Brewing with a Chemex is an experience that combines art and science. This iconic pour-over method is beloved for its ability to produce an exceptionally clean, bright, and flavorful cup of coffee. However, the final result hinges greatly on the coffee you choose. The right grind size, roast profile, and bean origin can make the difference between a good morning and a great one.
To help you find your perfect match, we’ve curated a list of standout coffees suited for the Chemex. From bright and fruity light roasts that highlight the brewer’s clarity to more complex medium and dark roasts that offer a richer body, there’s an option for every palate. This guide will walk you through ten excellent choices to elevate your daily brewing ritual.
Our Top Picks for Chemex Coffee
- Caribou Coffee, Light Roast Ground Coffee – Daybreak Morning Blend
- BROOKLYN COFFEE Whole Bean, Italian Dark Roast (5lb)
- Delta Ground Roasted Coffee from BRAZIL
- Don Pablo Colombian Decaf – Swiss Water Process
- Trung Nguyen — Premium Blend — Roasted Ground Coffee
- Sulawesi Coffee, Celebes Kalossi, Whole Bean
- Counter Culture Coffee Big Trouble Blend Whole Bean
- Intelligentsia Coffee, Frequency Blend Whole Bean
- Blue Bottle Coffee – Three Africas Blend
- Stumptown Coffee Roasters Hair Bender Whole Bean
Caribou Coffee, Light Roast Ground Coffee – Daybreak Morning Blend
For a consistently bright and cheerful start to your day, the Caribou Coffee Daybreak Morning Blend is a fantastic choice. This light roast is specifically ground, making it ready to use with your Chemex right out of the bag. Its flavor profile, featuring fruity and caramel sweetness with a nutty finish, is perfectly suited for the clean extraction of a pour-over.
As a Rainforest Alliance Certified and 100% Arabica coffee, you can feel good about your purchase. It is small-batch roasted and hand-packed, which often translates to a fresher, more carefully crafted product. This blend offers a taste of sunshine with every sip, providing a smooth and uplifting cup that highlights the strengths of light roast coffee in a Chemex.
BROOKLYN COFFEE Whole Bean, Italian Dark Roast
If your preference leans toward a powerful and intense cup, the BROOKLYN COFFEE Italian Dark Roast delivers a bold character. This whole bean coffee is dark-roasted to unlock deep, robust flavors that stand up well to the Chemex’s thick paper filter, which can slightly mute intensity. The result is a brew that is strong yet maintains a level of smoothness.
Using whole beans gives you full control over the grind size, which is critical for dialing in your Chemex brew to prevent over or under-extraction. Roasted weekly in NYC, this bulk 5lb bag ensures a fresh supply for dedicated coffee drinkers. It’s crafted for those who appreciate a rich aroma and a commanding coffee presence in their mug.
Delta Ground Roasted Coffee from BRAZIL
This Delta coffee offers a straightforward and authentic Brazilian coffee experience. Brazilian beans are often known for their nutty, chocolatey, and low-acidity characteristics, which can produce a very smooth and easy-drinking cup in the Chemex. The pre-ground format provides convenience for those who do not have a grinder at home.
While specific tasting notes aren’t provided, coffees from this region typically yield a cup with a medium body and a clean finish, making them very versatile. This is a solid option for anyone seeking a no-fuss, classic coffee flavor that performs reliably well with the pour-over method, especially if you enjoy a less acidic brew.
Don Pablo Colombian Decaf – Swiss Water Process
For those who love coffee in the evening or are sensitive to caffeine, the Don Pablo Colombian Decaf is an outstanding selection. It undergoes the Swiss Water Process, a natural decaffeination method that removes 99.9% of the caffeine without using chemicals, preserving the bean’s inherent flavor compounds.
This medium-dark roast is made from high-quality Colombian Supremo beans, known for their consistent quality. The flavor profile is mild and sweet with a rich, smooth body, pleasant acidity, and notes of citrus and chocolate. Its low acidity makes it a gentle option, and the whole bean format allows for a fresh grind, which is especially important for getting the most flavor out of decaffeinated coffee in your Chemex.
Trung Nguyen — Premium Blend — Roasted Ground Coffee
Experience a unique and bold coffee tradition with Trung Nguyen’s Premium Blend. This Vietnamese coffee combines Arabica and Robusta beans, with the Robusta contributing a strong, intense character and a notable caffeine kick. The pre-ground format is convenient and tailored for traditional Vietnamese brewing methods, which can also be adapted for a robust Chemex brew.
With distinct notes of chocolate and a fragrant aroma from its traditional roasting techniques, this coffee produces a cup that is anything but ordinary. If you are looking to branch out from typical single-origin profiles and try something with more strength and a lasting, powerful flavor, this blend offers a compelling and adventurous option.
Sulawesi Coffee, Celebes Kalossi, Whole Bean
For the coffee connoisseur seeking a unique single-origin experience, this Sulawesi (Celebes Kalossi) coffee is a remarkable find. It is known for its heavy body and creamy texture, which can create a wonderfully rich mouthfeel in the Chemex, a brewer that typically produces a lighter body. The taste is described as a lighter, less pungent version of a Sumatra, offering complexity without being overpowering.
A significant benefit of this coffee is its commitment to quality and safety. It undergoes rigorous testing for mold and mycotoxins before being roasted at high temperatures, ensuring a pure and clean product. This meticulous process guarantees you can focus on enjoying its unique, earthy, and complex flavor profile with complete peace of mind.
Counter Culture Coffee Big Trouble Blend Whole Bean Coffee
Counter Culture is a highly respected name in the specialty coffee scene, and their Big Trouble Blend is a versatile and crowd-pleasing option. While specific tasting notes are not listed here, blends from this roaster are typically crafted for balance and approachability, making them an excellent starting point for Chemex brewing.
As a Kosher-certified whole bean coffee, it meets specific quality standards. Using whole beans from a roaster known for its freshness means you can grind just before brewing, capturing the full spectrum of flavors. This blend is likely designed to be consistently enjoyable, whether you prefer it black or with cream, making it a reliable daily drinker.
Intelligentsia Coffee, Frequency Blend Whole Bean
Intelligentsia’s Frequency Blend is practically designed for the pour-over enthusiast. Described as versatile and balanced, it is an easy-to-enjoy coffee with a smooth body and notes of golden raisin and raw sugar. This flavor profile shines in a Chemex, which excels at highlighting a coffee’s inherent sweetness and clarity.
The company’s Direct Trade commitment is a key feature, ensuring that they build direct partnerships with growers. This often results in higher quality beans and more sustainable practices. For a consistently sweet and comforting cup that demonstrates why specialty coffee and Chemex brewing are a perfect pair, this blend is a top-tier contender.
Blue Bottle Coffee – Three Africas Blend
Blue Bottle Coffee is synonymous with freshness and quality, and their Three Africas Blend offers a unique taste experience by combining beans from Ethiopia and Uganda. African coffees are often celebrated for their vibrant acidity and complex fruit or floral notes, which the Chemex is ideal for presenting with clarity and brightness.
With over 85% of their coffee being Certified Organic, Blue Bottle demonstrates a strong commitment to responsible sourcing. This whole bean blend promises a fresh and nuanced cup. If you enjoy coffees with lively acidity and intricate flavor layers, this African-focused blend is an excellent way to experience the capabilities of your Chemex brewer.
Stumptown Coffee Roasters Hair Bender Whole Bean Coffee
Stumptown’s Hair Bender is a legendary blend and a staple for many coffee lovers. As a whole bean coffee from a premier roaster, it is guaranteed to be fresh and full of flavor. This blend is known for its complexity and balance, typically featuring notes of citrus, dark chocolate, and caramel, which translate beautifully into a Chemex brew.
The Chemex method will highlight the blend’s sweetness and clean finish while allowing its layered flavors to unfold. Hair Bender is designed to be both interesting and dependable, making it a fantastic all-purpose coffee for your pour-over routine. It’s a proven choice for those who want a high-quality, craft coffee experience at home.
Buying Guide: What to Look For in the Best Coffee for Chemex Brewing
I’ve been using my Chemex for years, and the single biggest factor in a great cup isn’t my fancy kettle or my grinding technique—it’s the coffee beans I start with. The Chemex, with its thick paper filters and unique shape, produces an exceptionally clean and bright cup. Because of this, not every coffee bean will shine here. You need beans that can stand up to that clarity without getting lost. After a lot of tasting, I’ve found that light to medium roast coffees are your best friends. Their complex acidity and nuanced flavors, like fruity or floral notes, are exactly what the Chemex is designed to highlight. Dark roasts tend to taste flat and ashy through all that filtration, losing the very characteristics that make them “bold.”
Next, let’s talk about origin. This is where the fun really begins. I almost always look for single-origin beans rather than a blend when I’m brewing with my Chemex. Beans from Ethiopia, especially the Yirgacheffe region, are a classic choice. They often have beautiful floral aromas and bright, tea-like characteristics with notes of bergamot or blueberry. Coffees from Kenya are another winner, famous for their vibrant, wine-like acidity and blackcurrant flavors. For something a little different, I love a good washed coffee from Central America, like a Guatemalan or Costa Rican, which can offer a clean, balanced cup with notes of stone fruit or brown sugar. These origins have a clarity that the Chemex celebrates.
The final, non-negotiable element is freshness. I cannot stress this enough: you need whole beans, and you need to grind them yourself right before you brew. Pre-ground coffee goes stale incredibly fast, and you’ll be missing out on all those delicate aromatics that make Chemex coffee so special. Look for a roast date on the bag, not just a “best by” date. Ideally, you’re using beans that were roasted within the past two to four weeks. When you grind fresh, you ensure that all those lovely gases and oils are present to create a full, flavorful cup. A consistent medium-coarse grind is the perfect target for the Chemex, creating a bed that allows for an optimal extraction time without stalling or rushing. Getting this right is the final step to answering the question of what is the best coffee for Chemex brewing—it’s the one that’s fresh, fragrant, and suited to the brewer’s brilliant clarity.
FAQ
Can I use dark roast coffee in a Chemex?
You physically can, but I don’t recommend it. The Chemex’s thick filters are fantastic at removing oils and sediment, which also strips away much of the body and intense, smoky flavor that defines a dark roast. The result is often a cup that tastes thin, weak, or even ashy. The Chemex truly excels at highlighting the bright, fruity, and floral notes found in light and medium roasts, so you’re better off using those.
Is a single-origin coffee really better than a blend for Chemex?
For getting the most distinct and clear flavors, I believe it is. Blends are often crafted for balance and consistency, which is great for espresso. But a single-origin coffee lets you taste the unique characteristics of a specific farm or region. Since the Chemex is like a spotlight for a coffee’s inherent qualities, a single-origin bean from Ethiopia or Guatemala can give you a much more educational and vibrant tasting experience.
What is the ideal grind size for Chemex brewing?
I aim for a medium-coarse grind, similar in texture to rough sea salt. If your grind is too fine (like table salt), the water will take too long to drain through the coffee bed, leading to over-extraction and a bitter cup. If it’s too coarse (like peppercorns), the water will rush through too quickly, resulting in a weak, sour, and under-extracted brew. A good grinder that produces consistent particles is a huge help here.
How does the Chemex filter change the coffee’s taste compared to a French press?
The difference is night and day. A French press uses a metal mesh filter that allows all the coffee oils and fine sediment to pass through into your cup, creating a full-bodied, rich, and sometimes muddy texture. The Chemex paper filter catches almost all of those oils and solids. This gives you a cup that is incredibly clean, crisp, and bright, allowing the more delicate acidic and aromatic notes of the coffee to be the star of the show.
Do I need a special kind of gooseneck kettle?
While you can technically use any kettle, a gooseneck kettle is practically essential for good Chemex brewing. It gives you precise control over your pour, which is critical for evenly saturating the coffee grounds. A slow, controlled pour ensures an even extraction. Without that control, you risk channeling, where water finds paths of least resistance, leading to a mix of over- and under-extracted flavors in your final cup.
How important is water quality for making coffee with a Chemex?
It’s more important than most people think. Since coffee is about 98% water, the quality of your water directly impacts the taste. I avoid using heavily chlorinated tap water or distilled water. Hard water can make your coffee taste flat, while distilled water doesn’t have the minerals needed for proper extraction. Using filtered water is a simple and effective way to make a noticeable improvement in the clarity and sweetness of your brew.