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Can you brew coffee with a piece of aluminum foil?

November 4, 2019 by Michael Allen Smith

Can you brew coffee with a piece of aluminum foil?

Masaru Nishioka from Japan has created some very interesting items on his YouTube channel, but the one that will be the most interesting to us is how he came up with a way to convert aluminum foil into a coffee dripper. Yes, he figured out how to brew coffee with a single sheet of foil. And he is going to show us how we can as well.

Checklist

Before we get started, confirm you have everything.

  1. Kettle to heat water
  2. Ground coffee
  3. A mug or glass to collect the coffee
  4. A sheet of aluminum foil

That is it. Let us make some coffee.

#1 Tear-Off a Sheet of Aluminum Foil

In the photo below you will see the approximate size of foil to start with.

Tear of sheet of foil

#2 Fold the Foil

Fold the foil (10in x 20ft /11um) five times (10in → approx. 0.45in) and then press it to make a smooth surface.

fold foil

foil foil 2

#3 Roll the Foil into a Tight Circle

Roll the foil into a circle. The DIY brewer will be about 3 inches in diameter when finished. Use a Food Grade Safe super-glue to attach the end.

Roll Foil

Make a tight roll of foil

Finish roll of foil

#4 Form the Dripper Cone

Press into the rolled foil slowly and gently to create the cone shape. If you press too hard or too far, it will fall apart.

Push DIY filter into cone

#5 Make Coffee

Now that the DIY Dripper is finished, we can make some coffee. As you can see from the photo and the video below, the dripper will fit over the glass or mug.

Here you will use the standard brewing instructions common with other pour-over coffee methods such as the stainless steel pour-over drippers. No paper filters are needed. Start with a medium grind coffee. If the coffee brews too fast and tastes weak, tighten up the grind. If the coffee brews too slow and becomes over-extracted, use a more coarse grind.

Brew Coffee with Foil

Completed Brew

After brewing, you can knock your used coffee grounds into a compost bin. The DIY Dripper can be rinsed and used again. The dripper should be dried out between uses.

If you decide to make coffee with your own brewer in this method, you do so at your own risk. Don’t burn yourself on hot water. You might want to test your brewing out first with cold water to confirm it was folded and rolled correctly.

Video Tutorial

DIY Coffee Dripper (2 minutes)

Last Words

Sometimes when we travel or go camping we need to conserve as much space as possible for our coffee gear. A single sheet of aluminum foil basically takes up no space. Thank you, Masaru for sharing your coffee brewer with INeedCoffee.

Masaru is also making an aluminum sake cup with URUSHI (Japanese lacquer), aluminum foil, and an aluminum closure forsake by using the same technique (watch this video). This technique is called “Kentai” in Japan.

Resources

Aluminum Foil – Wikipedia page, which covers the thickness measurements of different types of foil.

Hairbrush – The YouTube channel for Masaru Nishioka, which includes many innovative projects.

Making a Glass from Rice Straw and Rice – A 3 minute YouTube video by Masaru.

Coffee Brewing Guide – A collection of coffee brewing tutorials on INeedCoffee.

  • Author
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Michael Allen Smith
Michael Allen Smith
Michael Allen Smith is both a coffee fanatic and a web developer. In April 1999, he combined these two interests and started the coffee website INeedCoffee.com. His personal blog, which covers a wide range of topics, is Critical MAS.
Michael Allen Smith
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Filed Under: Brewing Coffee

About Michael Allen Smith

Michael Allen Smith is both a coffee fanatic and a web developer. In April 1999, he combined these two interests and started the coffee website INeedCoffee.com. His personal blog, which covers a wide range of topics, is Critical MAS.

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