Coffee filter

The paper coffee filter emerged because Melitta Bentz was tired of bitter, gritty coffee and had the insight that her son's school supplies might solve the problem. Her improvised solution—blotting paper from an exercise book placed in a punctured brass pot—launched a company that still sells 50 million filters daily.

Bentz was born Amalie Auguste Melitta Liebscher in 1873 in Dresden, into a family of entrepreneurs. Her father was a publisher and bookseller; her grandparents owned a brewery. She understood business from childhood.

At the turn of the century, coffee preparation was universally unsatisfying. Percolators over-extracted the beans, producing harsh, bitter coffee. Cloth filters existed but were difficult to clean and retained stale flavors. Most drinkers simply accepted grounds in their cups as unavoidable.

Bentz's solution was elegantly simple. She punched holes in the bottom of a brass pot, cut a piece of blotting paper from her eldest son's exercise book to fit inside, and poured hot water over ground coffee. The paper trapped the grounds while letting the liquid through. The result was clean, smooth coffee with none of the bitterness that came from over-extraction or the grit that came from inadequate filtration.

On June 20, 1908, Bentz registered her invention at the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin. The filing was notable: she was among the first women in Germany to personally protect her own invention. The patent was granted July 8, 1908.

On December 15, 1908, she founded a company to commercialize her filters. The starting capital was 72 Reichspfennig—about the cost of a loaf of bread. The company operated from a single room in the Bentz family's Dresden apartment. Her husband Hugo and their sons helped with production and distribution.

At the 1909 Leipzig Trade Fair, Melitta filters were a sensation—she sold over 1,200 units. The following year, the invention received medals at the International Hygiene Exhibition in Dresden. In 1932, the company introduced cone-shaped filters, improving the brewing process further.

The company survived two world wars and German reunification. Melitta Bentz died in 1950, but the family business she founded from her kitchen continued to grow. In 1997, the city of Dresden named a street after her.

Today, the Melitta Group sells approximately 50 million coffee filters daily—a global industry built on one housewife's frustration with grounds in her cup and the observation that school supplies might provide a solution. The paper filter transformed coffee from a drink that required tolerance of imperfection into one that could be reliably clean and smooth.