Chemex Classic 6-cup: first look

What it is

An hourglass of borosilicate glass with a wooden collar tied round its waist. The top half is the brewer: a cone that holds the filter. The bottom half is the server. There is no separate dripper, no valve and no lid, and the only parts that are not glass are the collar, the leather tie and the wooden bead that holds it.

The six-cup Classic is model CM-6A. Chemex gives its capacity as 30 oz, a little under 900 ml, a height of 8.5 inches (21.6 cm) and a diameter of 5 1/8 inches (13 cm). It sells for $49.50 on the company’s own store. The shape has not changed since Peter Schlumbohm patented it in 1941, and the brand page covers how it got from his Manhattan apartment to a factory in Massachusetts.

The filter is the method

Most of what a Chemex does comes from its paper, not its glass. The bonded filters are heavier than the cone papers a V60 uses, which slows the drawdown and holds back more of the fines and oils. Chemex says plainly that the filter is there to remove sediment and the fats that other filters let through. The cup that results should be very clean and light in body, and the slower flow is why the method calls for a coarser grind than a cone. Chemex’s own instructions say medium coarse.

That paper is also the running cost. The carafe is designed around its own filters, sold pre-folded as circles or squares and unfolded as circles or half moons, in white or natural paper. Fold one so that three layers face the spout, as Chemex instructs, and the thick side keeps the paper from sealing against the smooth glass, which leaves the air channel open and lets the coffee drain. Get that wrong and the drawdown can stall.

The Chemex method page covers the ratio, temperature and timing, and the piece on filter papers, cloth and metal explains what a heavier paper takes out of the cup.

Six cups, measured the Chemex way

Chemex measures a cup as 5 oz. Six of those is the 30 oz total, which in practice is two or three ordinary mugs. That is the size to read before buying. If you want one mug each morning, this is more carafe than you need, although the company says outright that you can brew less than full capacity and adjust the dose.

The six-cup sits in the middle of the Classic range, which also comes in three, eight and ten cups. For one person the three-cup is the closer fit, and the eight and ten are there for bigger batches. The glass handle versions brew the same way: Chemex describes the difference between collar and handle as purely a matter of looks.

Living with it

Being one piece of glass makes cleaning simple. Chemex says the carafe can go in the dishwasher once the collar and tie are removed, with care so it does not knock against other dishes. There is no gasket, no mesh and no basket to scrub. The flip side is that the collar is the only grip, so the carafe is handled hot by its waist, and a borosilicate carafe is still glass: dropped on a tiled floor, it is gone.

Who it suits, and who it does not

Buy it if you brew for two or three at once, like a very clean, tea-like cup, and want the brewer to be the jug you pour from. It also suits anyone building a pour over kit who wants a batch brewer alongside a single-cup cone.

Skip it if you only ever brew one mug, where a V60 or a Hario Switch is the better fit, or if you like a heavy, rounded cup. A French press keeps exactly the body that the Chemex paper is built to remove.