title_body: Should I rinse paper coffee filters before use?
upvoted_answer: Do you have maker with a removable filter basket? (Like the photo I attached below.) If so, then you might try what I've done:
  
  
  removing the basket
  placing the filter
  then running water through it
  
  
  
  
  The support of the basket protects against failures. And while you won't be able to rinse the reverse side easily, you will be able to get enough water into it to saturate through the paper. (Those flakes you mention will be trapped between the reverse of the filter and the basket.)
  
  Hot versus Cold? I'd use warm. Some things you're removing may be more soluble at higher temperatures. I wouldn't go to the trouble of heating pre-filtered water. there is something to be said for water temperature affecting the filtering qualities of the paper by expanding the fibers, and in turn spaces between fibers. But without testing we'll have to assume it's a minor. If you only have cold filtered water, I suggest you use that. 
  
  Why not hot water? First, a quick rinse of hot water isn't going to neutralize significantly more micro organisms that cold. You need boiling or much higher for a length of time to do that. Second, hot water will make the filter more prone to breaking.
  
  
    I have brewed simultaneous batches with rinsed and non-rinsed; I taste exactly no difference
  
  
  This leads me to think that soaking is worth a try. If it works for rice to remove excess starch, it might work similarly with paper
  
  
  
  A slightly different angle on this: 
  
  Try to find the filters that don't need rinsing. When I filter I'm doing so to reduce the cholesterol raising impact of coffee. I prefer the taste of unfiltered coffee, but the evidence convinces me that filtered coffee is better for my cholesterol.
  
  The study linked below, amongst others, shows that paper filters remove much of the cholesterol-raising compounds, as much as "80% of the lipid-solublue substance that was present..." Pre-wetting the paper --pre-loading the fibers with water, really-- seem as though it would reduce this absorbent property, although I can't back that up.
  
  The hypercholesterolaemic factor in boiled coffee is retained by a paper filter