The Quick Extra Step For Better Tasting Home-Brewed Coffee

As soft early morning light fills the kitchen, a home coffee aficionado sets up their beloved brewing ritual. Even with a remote meeting with the boss looming, they remain undeterred from one essential step: dousing their paper coffee filter in hot water. To bystanders, bathing the paper filter seems insignificant, perhaps even strange. Still, this home brew enthusiast knows how this one action will markedly enhance the taste of their home-brewed coffee. 

The humble coffee filter often doesn't receive as much attention or credit as the type of coffee in the grand scheme of home brewing. Composed of fibrous, permeable paper, when dry, these seemingly simple filters have the potential to alter the taste of your morning cup of joe. When brewing coffee with a dry paper filter, you may notice it imparts a subtle paper taste to your brew. Sometimes, you may even taste chlorine if you used bleached paper filters. Breaking down the coffee brewing science, this paper filter taste side effect is due to a phenomenon called capillary action.

To explain the science simply, as water passes through the dry filter, it'll pull the papery, and sometimes chlorine, taste into the brew, along with any minuscule dust or debris the unrinsed filter may have. By rinsing and soaking the paper filter first, you'll have a cleaner filter and a home brew without the filter's inherent paper taste. 

To rinse your coffee filter, nestle it in the filter basket and run it directly under hot water. Sometimes, we like to boil water first and rinse the filter with boiled water. Be sure to soak the filter thoroughly. 

Yes, it's that simple. A pre-soaked filter is also optimal for coffee extraction, allowing the coffee to drip through effortlessly without imparting any undesirable papery taste. (Unless you like the taste of paper, we don't judge!)

Even amid a busy morning, pre-soaking the coffee filter quickly elevates the coffee-drinking experience. It's an easy addition to any coffee routine both novice and seasoned home baristas can adopt. So the next time you're brewing a cup of coffee at home, channel our home coffee aficionado and rinse your filter in hot water first — now you know it'll bring the best taste out of your home-brewed cup.