Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Erik the Pink submitted this idea :
I use paper filters for coffee, but I use a plastic reusable filter in my tea pot. Over time this filter gets black, blocked up and crusty. Soaking it in neat bleach cleans it up a treat. I'm still alive after having done this for decades.

I'm not worried that bleach might poison me, rather I wondered if it might attack the filter material. Its that crusty, just touching the inside of the filer covers my fingers with thick, very sticky coffee residue.

I'm pretty sure the bleach won't hurt the filter. The risk is more that bleach won't work on coffee residues as well as it does on tea. So try it and see.

As an aside, you may also be interested in why I use paper filters. It is suggested that paper filters absorb chemicals which cause serum cholesterol to rise in drinkers of other types of coffee.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2029499