BeanScene Magazine

As the popularity of pour overs continues to rise among the specialty coffee industry, it was only a matter of time before this green-leaning community came up with an environmentally savvy angle.

Portland-based Coava Roasters released the Kone coffee filter late last year. Designed for use in Chemex® and other pour over-style coffee makers, such as Hario, in the place of paper filters, the stainless steel Kone filters are single sheets of stainless steel wrapped into a cone shape with hundreds of tiny holes. It is a designer item that’s quickly gaining notoriety not only for its sustainability, but also for its aesthetics.

“I wanted to create a reusable filter that was quality made and made in the US,” says Coava’s Keith Gehrke, who invented the Kone. He says it was important that the Kone was entirely stainless steel and not plastic. The goal was to create a more sustainable filter capable of being washed and reused.

From this original goal, however, the Kone ended up creating an almost novel brewing method. Emily Oak, who was sent an initial prototype to try out explains that while used in a Chemex®, paper filters typically allow the coffee to flow down the glass sides of the upper chamber, as the paper itself sits up against the side. The Kone allows a gap between the sides of the glass and the coffee comes out down the centre.

A critical element is that by not using paper filters, it avoids any taste of paper in the coffee. Coava’s Keith also notes that Kone brewed coffee allows all the coffee’s oils to come into the cup - oils that paper filters tend to hold back. 

Perhaps the best proof of the Kone’s success is that Coava’s Devin Chapman used it in his winning performance in the American NorthWest Regional Brewers Cup Competition.

Since its release and subsequent success, the Kone has received widespread industry media attention in the United States and is beginning to gain a following among Australia’s specialty coffee culture.

Espresso Gear Australia has been distributing the Kone from their home turf since early February and the company’s Ben Silverston says that they’ve been selling relatively well in their short time in Australia. While they had just started selling them wholesale at the beginning of March, so far Padre Coffee and Mecca have come on board and Deadman Espresso are using them in their café.

Ben says they’ve been working closely with Coava Coffee to try and make the price in Australia as close to the American price as possible, which is around US$50. While this may lead to narrow margins for Ben, he notes that this doesn’t bother him much as he’s happy to be on board with such an interesting project.

“It’s a pricey accessory, so we wanted to make it accessible as we believe it is a great product,” says Ben. “It’s got great elements of manufacturing and sustainability.”

Receiving such an international following in a short time span is especially impressive considering Keith had initially designed the Kone only for use in his own café. They decided to release it into the mainstream market when they starting receiving an increasing number of requests.

“We had a good response and customers were asking to buy them,” says Keith. “Also some industry people wanted to offer them to their customers.”
Coava have moved on to applying the same technology to other brewing methods. After receiving a special customer request, they started cutting out metal disks for use in AeroPress. The product proved so successful, that Coava have started manufacturing these commercially as well. Espresso Gear’s Ben says that these have proven especially successful in the Australian market.

This widespread attention was a “dream come true” for Keith, and the Kones are now being distributed not only throughout the United States, but also the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia via EspressoGear. He is also currently speaking with potential distributors in Denmark and Hong Kong.
“As manual brew methods are getting more popular, I think the Kone has its place in every coffee setting,” he says.