Chemex recipe and dial-in guide
Updated
An hourglass carafe with thick bonded paper filters that drain slowly and strip out oils, for a very clean, tea-like cup.
A starting Chemex recipe
This is where Cuplift starts a new Chemex brewer before it knows anything about the coffee. Once you add a bean, the recipe adjusts for roast, process and altitude, then learns from what you taste.
| Size | Coffee | Water | Ratio | Grind | Temp | Target drawdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3-cup | 15g | 225ml | 1:15 | 780µm (Coarse) | 93°C | ~3:30 |
| 6-cup | 25g | 375ml | 1:15 | 840µm (Coarse) | 93°C | ~4:30 |
| 8-cup | 33g | 500ml | 1:15 | 900µm (Coarse) | 93°C | ~5:30 |
| 10-cup | 42g | 625ml | 1:15 | 960µm (Coarse) | 93°C | ~6:30 |
Grind is in microns because a click means something different on every grinder. 780µm is about 26 clicks on a Comandante C40. Filter: Bonded Paper (x1).
Steps (3-cup)
- Rinse filter
- Add 15g coffee
- Bloom with 35ml, gentle stir
- Pour to 115ml in slow circles by 1:30, at 0:45
- Pour to 225ml by 2:30, at 1:30
- Drawdown complete by ~3:30
Dialling in a Chemex
The Chemex is a pour-over brewer, which decides which changes are open to you.
- Time the drawdown. A bed that stalls or gushes is the first thing to fix, because the cup can't be judged on a brew that didn't flow properly.
- Grind is your main extraction lever — finer to extract more, coarser to extract less.
- Pour height stands in for contact time: a higher, more energetic pour extracts more.
- Temperature and water minerals come after, once grind has had its turn.
Whatever the problem, change one thing per brew. The dial-in guide covers the order to fix things in.
Common pour over problems
Recently dialled in on a Chemex
Real brews logged in Cuplift — tap one for the full recipe and how it got there.
