Melbourne's Filter Coffee Revolution (35 Years of Brewing Brilliance)

Here's what we love about filter coffee: it's honest. There's nowhere to hide – every nuance, every flavour note, every characteristic of the origin comes through crystal clear. Which is exactly why we've spent 35 years as a Melbourne roaster perfecting the art of filter coffee roasting. Every filter coffee in our collection has been crafted, tested, adjusted, tested again (you get the idea) until it delivers that perfect cup – clean, complex, and so flavourful you'll actually slow down to savour it.

What Makes Exceptional Filter Coffee? (The Melbourne Roaster's Guide)

Great filter coffee starts long before it hits your brewing device. As a Melbourne roaster specialising in speciality coffee since 1989, we've learnt (sometimes through delicious mistakes) that exceptional filter coffee is built on three foundations:

Origin Selection: Filter coffee is where origins really get to show off. We carefully select beans from origins like Ethiopia, Kenya, Colombia, and Papua New Guinea that showcase distinctive flavour profiles – floral notes, fruity brightness, chocolate sweetness, or tea-like elegance. Our relationships with Fairtrade-certified producer organisations mean we're sourcing some of the world's finest filter coffee beans built on long-term partnerships.

The Roast Profile: This is where being an experienced Melbourne roaster really matters. Filter coffee roasting is often lighter than espresso roasting – we're preserving those delicate flavour compounds, highlighting origin characteristics, and maintaining brightness without losing sweetness. Too light and it's grassy; too dark and you've lost all those beautiful nuances you paid for. After 35 years (and countless cupping sessions), we've found that sweet spot for every filter coffee we roast.

Freshness: Here's a filter coffee secret from your friendly neighbourhood Melbourne roaster – the difference between week-old coffee and three month-old coffee in your pour over is massive. We roast to order, let the coffee degas (this is important), and dispatch within 1-5 days, because filter coffee deserves to be fresh. Always. No exceptions. We're annoyingly principled about this.

Filter Coffee Brewing Tips from Melbourne's Coffee Nerds

Ratio: Start with 60-70g of coffee per litre of water (or 1:15 to 1:16 ratio). Adjust to taste – more coffee for stronger, less for lighter. For pour over, 15g of coffee to 225g of water.

Grind: Medium grind for most filter methods. Think sea salt texture. Too fine and it'll over-extract (bitter), too coarse and it'll under-extract (sour). Your grinder is your best friend here.

Water Temperature: Aim for 92-96°C. Just off the boil is usually perfect. Too hot burns the coffee, too cool doesn't extract properly.

Brew Time: Most pour over methods should take 2.5-4 minutes. French press? 4 minutes. Batch brew? Follow your machine's recommendations. Consistency is key.

Water Quality: Use filtered water if your tap water tastes funky. Coffee is 98% water, so this matters more than you'd think.

Why Choose a B Corp Melbourne Roaster for Your Filter Coffee?

Look, we could just roast brilliant filter coffee and call it a day. But we're also Melbourne's original Fairtrade coffee pioneers and we believe that exceptional filter coffee should make the world better, not just your morning ritual.

As a B Corp-focussed Melbourne roaster, we're committed to meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. What does that actually mean for your filter coffee? Glad you asked.

Fairtrade Filter Coffee: Many of our filter coffees are Fairtrade-certified, meaning the farmers who grew your coffee beans received fair prices, work in safe conditions, and benefit from community development projects. In 2024 alone, we contributed $42,875 in Fairtrade Premium, supporting 133,217 farmers across our supply chain. That's a lot of coffee families thriving.

Organic Filter Coffee Options: We offer certified organic filter coffee for those who prefer beans grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilisers. Better for the environment, better for farmers long term.

Carbon-Conscious Roasting: Our Melbourne roastery is constantly working to reduce our environmental impact. Because climate change threatens the very existence of great coffee, and we're quite attached to this whole filter coffee thing. Like, really attached.

Transparent Supply Chains: We work with trusted coffee broker Bennetts to source from producer organisations we've partnered with for years. We know where your filter coffee comes from, we know the people who grew it, and we're genuinely proud to support them. No mystery beans here.

The Jasper Coffee Filter Coffee Difference

After 35 years as a Melbourne roaster, we've learnt that great filter coffee isn't about following trends or cutting corners. It's about:

• Obsessive quality control – We cup every batch, because consistency matters in filter coffee (and we're slightly unhinged about quality)
• Small-batch roasting – Your filter coffee is roasted with the attention it deserves (helicopter parent levels of care)
• Ethical sourcing – B Corp principles aren't optional for us
• Melbourne expertise – Three and a half decades of roasting in Australia's coffee capital (we've seen some things)
• Fresh delivery – Dispatched fast, arrives fresh (because stale filter coffee is a tragedy)

Find Your Perfect Filter Coffee

Whether you're after a single origin filter coffee that showcases a specific terroir, a house blend that delivers consistency every morning, or a Fairtrade organic filter coffee that aligns with your values while tasting amazing – we've spent 35 years as one of Melbourne's leading roasters, making sure you're covered.

Every filter coffee in our collection is roasted in small batches at our Melbourne roastery, backed by our B Corp commitment to doing coffee right, and guaranteed to make your pour over, French press, or batch brew absolutely sing. (Your tastebuds too, probably.)

Still not sure which filter coffee is right for you? Pop into one of our Melbourne cafes and our coffee-obsessed team will happily talk your ear off about brew ratios, extraction percentages, and why we're slightly unhinged about filter coffee quality. Or just call us – we love talking coffee almost as much as we love roasting it. Seriously, try stopping us.

Jasper Coffee: Melbourne roaster since 1989 | Fairtrade pioneers since 2003 | Committed to B Corp principles