Does your pour-over coffee taste better with an Abaca filter?

Have you ever stopped to think about that one, often overlooked part of your pour-over coffee ritual? Right, the filter. Paper is just paper, you would think. After making coffee, just throw it away.

But did you know that this simple filter has a surprising influence on the taste of your coffee? And I'm not just talking about what stops it or lets it through, but also about the flow rate, which in turn affects the contact time, channel formation and bypass.

Jonathan Gagne explains this in detail in his groundbreaking book The Physics of Filter Coffee . Microscopic pores in a paper filter allow dissolved coffee particles to pass through, but during the brewing process these pores become clogged with fine-grained coffee.

This means that the flow of coffee must find alternate routes, which is one of the reasons why the flow rate of your pour-over decreases over time. In extreme cases, the flow can even stop completely.

What is an Abaca filter?

This is the Cafec Abaca filter . This filter is made from a mix of wood pulp (read: normal paper) and hemp fiber, intended to both improve performance and reduce environmental impact. It is designed to fit Cafec's conical brewers, but also works with the Hario V60 .

The filter has a double crease, which Cafec says should increase flow rate by creating more surface area - alternative routes if the membrane becomes clogged.

Out of the packaging, the Cafec Abaca filters are immediately distinguishable from a standard paper filter. The filter feels almost like cloth, silky even. The crease is tighter than the standard Japanese-made Hario filter , something Cafec attributes to their unique method of drying the paper.

How does the Cafec Abaca filter perform

Since the Abaca filters are intended for faster flow, we decided to test two brewing methods: one with our typical V60 grind, and one that was slightly finer to compensate for the faster flow.

Not surprisingly, the much-maligned Dutch-made Hario filter with tab performed the worst in our test. This paper has almost no wrinkle and is easily clogged, leading to long brewing times.

What was surprising, however, was that a non-tabbed, Japanese-made Hario filter consistently had a much faster flow rate than the Cafec Abaca filter. The Hario filter was consistently 30 seconds faster with the same coffee, grind size and recipe. It appears that the tighter wrinkle of the Cafec Abaca filter reduces the flow rate compared to the looser, thicker Japanese Hario filter.

However, we did find that the Cafec Abaca filter produced brews with excellent sweetness and a syrupy mouthfeel. Although the flow was slower than the Japanese Hario filter, the results were always within the standard brewing time recommendations. Moreover, the Abaca filters did not cause any problems with clogging or choking.

Conclusion

Ultimately, I believe that the Cafec Abaca filters offer a unique brewing experience. Although I can't prove it, the syrupy, enveloping mouthfeel of the coffee brewed with the Abaca filters leads me to believe that using hemp fiber may allow more oils to flow into the brew. The flow may not be as fast as claimed, but it certainly offers a better brewing experience compared to the newer, tabbed Hario V60 filters.