Please referee a disagreement. I'm helping out more around the house now but don't know as much as I thought I did. My wife says the filter for the coffeemaker should be dampened with water before you put it in the basket. I have never heard of that, and I really can't tell the difference in taste or strenth of the coffee either way. Maybe my taste buds are going. Is this for real? Just asking, I'm sure we will be during it her way regardless.:p

I, too, have never heard of this before now (not in the US), and I can't get by without good coffee, it's essential! Here's what I do know... in the former GDR (East Germany), some folks would do this in the case of "ersatzkaffee", coffee that isn't really coffee, but imitation. This moistening of the filter would sometimes help with the bitterness. Other than that, with real stuff, I can not tell any difference...

I have never heard of that either and any food places that I have ever worked at never did that either. I think it is just one of her little idiosyncrasies. The filter is wet as soon as the water starts going through anyway.
I bet Starbucks or Martha Steward never even heard of that!

We used to have to do that with one of our coffee makers. If we didn't dampen the sides of the filter so it would adhere to the inside of the filter basket, as the water was poured in, the filter sides would fold down over the ground coffee. Grounds then got into the water as the water dripped down into the carafe and even plugged up the little holes in the filter basket.

Listen to your wife!