Can You Use Paper Towels As A Coffee Filter
You can use a paper towel as a coffee filter but it is not recommended. Paper towels absorb moisture from the brewed coffee and as a result, the taste of coffee becomes bitter and weak. While using a drip coffee maker, you should not use a paper towel as it will clog the filters and mess up your coffee.
Yes, you could substitute paper towels as a coffee filter, but unless you need it, there is really no reason. Anyone who is intelligent enough, with nary a second thought, will tell you to use genuine coffee filter paper while making your coffee, rather than using a paper towel. I have avoided using paper towels or napkins as a coffee filter replacement due to the bad flavors that can be infused into your brew.
That is, kitchen towels and cotton cloth table napkins are good substitutes for coffee filters, once you run out of original paper. Paper napkins are good replacements too, which can easily be used in the first few hours when you have realized that there are not any coffee filters left. If you do not have coffee filters or paper towels on hand, there are some other options that you can try, including napkins, cheesecloth, teabags, or a mesh strainer.
Many people take the easier one, and paper towels have been used successfully instead of coffee filters numerous times. In this post, I am going to walk you through using paper towels as a makeshift coffee filter until you can afford to switch it out for an actual one. We will also cover which types of paper towels are best used, some reasons to avoid using paper towels, and a few other alternatives for a coffee filter. I received a handy illustrated guide describing ways to make coffee without a real filter, or using alternatives that I listed above.
Even if you are short on coffee filters, you can still brew a decent, satisfactory cup of coffee using one of the alternatives listed above. If you are going to brew a cup of coffee and find you are short on filters, you can re-use one already in your machine. To use a used coffee filter as a replacement for your next coffee filter, you can gently pull off the filter and let the majority of grounds fall off, leaving you with a largely clean filter.
Chances are, you will not even taste a difference, since a lot of people re-use filters every day (especially if using a non-automatic drip coffee maker). It is worth mentioning that you will not harm the coffee machine by using paper towels, but it will make the drinks less delicious.
| Substitutes | Uses |
| Paper towel | It is cheap and convinient |
| Cheesecloth | The biggest advantage to using cheesecloth as a substitute is that the material is stronger than paper towels, and it does not break during brewing |
| Dish Towel | It provides the chances of producing clean coffee |
If you are looking to permanently ditch the paper filters, then you should consider a coffeemaker that has permanent filters, such as any Ninja Coffee Maker. You can also choose to go with Keurig or espresso machines, both of which do not require paper filters. This usually depends on the filter itself, which can be metal, plastic, or paper, and it will also affect the flavor of the coffee that ends up in our cup or cup.
The coffee tastes slightly different as a lot of oil passes directly through the mesh rather than being retained in paper filters. The two downsides of using a sieve for making coffee is that oil from coffee beans does not stop at the filter layer. One of the one negatives of using a fine mesh sieve is that while the coffee itself itself will be incredible, it does a poor job filtering out coffee grounds. You may have to consider that cleaning a fine-mesh sieve that has coffee grounds stuck inside is kind of annoying.
To learn about How Much Minced Garlic Are Two Cloves, check out my other article where I cover things in detail.
Be mindful of how thick your towel is, should you decide to use it as a temporary coffee filter if you are stuck (but you still want that power drip). A paper towel should not be your go-to long-term solution, but can be used when you are short on normal filters and desperately want that next coffee fix. Because cheesecloth is pretty flexible and slips around, you might want to tie your thin cheesecloth around the filter basket or your mug using a rubber band. You may want to use a clean tea towel with no pour-over basket or drip-set (just secure it to your cup with a rubber band, like shown above).
The biggest advantage to using cheesecloth as a substitute is that the material is stronger than paper towels, and it does not break during brewing. Cheesecloth is made from light, thin cloth which is washable and quick to dry after every use, making it a perfect, reusable coffee filter. Paper towels or paper towels are not designed for filtering, but if you have tried using them, then we definitely can say they function as well as a store-bought coffee filter.
Unlike metals and fabric, paper towels usually have chemicals in them which could be leaching into your coffee if used as a filter. When using paper towels as a filter, chlorinated dioxins may start leaching out of the material in response to hot water being introduced. Whenever hot water is introduced over a soil location contained within the Paper towels, water acts as a draw agent for whatever industrial chemicals are used within the production process.
For most paper products, the unwanted contaminants are not so concerning for your health as the likelihood of exposure is extremely low; however, in the case of filter coffee, the hot water acts as an extracting solvent for whatever chemicals are present within the paper. While chemical compounds that are leaching out of coffee filters are small, a number of dioxins extracted from paper towels can actually be hazardous to your health over the long-term. When you think about using a paper towel instead of filters, chemical compounds used for paper towel bleaching are probably the very first thing that comes to mind, or the first thing that you are concerned about.
If one does not wash this substitute, and immediately hangs it up somewhere dry, after using, then that paper towel can develop that stale water odor that will spoil your subsequent cup of coffee. If you left a few paper towel filters out in the open, you could wind up with a leaking mess that runs through the machine and on to your countertop (did your morning go terribly?). Some thicker filter substitutes, like socks or dish towels, require longer drying time, and are more likely to develop an off-putting smell after their first use, potentially destroying your coffees flavour.
To learn about Can You Put Corelle In The Oven, check out my other article where I cover things in detail.
Always use unbleached, regular paper as your temporary coffee filter so that chemicals from the bleached paper do not leech into the coffee cup. Paper is highly effective in keeping the coffee solubles in, giving you a cup of brewed coffee that has fewer crumbs on the bottom.’
What can I use if I run out of coffee filters?
One of the most popular coffee filter substitutes is a paper towel, which you can use if you run out of coffee filters. Just like you would with a coffee filter, insert a towel in the filter basket. Ensure that the paper towel completely encloses the filter.