The Chemex Coffeemaker is a manual coffeemaker. It was introduced, and continues to be manufactured, by the Chemex Corporation in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Peter Schlumbohm invented it in 1941.
The Chemex is an hour glass shaped pour over coffee maker made from glass. The Chemex classic has a heatproof wooden hand hold in the middle of the hour glass but Chemex also now make brewers with glass handles.
The Chemex has won many design awards for its design and has often featured in pop culture. It is a part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The Chemex Coffee Maker is only compatible with specific Chemex coffee filters. These filters are made of bonded paper and are thicker than standard coffee filters. This allows for an extra clean cup of coffee, with coffee oils and properties such as cafestol and kahweol being completely filtered out. To accommodate for the thicker filters, coffee is ground courser for Chemex brewing than would be typical for filter coffee brewing.
The Chemex Coffee Maker is an all in one coffee maker into which coffee is brewed and served. This means that multiple servings of coffee can be brewed without the need for decanting coffee into a beaker or cup before being served, thus preserving the heat of the coffee.