January 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

Cowboy coffee + use a paper towel as a strainer. I've done this in the past and it works well with no grit, no elevation in cholesterol levels, just 100% delicious keep-me-alive caffeine.
posted by basalganglia at 5:21 AM on January 21, 2018

The recipe linked above (at least the one for good Cowboy Coffee) doesn't boil the grounds, so cholesterol levels won't be affected.
posted by kate4914 at 6:37 AM on January 21, 2018

+1 paper towel. Any paper filter makes better tasting coffee if you wet it with plain water before measuring the coffee in.

That egg coffee is cray, though! Mind blown!
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 9:54 AM on January 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

I used unbleached paper towels for years.
posted by lathrop at 10:07 AM on January 21, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh and if any of those dishrags are of the thin linen or cotton scrupulously bleached cheesecloth-y variety, I'd put it at a close second. But if its the sinkmop, forget it.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 10:17 AM on January 21, 2018 [3 favorites]

The recipe linked above (at least the one for good Cowboy Coffee) doesn't boil the grounds, so cholesterol levels won't be affected.

From the very first paragraph of the medical journal article I linked to (which you have to click on "Full Text" and then "Download PDF" to see in its entirety):

In a recent Dutch experiment, cholesterol-raising boiled-typed coffee was prepared by pouring water that had been brought to a boil onto ground coffee beans in a Thermos flask and letting the mixture stand for about ten minutes. Thus, ground coffee evidently does not need to be actively boiled in water to produce a hypercholesterolemic brew.

This is from one of the early studies about the topic more than a quarter-century ago, but you can search PubMed or elsewhere to see plentiful further corroboration of this fact.

However, the health concerns involve drinking unfiltered coffee repeatedly over a period of time, so even if the various improvised filters people are proposing were to turn out to not be fine enough (though the opposite of that seems most likely to me, not being a medical professional or coffee professional or anything), if in the OP's case this is only a one-time event it's nothing to worry about.

It's just an important thing to know about drinking unfiltered coffee, particularly if you already have cholesterol problems.
posted by XMLicious at 12:52 PM on January 21, 2018

I think you should try printer paper and see what happens.
posted by jeffamaphone at 7:30 AM on January 22, 2018 [1 favorite]

I've made the egg coffee before and it's awesome. Highly recommend.
posted by exceptinsects at 10:55 AM on January 22, 2018

I think you should try printer paper and see what happens.

I predict a 1/4 cup of coffee-scented paper pulp, suitable for crafting, and 2-3 tablespoons of undrinkable swill.
posted by Rube R. Nekker at 8:07 PM on January 23, 2018 [1 favorite]