Plastic drip coffee maker swap to Glass pour-over

Why make the swap

• Why switch to glass pour-over

  Chemex says all its coffeemakers are made of non-porous borosilicate glass that won’t absorb odors or chemical residues. The wood collar and leather tie sit on the outside. A pour-over also keeps the paper filter a drip machine already uses. In a 2025 study, paper-filtered home coffee had about a seventh of the cafestol of French press or percolator coffee. The study calls cafestol and its sister compound cholesterol-raising.

• What's the concern with plastic drip coffee maker

  A drip machine heats water and runs it through the machine onto the grounds, and many machines are mostly plastic. Cuisinart lists a popular 12-cup model’s material as plastic, and even Moccamaster says it uses food-safe plastics where it judges them best. No peer-reviewed study has measured what drip machines shed. Heat is linked to more release, though. A 2025 study found new polypropylene kettles shed nanoplastics into boiling water; the amount fell with use but was still measured after 150 boils. A UK study found more microplastics in hot drinks than in cold ones. What that means for health isn’t known yet.

• General information, not medical advice. Ask your doctor, especially if you’re pregnant, nursing or have a health condition.

• Good to know before you buy

  It takes a few minutes of pouring, and there’s no hot plate, so pour into a steel thermos to keep coffee hot. Chemex says it uses no bleach or chemicals in its filter paper, but none of the filter makers we checked says its filters are PFAS-free, so the filter is the one part we couldn’t clear. A steel-mesh filter skips paper, but in the same study, French press coffee, which goes through steel mesh, had far more cafestol.

  Chemex Classic 10-cup glass pour-over: Filters sold separately. None of the filter makers we checked says its paper is PFAS-free.

  Chemex Classic 8-cup glass pour-over: Filters sold separately. None of the filter makers we checked says its paper is PFAS-free.

  Lalord 20 oz glass pour-over set, walnut collar, 100 paper filters: Comes with paper filters; the maker doesn't say they're PFAS-free.

• Sources (7)

  1. Maker's listing: Cuisinart DCC-1200P1 12-cup coffeemaker, Material 'Plastic' (opens in a new tab)
  2. Moccamaster: 'All plastics we use are food-safe and BPA, BPS, BPF, and phthalate-free'; 'where we use plastics, they are the best option for optimal performance' (opens in a new tab)
  3. Shi et al. 2025, npj Emerging Contaminants: nanoplastic release from new polypropylene kettles fell about 96% by the 150th boil, but was still measured (opens in a new tab)
  4. Al-Mansoori et al. 2025, Sci Total Environ: microplastics in all 155 UK hot and cold drinks tested; hot drinks had more than cold (opens in a new tab)
  5. Orrje et al. 2025, Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis: 'Unfiltered coffee contains high concentrations of cholesterol-raising diterpenes'; home paper-filtered coffee had a median 12 mg/L cafestol, against about 90 mg/L for percolator and French press coffee (opens in a new tab)
  6. Maker's listing: Chemex, 'All CHEMEX Coffeemakers are made of the highest quality, non-porous Borosilicate glass which will not absorb odors or chemical residues' (opens in a new tab)
  7. Chemex FAQ: 'We don't use any bleach or chemicals in our filter paper.' (opens in a new tab)

  Health and safety facts on this page come from these sources. What a pick is made of comes from its maker's listing or website, as stated on the date we checked.