Can You Use A Paper Towel As A Coffee Filter

 

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Can you use a paper towel as a coffee filter? You might have heard that you can, but don’t do it! Here’s why:

You might have heard that you can use a paper towel as a coffee filter.

It’s true that you can use a paper towel as a coffee filter. But it will not work very well.

Paper towels aren’t made to be used as coffee filters because they’re not designed for the job and don’t have the right material, shape or size. Even if you were able to find the perfect paper towel for your needs, it would probably still fall apart before your morning cup of joe was ready to drink.

But you shouldn’t.

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If you’re thinking about using a paper towel as a coffee filter, don’t. It’s not that they’re necessarily bad for the environment (though they are), but more so because there are better options available to you.

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The problem with using regular old paper towels is that they aren’t porous enough for the job at hand: filtering out tiny bits of grounds from your beverage without leaving any behind. That means you’ll end up with some tiny flecks of coffee in whatever cup or mug holds your morning brew, which isn’t exactly appetizing when it comes time to take a sip. Plus, if you happen to have any broken pieces of towel left over after making coffee with them (which is likely), those little shards will get into every bit of liquid and make things gritty as well.

The most important reason not to use paper towels as coffee filters is that they absorb the oils in the coffee beans and leave your coffee tasting bitter and rancid.

The most important reason not to use paper towels as coffee filters is that they absorb the oils in the coffee beans and leave your coffee tasting bitter and rancid. The paper towel will also take on color, which can create an unpleasant taste for your brew.

Paper towels have a porous structure that allows them to absorb liquids easily, but this same feature makes it impossible for them to filter out all of those tiny particles from your brew. The result? A very unpleasant cup of joe!

Paper towels are too stiff and don’t come apart easily, so they will leave tiny bits of paper in your coffee grounds.

Paper towels are too stiff and don’t come apart easily, so they will leave tiny bits of paper in your coffee grounds.

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Paper towels are also not designed to be used as coffee filters. They’re intended for other purposes, like cleaning up messes or drying your hands after washing them.

Using paper towels can also give you grounds in your mug if they break into pieces while making coffee.

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You’ll also need to be careful that the paper towel doesn’t break into pieces while brewing. If it does, you’ll have grounds in your mug. This can also happen if you use a paper filter that is too small, or if the coffee grounds are too big for it.

If you want to avoid using a paper filter altogether and still get all of those delicious flavors out of your beans without having any stray bits floating around in your drink, try using a cloth filter instead! Cloth filters allow all those flavorful oils through while keeping out any unwanted particles like tiny pieces of wood chip or lint from reaching your cup (and causing some serious irritation).

Use a real coffee filter!

If you’re going to use a paper towel, don’t. The only benefit of using a paper towel as a coffee filter is that it’s cheaper than buying real filters. But there are plenty of other ways to save money on your morning brew:

  • Buy in bulk from Amazon or Costco
  • Reuse the same filter for multiple cups of coffee (but not too many; once they start getting clogged up with grounds, toss them)

Conclusion

Even though it’s tempting and convenient, we don’t recommend using paper towels as coffee filters. There are plenty of other options out there (like our favorite reusable KONA filter or even just a piece of cheesecloth). You’ll get a better tasting cup of joe with one of these options than you will with any kind of paper towel!

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