Coffee Filters on Shabbos

Q. In the previous Halacha Yomis we discussed various opinions about brewing coffee on Shabbos. For those who are lenient, is it permissible to use a coffee filter, or would it be a violation of meshamer (filtering)?

A. Shulchan Aruch (319:9) writes that clean water may be poured over wine sediment that was placed on a strainer before Shabbos. Although the water is undrinkable when it mixes with the sediment, and the strainer filters the impurities from the water, it is permissible to do so. The poskim explain that since there is no change in the water (It began as clean water and emerged from the strainer as clean water) it is not treated as borer. Although, temporarily, the water was not potable when it mixed with the sediment, we ignore the intermediate stage since the water in the beginning and end are essentially the same. The same would apply to a coffee filter. When pouring water over coffee grounds that are placed on a coffee filter, there is no issue of filtering since the water was drinkable at the beginning and end of the process. (In the next Halacha Yomis, we will discuss using a French press).

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.