Chemex Coffeemaker
Encyclopedia
The Chemex Coffeemaker is a coffee-making device. It was introduced and continues to be manufactured by the Chemex Corporation. Pittsfield
, Mass. It was invented in 1941 by Peter Schlumbohm
.
The device consists of an hourglass-shaped glass flask resembling an Erlenmeyer flask
with a conical rather than cylindrical neck. It uses proprietary filters, which the company also manufactures and distributes, that are thicker than a standard drip coffee filter. Coffee is made by placing the filter and grounds in the neck of the flask, boiling water in a separate vessel, "blooming" the grounds by adding a small amount of water to moisten them, and finally pouring the desired quantity boiling water over the grounds.
The New York Times in its obituary of Schlumbohm called the device "one of 100 best modern devices.",
In Ian Fleming
's From Russia, with Love we learn that James Bond
uses an American Chemex with coffee
from De Bry's in New Oxford Street for his breakfast coffee when stationed in London
.
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...
, Mass. It was invented in 1941 by Peter Schlumbohm
Peter Schlumbohm
Peter Schlumbohm was a German inventor, best known for creating the Chemex Coffeemaker. In a eulogy for Schlumbohm shortly after his death in 1962, the notable design author Ralph Caplan described the typical Schlumbohm invention as “a synthesis of logic and madness”...
.
The device consists of an hourglass-shaped glass flask resembling an Erlenmeyer flask
Erlenmeyer flask
An Erlenmeyer flask, also known as a conical flask, is a widely used type of laboratory flask which features a flat bottom, a conical body, and a cylindrical neck. It is named after the German chemist Emil Erlenmeyer, who created it in 1861...
with a conical rather than cylindrical neck. It uses proprietary filters, which the company also manufactures and distributes, that are thicker than a standard drip coffee filter. Coffee is made by placing the filter and grounds in the neck of the flask, boiling water in a separate vessel, "blooming" the grounds by adding a small amount of water to moisten them, and finally pouring the desired quantity boiling water over the grounds.
The New York Times in its obituary of Schlumbohm called the device "one of 100 best modern devices.",
In Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
's From Russia, with Love we learn that James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
uses an American Chemex with coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
from De Bry's in New Oxford Street for his breakfast coffee when stationed in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.