The Cloth Filter Coffee Brewing Method
What about cloth filter coffee brewing? It’s not that difficult. Check this article out and discover the history behind mojo improvising.
After using the Arabic method for centuries, men “invented” the process of pouring water through a sock filled with grounds around the end of the 18th century.
After a while, cloth flannel filters, and metal supports started to be manufactured for the sole purpose of making coffee. Filters had to be washed well and kept in good hygienic conditions.
The brewing process remained widely popular until paper filters came into action, but some people still use the older process arguing that the beverage tastes better through a cloth filter.
Rumors of people using their socks can still be heard from time to time.
Some fundamentalist Brazilian coffee drinkers still prefer this method above all.
Cloth Filter Coffee Brewing Recipe
Ingredients:
- Fresh-roasted coffee (1.6 – 2.0 grams per fluid oz)
- Hot Water (195 – 205 F)
- Grinder (grind size = granulated table salt)
- Brew basket or cone
- Paper or Metallic fiber filter
Directions:
- Place cloth filter into brew basket.
- Pre-wet filters.
- Dispose of pre-wetting water.
- Place brew basket above the cup.
- Measure coffee to taste (2.0 g/oz of water)
- Grind coffee (table salt size, or to taste)
- Add ground coffee to filter.
- Heat and pour water onto coffee (1/2 to 3/4 height).
- Let it drip into cup
- Keep slowly blooming the coffee until finished
- Serve
The process of pouring water is about 3 minutes. or until flow becomes unsteady.
Cloth Filter Coffee Brewing is the traditional way I grew up drinking coffee with. Back in the day, regular cloth coffee filters look pretty much like smaller versions of a vacuum cleaner’s cloth bag. In fact, they had even the same kind of clean look. haha.
Later, in the 70’s paper filters and espresso became popular in Brazil and the scene changed drastically.
Nowadays Brazilians have a wide variety of options, from the crude already prepared over counter commercial coffees in cheap places to the highly sophisticated espresso origin coffees.
Please leave a comment about The Cloth Filter Coffee Brewing Method.
I never heard of cloth filters. I grew up with a percolator. Remember them?
Pouring water through a sock is novel. I have seen some strange ways to make coffee because some people got to have it, whatever it takes.
Where can you find cloth filters? I’d like to give it a try.
Also could cloth be a money saver as the paper I throw away? I like to save money.
Interesting article. I wonder if people realize the history of coffee and how it came about?
I heard a story that goat herders saw goats eating the beans and noticed it gave them energy. So they roasted the beans and ate them, later boiled them in water to drink. Any truth to that?
Hello, Barry,
Hahaha. Believe it or not, I actually have seen people buy cotton socks to use as improvised filters. New ones, of course.
Percolators are something very rare in Brazil. I wrote an article about them and researching for it was very informative to me.
I have seen cloth filters being sold on amazon .
Yes, that story about goats seems to be true history. I wrote a historic summarized timeline article about coffee and found that in many of my sources.
Thanks for your input. I hope see you around soon.
Cheers!
Very interesting using socks as filters for coffee, I am a tea drinker myself so I suppose socks would work for that also?
It is amazing how things progress over time, now we pay for filters instead of using socks. Filters are a must when preparing tea, I am sure it is the same for coffee.
How long did people use a sock for a filter, I would think keeping it sanitary would have been a challenge. Today most of us just use throw away filters, in some ways we are much more wasteful today.
Hello, there,
Thanks for your remarks. You see? I’m also after that piece of information. The internet sources I have only say “a few years later” or “some time later”. I will visit an important coffee (physical) library in São Paulo next time I go there. Meanwhile, I will keep searching the internet. Hazards of living in a small countryside town.
Cheers!
The cloth filter coffee brewing is quite the life hack to enjoy the experience of our all time favorite beverage.
I would not be surprised if people are still using socks for the process. It is cloth after all.
Thank you for sharing this recipe with the internet world. I will bookmark your web corner and come back for more interesting posts like this.
Hello. George,
Thanks for stopping by and bookmarking.
Cheers!