Coffee filters: natural or bleached?

[taxlady]

You're not alone. Did you know that if you run out of filters, a paper towel works just fine.

I am very skeptical of using paper towels for filtering coffee, or as some folks have mentioned here, for filtering stock. I don't know what kind of chemical residue is left in the paper towels. They don't really make them for that kind of food use.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I am very skeptical of using paper towels for filtering coffee, or as some folks have mentioned here, for filtering stock. I don't know what kind of chemical residue is left in the paper towels. They don't really make them for that kind of food use.

+1

I'll use a paper towel in an emergency but they are not a suitable replacement for a filter designed for coffee.

I've just run out of bleached filters today and now using natural colored filters. Perhaps it's my imagination but it seems to taste better.

(Both are Kroger brand Mr. Coffee style.)

 

[bakechef]

I don't have any concrete proof that "bleached" products are bad for you, but why do things have to be bleached in the first place? Why do coffee filters have to be white, when the brown serve the same purpose? Why did they start bleaching flour? Yeah, some bleached flours produce a slightly better result in cakes and things with a fine crumb, but not a huge difference for the average cook.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

I've never heard nor read anything believable that unbleached is more healthy than bleached. (That's either flour or coffee filters.) I think it's solely an appearance issue.

Bleached better in baked? Other than the color? I presume bleached flour makes whiter cakes. (I wouldn't know. I make breads not cakes. My bread doesn't need to be white. In fact I like my bread to be rustic. Most or all of my breads are savory breads.)

 

[Andy M.]

I don't have any concrete proof that "bleached" products are bad for you, but why do things have to be bleached in the first place? Why do coffee filters have to be white, when the brown serve the same purpose? Why did they start bleaching flour? Yeah, some bleached flours produce a slightly better result in cakes and things with a fine crumb, but not a huge difference for the average cook.

Interesting thing about flour. It all starts out being off white. As flour sits and ages, it whitens naturally so even unbleached flour is white. If you are a high volume flour miller, the last thing you want to do with flour is stick it in a warehouse until it whitens naturally. So you bleach it so you can get it out the door and cash in.

I understand there are very minor differences in performance.

This from Wikipedia: Flours treated with bleaches and improving agents generally show higher loaf volume and finer grain. However, people with very sensitive palates can detect a slight bitter aftertaste.

Chlorinated cake flour improves the structure forming capacity, allowing the use of dough formulas with lower proportions of flour and higher proportions of sugar. In biscuit manufacturing, chlorination of flour is used to control the spread – treated flour reduces the spread and provides a tighter surface. The changes of functional properties of the flour proteins are likely to be caused by their oxidation.

 

[bakechef]

I've never heard nor read anything believable that unbleached is more healthy than bleached. (That's either flour or coffee filters.) I think it's solely an appearance issue.

Bleached better in baked? Other than the color? I presume bleached flour makes whiter cakes. (I wouldn't know. I make breads not cakes. My bread doesn't need to be white. In fact I like my bread to be rustic. Most or all of my breads are savory breads.)

Something about the bleaching process that creates a softer, finer texture. Almost all cake flours are bleached, with an exception of one made by King Arthur Flour, and they even admit that using their product in place of regular cake flour will produce a slightly heavier cake. There is an explanation in the Cake Bible, but I don't have that book, I borrowed it from the library.

 

[Addie]

From bleached coffe filters to bleached flour. I would say that they are sold to us because we associate "white" with purity.

 

[gadzooks]

Well, as previously stated, I am in the "unbleached" bleachers, but...I use oxygen bleached filters when un- are unavailable, but continue to shun chlorine bleached filters because of the environmental damage the used bleaching slurry does to watersheds and water tables, as well as the chloriney taste they impart to coffee. I'm not selling a point of view, just stating a preference. Flour? I buy unbleached, mostly whole wheat or whole grain, except for cakes. I like dense, chewy breads but not dense, chewy cakes.

 

[Greg Who Cooks]

For the second day my coffee with unbleached filters tastes better. Maybe it's real, maybe it's my imagination. This is certainly not a scientific test and I'm not going to buy more unbleached filters so I could do an A-B test. I'm just happy the unbleached filters are gone. (They were a gift. I never buy bleached coffee filters.)

 

[SlimHippo]

You can buy chrome filter machines that allow you to stop using paper. Although there are most of the new filter machines include this, they do have some retro fitting ones out there.

 

[taxlady]

As I mentioned in a previous post, I don't like the fine coffee crumbs that get into the coffee with the metal filters for drip machines. I almost never use my drip machine anymore.

There is no problem with crumbs in the coffee with the metal "filter" that holds the grounds for making espresso with an espresso machine (the kind with a built in pump, not little the stove top espresso makers).

 

[Addie]

The only reason I don't use the unbleached filters is due to my height. If I were taller, I would buy them consistently.