Question about the new ceramic foam filters for aluminum

Our shop in Dayton switched to them last quarter and everyone raves, but I think they're a pain. They clog faster than the old fiberglass ones, and we lost a whole 200-pound pour on a Friday because one failed. Anyone else find them more trouble than they're worth?

4 comments

4 Comments

emma_jones2mo ago

Hate that Friday feeling when a pour goes bad. Our supplier pushed those filters hard but we stuck with the old style. Just not worth the headache.

faithpatel2mo ago

Ugh, tell me about it. My last supplier tried that same move, @emma_jones, with some fancy "fast flow" white filters. I was dumb enough to try one during a morning rush. Ended up with coffee mud all over the counter and a customer asking if I was serving Turkish coffee by mistake. Never again. The cleanup took longer than my break. Some upgrades are just downgrades in a shiny box.

spencerross2mo ago

Ever have a supplier try to switch you to a new paper filter that just lets grounds through? We had that last year, @emma_jones. They sent a whole case as a "free trial" and every single cup had sludge at the bottom. Went right back to the brown ones we always used. The mess wasn't worth the tiny price cut they offered.

garcia.cameron1mo ago

Just not worth the headache" is the part that sticks with me, because nobody talks about what happens after you switch back. Once you go back to the old filters your supplier knows you'll cave next time too, right? They figure you'll get tired of fighting and just take whatever they push. But here's the thing nobody mentions - sometimes the real problem isn't the filter itself, it's how the supplier changes their whole grind or roast spec to match that new filter. So when you refuse the filter they start sending coffee that's ground different on purpose, just to make your old filters work worse. That's when the real headache starts because now you're chasing a problem that shouldn't exist.