All coffee guides · Filter Coffee
V60, Chemex and AeroPress are three of the most popular manual brewing devices in specialty coffee, and people often debate which is "best." The more useful question is what each one does well and why, because they produce noticeably different cups from the same coffee and suit different brewing styles.
The V60 is a cone-shaped pour-over dripper with a large hole at the bottom and spiral ridges on the inside. Water flows through the coffee grounds and paper filter into a vessel below, pulled by gravity. The V60 rewards attention: brew time, pour rate, water distribution and technique all affect the result significantly. When done well, it produces a clean, bright, nuanced cup that shows off origin character and acidity clearly. It is the preferred tool of many specialty baristas for tasting and evaluating coffees. It requires practice to get consistent results.
The Chemex uses a thicker paper filter than the V60, which filters out more oils and fine particles. The result is a very clean, smooth cup with a heavier mouthfeel than V60 — somewhat counterintuitively, the thicker filter produces a denser, more settled cup rather than a thinner one. Chemex brewing is generally more forgiving than V60 because the thick filter slows flow and evens out inconsistencies in pouring technique. It also looks beautiful, which matters to some people. The thicker filters cost more and the larger size means it is better suited to brewing for multiple people.
The AeroPress uses pressure from a plunger to push water through coffee grounds and a small filter into your cup. It is faster than either pour-over method (typically 1-2 minutes total), more forgiving of water temperature and grind inconsistency, and produces a wide range of results depending on recipe. You can make something close to filter coffee, something close to strong concentrate, or something in between. The AeroPress travel case makes it the go-to for coffee people on the move. It is also excellent for experimentation: the community has published hundreds of recipes.
If you want to learn pour-over and improve your filter technique, start with the V60 — it teaches you the most. If you want consistently good coffee with less technique dependency, the Chemex (for multiple cups) or AeroPress (for one or two) are more forgiving. If you travel frequently or want something compact, the AeroPress wins. Most serious filter coffee drinkers eventually own all three, since they suit different situations.
All three methods work best with medium-light to light roasted coffees where the clarity of filter extraction can reveal origin character. Medium roasts work well in all three. Very dark roasts can work in the AeroPress (where the short brew time and pressure limit bitterness) but often produce flat, dull results in the V60 or Chemex where the long contact time amplifies bitterness.
Browse all 98 coffee guides or start a free espresso journal on Baristalog.