Coffee Toolkit: Why Metal Filters Deserve a Spot

In this episode, I explore the often overlooked world of metal coffee filters and why they deserve more attention in our brewing routines. I share my personal journey with metal filters, from my initial introduction through French Press to my recent rediscovery of their unique qualities. While I've typically preferred paper filters for the clarity and layered flavor profile they provide, I've been pleasantly surprised by recent experiences with metal filters.

I dive into the fundamental question of what we're really chasing in our coffee experience - is it just about the buzz, or is it about fully experiencing the coffee's essence? I discuss how metal filters create a different dimension of flavor that might better complement certain brewing styles or coffee additions. By listening to this episode, you'll gain insights into expanding your coffee toolkit and challenging your own preferences, ultimately encouraging you to explore beyond your comfort zone and discover what truly matters in your personal coffee journey.

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:40 The Metal Filter Discussion Begins
• 0:57 My History with Metal Filters
• 3:47 Why Clarity Matters in Coffee
• 4:27 The One-Dimensional Flavor Dilemma
• 6:08 Metal Filters: Quality vs. Experience
• 6:22 Who Benefits from Metal Filters?
• 8:45 Who's the Gatekeeper of Coffee Enjoyment?
• 10:00 Your Personal Coffee Journey
• 10:47 Exploring Beyond Your Comfort Zone

Transcript

[00:00:00] Today is April 22nd, 2025. We're doing pretty good right now. I just made some coffee. This is an Ethiopian dark roast I roasted a couple of days ago. It is tasty. We're about to taste it. But really, if you're watching this on video, I'm in the shadow because it's not about me. It's not really even about this coffee that we're about to drink.

[00:00:43] It's about this metal filter. We're gonna talk about metal filters. And the reason why I want to talk about metal filters is because I think we tend to not use them as much.

[00:00:57] I know I tend to not use them as much. For the past couple of weeks here and there, I've been using metal filters for various brews for different reasons. And I've been pleasantly surprised how much clarity I actually get in a cup of coffee. And I think that's one of the things that we're going to be talking about.

[00:01:20] Let's go ahead and taste the coffee. Strongest, robust. At least right now, I'm not getting as much clarity as I have been getting. But I do have some talking points I want to discuss.

[00:01:35] My first introduction to coffee was French Press. And French Press is all about metal filters. That's the way it works. That's what makes it easy and quick to make coffee. And it never bothered me until I got the itch to try something new.

[00:01:52] When I tried something new, I realized that I could taste more of what the coffee is, of what it was really saying to me. And from that point on, I randomly rarely use metal filters.

[00:02:05] I do have an espresso machine that uses a metal filter. I have a moka pot. That's a metal filter. I actually do prefer a metal filter in the AeroPress. But for the most part, I tend to not use them.

[00:02:22] I like what I taste in a cup of coffee. I like the clarity. I like the different layers of coffee. I like when it cools. But at times, whenever I used to use metal filters, it just didn't do anything for me. It made me not like the coffee I was drinking. And that's perfectly fine. That's an objective way of looking at it.

[00:03:48] Why does clarity matter to me? Why does clarity probably matter to you? What are we really chasing here? I think for me it's more than a buzz. It's about what coffee is, meaning that when I actually drink coffee, I get something from it. I like the flavors. I like the taste. I like how it changes when it cools.

[00:04:10] Paper filters give me that opportunity to taste it for what I believe it to be. A lot of times whenever I have a metal filter, ironically speaking, it's muddy. It's bolder. The flavors are one dimensional. It doesn't do much for me.

[00:04:28] And I wonder if you feel the same way. If you're drinking the coffee for what it is, you're like, "wow, I'm not really tasting it." This is really coming down to people who drink their coffee black.

[00:04:42] I think metal filters are really good when you drink your coffee with creamer, with additives, just because it can hold up even better than a paper filter because you get that robust taste.

[00:04:55] What are we really trying to do here? I think paper filters give you the best opportunity to really, truly gather that sense of excitement, at least for me, in coffee.

[00:05:10] Does brewing with a metal filter mean you're sacrificing quality or just choosing a different experience? I don't think you're sacrificing quality because you are using hopefully good beans, good beans that talk to you, that give you that sense of excitement when you drink it. The quality is always going to be there.

[00:05:32] The sense of quality or understanding what quality is, that could be lost a little bit just because you're not really tasting more so the essence of it. Everything tastes the same.

[00:06:08] I think that's what people get a lot of times when they're drinking coffee. And this is mainly on the whole cusp of drinking your coffee black. If you don't really drink your coffee black, if you add things to it, if you like it that way, you'll probably have more of a sense of want and desire for a heavier, full body taste of coffee.

[00:06:22] And that's what metal filters really do for you. So I don't think it's a quality issue. It's just more so like a preference. Like what do you really care about?

[00:06:35] I am going to go down this rabbit hole of figuring out metal filters, figuring out grind sizes, understanding them to the point to where hopefully I just choose one or the other for whatever reason. I think it may depend on the coffee quite a bit.

[00:06:52] At the end of the day, it's one of those things that's a tool in our toolbox and we can use it for whatever application that we want to. And I think that's really what we're getting at here is like, if we don't use something, how do we know what this application is for?

[00:07:10] If we don't know what the application is for, then we can't really properly use the tool. And I think that's the biggest thing that I'm getting at is like, if we don't use certain things, we don't care about certain things, then even though we may have this big toolbox, that doesn't matter as much, just because we're not simply using it.

[00:07:35] That's the point that I'm really trying to understand as much as possible is what are we doing here? Why do we like what we like? And you can like what you like and just move on from there.

[00:07:50] Who is the gatekeeper in this whole thing about how you're supposed to use things and enjoy things? I think to an extent, we all answer or gravitate or look to when it comes to this whole science, this whole thing.

[00:08:46] But I think we do tend to get carried away in letting others dictate how we actually enjoy our cup of coffee. And I am like that too. I admit to that. Sometimes I get influenced by what I see online, what others are saying.

[00:09:05] But at the end of the day, for the most part, 95% of the time, we're by ourselves. We're drinking our coffees for ourselves. We're drinking our coffees with our friends, our family. We're drinking it to enjoy it, to like it, to not like it, to drink it with creamer, to drink it whichever way that we want to drink it.

[00:09:30] It doesn't really matter. But we are drinking it essentially by ourselves. And that's perfectly fine. And we have to realize in all this whole scheme of this versus this, that competition versus this competition, really trying to understand that we're simply in this on our own.

[00:09:59] As much as I would like to say this is a community, I believe it is. I believe it's turning out to be one. But at the end of the day, each and every day, you are drinking your coffee by yourself. You are enjoying your coffee the way it is. And that's perfectly fine.

[00:10:20] We're just humans. We're just people who like what we like, we gravitate to what we do. But I think the biggest thing that I'm really trying to say here is that it's not really so much about a metal filter is better than a paper filter, or vice versa. It's more so like, what do you like? What are you interested in? What do you truly really care about?

[00:10:48] And are you willing to explore beyond what you're comfortable with? And I think that's the biggest thing in all this. I think we always have to come back and try to revisit why we like what we like, why we do what we do.

[00:11:10] I think that's going to be one of the biggest takeaways in all this is just coming back full circle all the time. Because I'm talking about it right now, I'll probably spend a couple of weeks playing around with the metal filter, getting used to it. And I don't know how much I will actually use it after that.

[00:11:30] This is our journey. This is the way we like to go about doing things. And as long as we are committed to the craft, the way that we see it, we can read all the stuff, go to different conferences and all that stuff, get more educated.

[00:11:50] But at the end of the day, the biggest takeaway here is that we should explore for ourselves, we should take all the information that comes our way with a grain of salt, with more so like a curiosity of trying to explore things for ourselves.

[00:12:10] And as we do that, I think we're going to be in a better place. Because again, for the most part, we're just drinking our coffee for ourselves, understanding it for what we're doing. And that's all we can do.

[00:12:25] So this is Okey at Everyday Bean signing off. I hope that you're doing great. And we're going to keep this going. So I'll talk to you later. Bye.