An unbleached filter in a Chemex brewer. Photo: Erin Meister.

Erin Meister trains baristas for North Carolina-based Counter Culture Coffee and sporadically maintains the blog Meet the Press Pot from her home in New York City. This is part of a series of tips for the caffeine-addicted.

Aside from beans and water, the coffee-brewing puzzle almost always requires at least one other element: a filter. Just about every method or machine utilizes them -- French press plungers have fine-mesh screens, espresso machines use perforated metal baskets, electric drip-coffee makers require the ubiquitous accordion-fold filters and even preground coffee pods come in their own little brew packs to keep the grounds at bay (that is, out of your teeth).

Understanding your filter situation can actually be a bit confusing, since there are myriad varieties available in a host of sizes, shapes and materials. Trying to make sense of the coffee-filter section at the market is not unlike trying to find the right replacement mop head (there's about an 80 percent chance of failure).

Read on for more about coffee filters.

So we've got your two basic shapes: cone and flat bottom. Sadly, they're not interchangeable, and size definitely matters. Most coffee-brewer manufacturers also make the corresponding filters, but it's easy to accidentally pick up the wrong ones -- especially a set that's too big or small for your equipment.

Too small could mean grounds floating over the filter's sides, leaving a mess of chewy bits in your cup; too big and a filter runs the risk of the old one-side-folded-down-over-the-coffee problem, which leads to either overflow or a watery batch, since the water can flow behind the offending flop and bypass the coffee grounds altogether. So whether you're a cone head or a flat-bottomer, check your brewer's recommendations, or ask the folks you bought brewer from.

Of course, the other big filter question is to reuse or not to reuse? Reusable filters clearly have the green advantage, but disposables are the more hassle-free solution. The former can get pretty grungy over time without proper (and rather diligent) care -- coffee oils are tenacious and tricky to banish, especially from cloth (some types of brewers require cloth filters, and should come with very detailed cleaning instructions). Paper filters do create more waste, but they're usually compostable, which might be a good compromise.

And then there's the rinsing problem. Some people find that the paper filters, especially those used in manual brew systems like Chemexes and Melittas, can leave an off taste in the cup, and prefer to rinse the papers thoroughly with hot water before using them. Many fanatics also debate whether the bleached or unbleached variety (many filters are available either way) is better at eliminating the issue. Me? I've never noticed a difference. But I'm also typically unable to pick out, say, the whole-wheat pasta from the white, or the butter from the margarine. ...

Does your brewer use filters, and if so, have you ever done these kinds of taste tests? How much difference do you think that sweating this kind of small stuff makes in the end, anyway? Share your filter woes in the comments.