How often should you change your coffee filter? Bad tasting coffee is not always the fault of your coffee filter.
Many things including a dirty coffee maker can cause your coffee to taste horrible.
If you are using regular paper coffee filters, you should not be reusing them. Paper coffee filters should be thrown away after one use.
Besides the general things that you already know, below I want to share some things with you about your coffee maker and filter that you should also know about.
How often should you change your coffee filter? Many of the coffee makers today, come equipped with a metal basket filter that you can use instead of regular paper coffee filters.
The metal screen on these types of coffee filters often have black mold growing on them from not being cleaned properly. I actually experienced this myself.
When I first noticed the mold, I just assumed that it was staining from the coffee granules. I cleaned the coffee maker according to the manual that came with it but a few days later, my coffee still had a bad taste to it.
The first thought that came to my head was maybe it has to do with that metal basket filter.
Right away, my tongue started to tingle. After some research and a bunch of phone calls I found out that what I thought was coffee was in fact black mold.
To clean the mold off of the metal coffee filter you need to scrub it with a toothbrush dipped in bleach. I did this once because I did not have time to run out to the store to buy a new coffee filter. The coffee tasted fine after the cleaning but since then I replace the metal coffee filter once every 3 months.
This can make your coffee taste powdery or chalky no matter what kind of coffee filter you use. To fix this you can use a water filter that attaches to the faucet or have your hot water tank drained and flushed out once a year.
If you want to replace your metal coffee filter, your best bet is to check the manufacturer’s website. Most local stores only sell limited supplies for coffee makers and the metal basket coffee filters are often not on the list.
So how often should you replace your coffee filter? The manufactures that I spoke with suggest that you deep clean it or completely replace it every 3 to 4 months.
If you are a heavy coffee drinker they suggest that you at least check the filter periodically. Additionally, instead of leaving the lid on top of the coffee maker closed after use, you should leave it open to allow any remaining water in the coffee maker to evaporate.