This has puzzled me for a while. Filter brew devices are now so common that an IT dude at work came to me the other day and told me he'd picked up an aeropress. Just about every specialty coffee cafe is selling some sort of filter brew device, whether it be hario v60, chemex, syphon, clever coffee dripper or some other paraphenalia. And now it seems just about every other cafe is selling them too.

And people are buying them! Which, I think, is great.

Are people using the new filter brewers as replacements for their old plunger devices, and using the same coffee as always? If not, then where are they buying their coffee?  I would like to think that in Brisbane, a lot of filter brew drinkers would order online from places like Ministry Grounds, or Market Lane. Cup Coffee sell great filter roast, but are they the only ones here in Brisbane?

Where is all the filter roast coffee in all of this? Sure some people might not mind espresso roast used in a filter brewer (with a shorter brew time i'd assume?). But if a filter roast tastes so much better then why settle for anything else?

Perhaps the problem is not just lack of availability, but also lack of awareness of the treasures that filter roast brings. While most consumers would have a vague concept of what roast depth is, they may not know that it correlates to a particular brew method. And I would doubt they would have an understanding of how roast depth affects flavour. Can we teach them? Should we? Do they want to be taught?

I think we can't insist on everyone caring as much as we do about such trivial matters as coffee flavour. But we can try to offer a better choice, if it's viable to do so. If filter brewers continue to sell, at some point it should become financially viable for cafes to stock filter roast for their customers.

I also think that filter coffee is easier for the average joe to get right than espresso. Expensive machinery not required, and if you know the recipe, have technique and practice a little, chances are you can hit the sweet spot. Of course having a good grinder helps too.