What Coffee Filter For 5 Cup Coffee Maker Should You Use?

Last updated on July 28th, 2024 at 14:23

Looking for a coffee filter for 5 cup coffee maker can be a pain if you are a coffee lover or coffee enthusiast looking to perfect your coffee brewing skills in that quest to make an amazing cup of coffee.

Paper filter?, Cloth filter?, metal filter? Bleached or unbleached filter, what size and shape?

Don’t worry – we are here to help you decide which type of filter is best for you, and get the right size and shape.

What Is A Coffee Filter?

A coffee filter is something you use when brewing coffee and prevents coffee granules from getting into your cup of coffee. Most commonly, they are made of paper, cloth or metal.

With the increasing popularity of cotton cloths and stainless steel metal filters, as they are reusable and more environmentally friendly.

They simply function by trapping the coffee grounds as the water flows past the grounds and through the filter and into the cup or coffee pot below. Paper filters remove the coffee oils, the diterpenes which have health benefits as they are known to have anti-inflammatory properties.

Metal filters do not remove coffee oils, which adds greater body and more complete flavor to your cup of coffee. The cloth filter removes only some coffee oils.

Read: 5 Cup coffee maker stainless steel carafe

What Size Of Coffee Filter For 5 Cup Coffee Maker Should You Use?

Getting the right size of filter is important – too small or too large are both not good for you. It will either be too big to fit into your machine or just way too small.

Basket Filters

Basket filters are the easiest to get the size right. You have only two choices, which are:

• Junior: For coffee makers that brew 6 cups of coffee or less.
• Regular: For coffee machines that brew more than 6 cups of coffee.

The basket size you are looking for is Junior.

Conical Coffee Filter

Conical coffee filters have more sizes and are numbered. Each number is representative of what coffee machine you can use them with.

• #1: This is designed for use with non-electric and electric single serving coffee machines.
• #2: This filter size is for use with a 2 – 6 cup electric coffee machine or 1 – 2 cup non-electric coffee machine.
• #4: This filter size is for non-electric machines that can brew 8 – 10 cups or 8 – 12 cup electric machines.
• #6: This is for 10 cup pour over coffee makers or 10 cup non-electric machines.

The type of filter you will be seeking for a 5-cup coffee maker is #2. Sizes #2 and #4 cover the majority of brewing requirements for most people.

What Material Should Your Coffee Filter For 5 Cup Coffee Maker Be Made From?

What material a filter should be made of to produce the best cup of coffee is a hotly debated topic in the coffee world.

It all boils down to your preference and personal taste (pun intended). Some coffee enthusiasts will enjoy the clean, crisp taste of a paper filter while others will prefer the fuller flavor of a metal filter. And others will enjoy the cup of coffee produced when using a cotton cloth filter.

Which one brews the most delicious coffee?

Honestly,

that is something that only you can answer. Try all of them and then decide.

Metal Filter

First on this list of coffee filter types is the metal filter as it is my preferred filter and, in my opinion, a coffee lover, coffee enthusiast it is the best.

It produces a coffee that is richer in taste and, due to permitting all the coffee oils to flow into your cup, results in a full-bodied cup of coffee. The metal or nylon mesh does not absorb any of the flavor compounds either.

Metal mesh filters are usually made from aluminimum or stainless steel. Take good care of them, and they will last you a lifetime. There is no waste going to the landfill. This makes a reusable metal filter a winner for the environment.

The downside of a metal mesh filter is the minor inconvenience of the smaller and very fine coffee particles making their way into your cup or carafe below.

A Cloth Coffee Filter

Cloth coffee filters are seen by many as a middle ground between metal filters and paper filters. They are a reusable filter but unlike metal filters, they are only a semi-permanent filter.

Similar to paper coffee filters, they filter out all the coffee particles with none at all making their way into your cup of coffee. The advantage over paper filters is they are reusable and do not absorb all the coffee oils. Some of those coffee oils make their way into your coffee, resulting in more body than a paper filter cup of coffee but less than a metal filter.

Organic cotton filters are popular, as is the coffee sock cloth filter. There are many choices regarding shape, size and material.

The one inconvenience and drawback is the fact that you need to wash your cloth filter after each use.

Paper Coffee Filters

By far the most popular type of coffee filter are those disposable coffee filters that are made of paper. They are available everywhere. You will not need to go far to find them.

They come in two main “flavors” bleached and unbleached.

The Difference Between Unbleached and Bleached Paper Filters?

Unbleached filters are the brown-coloured paper filters. They are much better for the environment than bleached ones. The downside is they do have a slight papery taste that they pass on to your coffee. It is really not a big deal if you rinse your filter with hot water prior to brewing your coffee.

Bleached paper filters are those pristine white coffee filters that you see. They are bleached using oxygen or chlorine. These don’t leave a papery taste in your coffee, but it is still advisable to rise them with hot water to remove any of the chemicals used during their processing.

Shaping It Up – The Shape Of Your Coffee Filter

When you buy a coffee filter, you need the best tool for the best job. We have covered size, materials, and now it is time to talk about the shape.

The shape matters. Let’s talk about that.

Basket Filters – AKA Flat Bottomed Filters

A basket or flat-bottomed filter as they are also known. These look like cupcake liners, and they are the most common, but not exclusively, shape for metal mesh coffee filters.

The wide flat bottoms of basket coffee filters have the effect of spreading the coffee out more and making the extraction uneven. This is where, in the case of pour over, can be overcome with good brewing skills and using a slow, even circular pouring action.

Conical coffee filters do not have this issue, which is why they are the preferred choice of coffee connoisseurs. The hot water passes through the coffee grounds with a greater and more even distribution.

Cone Coffee Filters

The cone-shaped coffee filters tend to be the preferred and most commonly available shape for paper filters. They are, well, cone-shaped coming to a point at the bottom. It is this shape that ensures a good, even extraction of your coffee.

You have seen these a million times in your life as paper filters. They are not as commonly available as reusable metal filters, but they are available.

It might be that you have little choice in the shape depending on your coffee machine and equipment.

Frequently Asked Questions About Coffee Filter For 5 Cup Coffee Maker

Are All Coffee Filters The Same Size?

No,

while there are only two sizes for basket style coffee filters and four sizes for cone-shaped coffee filters. You need to use the correct filter size for your coffee brewing equipment

Do Large Coffee Makers Need Filters?

It depends on what type of coffee maker. Larger coffee makers like coffee urns and the bigger coffee percolators do not need a coffee filter as they have a coffee basket with a fine wire mesh that acts as a filter. You can buy a paper filter for them if you want to, but it is not essential.

What Is The Difference Between White And Brown Coffee Filters?

Both the brown and white coffee filters are made from paper. The only difference is that one is processed. The white ones are bleached using oxygen or a bleaching agent to change the color to a bright white.

Brown paper filters are unbleached.

Does It Matter What Coffee Filter You Use?

Yes,

despite what you may think or what others might suggest, what coffee filter you use does matter, as the type of coffee filter that you use will make a difference to what your cup of coffee tastes like. You will get a bolder cup of coffee with a metal filter and a lighter, crisper and cleaner taste when you use a paper filter.

Can I Use Cupcake Liners For Coffee Filters?

No,

not only are cupcake liners smaller, no matter how long you wait or how hard you try, water will not pass through cupcake liners. Your water and coffee will just sit there.

How Much Coffee Do You Need For A 5 Cup Coffee Maker?

How much coffee you need for a 5-cup coffee maker depends on the manufacturer and how they measure their cup size. Unfortunately there is no set standard, but many uses 4 to 6 oz (120 to 180 ml) as their cup size and thus a 5 cup coffee maker will hold from 20 to 30 oz (800 ml to 1,200 ml).

The golden ratio for making the perfect cup of drip coffee is 1:18 and thus for a 5 cup coffee maker you will need 45 grams to (1.5 Oz) to 67.5 Oz (2.25 Oz).

As a matter of accuracy, you will need to measure how much coffee your carafe holds and divide by 18 to get the amount of coffee to use.

Is 4 To 5 Cups Of Coffee Too Much?

Yes, for most coffee beverages, 4 to 5 cups will put you beyond the 400 mg of caffeine per day for healthy adults and way more than the 200 mg limit for pregnant ladies and nursing moms.

What Is A Standard Coffee Filter?

A standard coffee filter is the #2 and #4. These will cover most people’s brewing requirements.

Frappé-Ing It All Up – Coffee Filter For 5 Cup Coffee Maker

You have all that you need in this article to go straight ahead and know what type of coffee filter for 5 cup coffee maker in terms of shape, size and material.

Coffee filters are not expensive. I suggest that you try all types and find out which one makes the coffee that you enjoy the most – using the same beans for each coffee that you brew. Then stick with it, be it a paper, cotton or metal filter.

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