If you walk into any coffee shop in the world you will find a wide array of different options of beverage types, many coming in an array of Italian sounding names. Most coffee shops will also have a much simpler option (or options) that everyone can understand – filter coffee. While it can be brewed in a wide variety of different ways, almost anyone can walk into a coffee shop and order a filter coffee and understand exactly what it is that they’re going to receive.

How does it differ from espresso?

Filter coffee is often listed separately to all of the espresso-based drinks on a menu, but how exactly are they different? Technically speaking, espresso is a type of filter coffee, just using pressure to force the water through the grounds rather than letting gravity do all the work. The result is that espresso is a smaller, but much more intense drink which is essentially used as a coffee concentrate for milk based beverages. 

Filter coffee on the other hand is essentially just coffee that is put in some kind of filter with hot water slowly poured or dripped over the top. There are many different kinds of filter coffee machines and all of them work slightly differently, but they all result in the same kind of drink – a larger, but much considerably smoother and mellower beverage, which can either be served black or with milk. Filter coffee can taste just as complex and distinctive as an espresso, and in fact this is usually what is used in cupping (taste testing) as it’s easier to pick up on the subtle nuances in the flavour.

Who drinks filter coffee?

Filter coffee tends to have two very distinct customer types, with the demographic for the coffee shop tending to determine how it’s marketed in store. Firstly, filter coffee is often the preference of the “no nonsense” coffee drinker. Think someone who is likely to ask for a “normal” or “regular” coffee, who is either intimidated by or just completely uninterested in all the fancy names and options, and would prefer a simple, basic cup of coffee.

On the complete opposite end of the scale, filter coffee is also incredibly popular with the extreme coffee fan. As we mentioned earlier, the less concentrated flavour makes it easier to pick up all of the individual tasting notes in a coffee, particularly for single origin beans with will have a distinct signature flavour. These are the type of customers who are likely to ask about things like the country of origin of your coffee beans, or maybe even the processing method. As the popularity of coffee has been growing, these types of coffee fans are now very common, and can be incredibly good for business as you know they will keep coming back if they’re impressed with the product.

One thing is clear, filter coffee is getting more and more popular, and is now considered a must have on the menu of any coffee shop, restaurant or café. This doesn’t mean that you need to buy a second coffee machine or spend a fortune on hiring and training specialist baristas, WMF have provided a much easier option.

WMF Fresh Filtered Coffee is a new technology designed for our specialist bean-to-cup machines which allows them to also make filtered coffees alongside the usual espresso-based drinks, without needing another machine. This saves you both money and space, with no extra training or cleaning procedures needed. Fresh Filtered Coffee is available for the WMF 1500 S+ and the WMF 5000 S+. 

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