Kyuemon Ceramic Filter Finds North American Distribution, Launching this Month

Daily Coffee News photo by Howard Bryman.

A little over a year ago we referred to the Kyuemon Ceramic Filter, a ceramic-yet-porous filter produced by Kubota Minoru Ceramics Ltd., as one of Japan’s best kept secrets.

The cat will soon be let out of the bag at the Coffee Fest show in Anaheim later this month as Victoria, B.C.-based Sunbridge Innovative Products, Ltd., has announced it has become the product’s first North American distributor. The filter itself is expected to be commercially available by October, according to Sunbridge, a newly established company led by Andrew Camp.

DCN Associate Editor Howard Bryman profiled Kubota Minora Ceramics and its Kyuemon filter last year. Here’s more from that piece:

A professional roaster/barista associate of Daily Coffee News did observe a difference in flavor in the cup when comparing a Kyuemon porous ceramic filter to its more familiar counterparts. The effect was attributed to greater filtration of acids and oils, resulting in a cup akin to heated cold brew. In terms of performance, using a ratio of 25 grams of coffee to 400 milliliters of water, with beans ground to Chemex-style medium-coarseness, extraction time averaged between three and four minutes, which is on par with other more conventional filter types.

Read the full profile.