Coffee filter paper not just about coffee Part II

By A PPI Special report

BRUSSELS, June 13, 2011 (RISI) - Creating a better filter paper can make a better cup of coffee. For German papermaker Melitta, the science of coffeee filter paper takes many turns. From filter characteristics to TCF pulp from partner Södra, Melitta leaves nothing to chance for a very discerning market. Read Part I here.

The priorities change

Melitta’s Minden facility has both a paper mill and converting plant

"TCF is no longer the big issue it once was," Ewe adds, "and I don't think the consumer would notice if we switched to ECF - forest certification is a much hotter topic these days - but we have chosen to stick with TCF for as long as it is available because we want to be proactive not reactive when it comes to the environment, to offer the most environmentally-friendly pulp possible.

"There are only a handful of TCF producers in the market today and of them only a few can produce pulp to make a great coffee filter. The further north you go, the thicker the wall of the fibre becomes, which is good for strength but not for porosity. Trees take longer to grow the further north they are, which means they can end up with a lot of annual rings, and the gap between them becomes too close to guarantee us a good filtration time in our end product. Our ideal is a 10-year old tree with a diameter of 40-50 cm, but you can only find them in places of high humidity such as the southern US - where there is no TCF. Today we use a mixture of pine, spruce and sawmill chips and we're constantly working with our suppliers to achieve the optimal balance."

Its market share secure, you'd be forgiven for thinking Melitta and its partners have done enough to make sure its customers can enjoy the perfect cup of coffee. But in the face of growing competition from other beverages and other coffee trends, there's no time for rest; Melitta and Södra work with the industry research cluster, Avancell, at Chalmers University in Sweden, to see if they can improve yet further the taste of the coffee through the filter paper.

Not all coffee drinkers are equal…

Melitta’s main markets for coffee filter paper reflect the market itself – demand for coffee filters is highest in Scandinavia and Western Europe, especially Austria, Germany and France. The Spanish and Portugese are espresso drinkers rather than filter fans and North Americans prefer basket filters to cone filters – basket filters are cheaper to produce but they result in a much weaker coffee. The German filter paper market is roughly 70% unbleached and 30% bleached. Brazil is also home to a nation of filter coffee lovers and Melitta has a local division there, Celupa, which produces ECF-bleached filter papers. “We did think about shipping TCF pulp over to them briefly,” says Ewe, “but that really didn’t make sense in a country where there is no demand for TCF and where local pulp production is so strong.” In the long run, Melitta also has its sights on a wider range of speciality papers other than coffee filters. As well as the coffee preparation products for which the Melitta brand name is best known, the Melitta Group worldwide also makes a wide variety of consumer products including foils and wraps, air cleaners and humidifiers, vacuum bags and cleaning products. “The future of coffee filter papers will depend, as most things do, on the consumer,” Ewe muses. “There is growing competition from fully automatic coffee machines which grind without paper, for example. If the younger generation decide they don’t want to follow their parents’ coffee-drinking habits, we’ll have to rethink. For now, coffee demand is stable.” Much more than the coffee Most coffee drinkers might be forgiven for thinking it’s all about the coffee. But in fact, the type of coffee filter they choose plays as important a role as the brand of coffee or the water in the pot. The shape of the filter is dictated by the shape of the filter holder within the coffee maker and can be either cone shaped or basket. Melitta generally recommends cone-shaped holders as these ensure optimal coffee saturation and improved extraction since the coffee is concentrated at the bottom of the filter, which then creates turbulence as the water hits the coffee grounds, and saturation occurs over the entire surface area of the ground coffee. Good-quality paper filters are the most common and best way to brew coffee using the drip method, removing particulates and trapping bitter sediments. They also allow the use of any type of ground coffee whereas permanent filters require a coarser mix. Finer ground coffee has a large surface area exposed to the water so it provides a richer cup of coffee. Other benefits of good paper filters include easy removal and disposal and they are biodegradable. They are potentially healthier too, according to Melitta: studies have shown that paper filters play a crucial role in eliminating the cholesterol-raising factor of coffee while permanent filters allow the cholesterol raising oils into the cup. Melitta’s filters also have patented flavour-enhancing micro-perforations and are double crimped so they are guaranteed never to burst.

Studies have shown that paper filters play a crucial role in eliminating the cholesterol-raising factor of coffee

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