	French Press
French Press - How to use and brew coffee in a Plunger or Press Pot

French Press Coffee

8 How-To Steps to making the perfect press pot brew...

Quote Me: "Go out and buy yourself a no-frills manual press-pot. Use a coarse grind and water 1-minute off-the boil. Steep for about three minutes. As always, FRESH roasted coffee is super-important." – CMCafe

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1. Prep

Make sure all your equipment is cleaned to remove any rancid coffee oils from a previous brew, and rinsed to remove any detergent residue.

2. Boil

When you're using a French press, always boil the water before you start grinding the beans. This will allow it to cool to the correct temperature and prevent scalding the coffee.

Depending on the quality of your water, you may find that using filtered water significantly improves the taste of your coffee. In any case, you should always use fresh water, and not the water that's been sitting in the kettle all night.

3. Grind

A high quality grinder is the most important factor in guaranteeing the perfect French press coffee. Our article on coffee grinders covers all you need to know. What you are looking for is a grinder that will produce large grounds, all of equal size. If you use a cheap grinder you will end up with some fine particles mixed in with the large grounds. The press filter will not be able to remove these fine particles and you will end up with a 'muddy' brew. Also, too many fine particles will result in the coffee being over extracted and bitter.

Note: press pots will have either a nylon or a metal filter. In general, a metal filter requires a coarser grind than a nylon filter.

4. Heap

When it's time to heap in the fresh coffee, be generous. It is always easier to dilute your brew than to make it stronger. As a guide, you should allow 1 rounded tablespoon per cup.

Finely ground coffee has more surface area in contact with the water. As mentioned in step 3, the filter on a French press requires coffee to be coarsely ground. This means you will need to use more of the coarsely ground coffee to extract the same full flavor that you would normally get from a smaller portion of finely ground coffee… in short, be generous!

5. Pour & Stir

Having boiled the water at step 2, it is now slightly cooled from boiling point - perfect for good extraction of coffee flavor and aroma. When you pour the water into the press, be sure to cover all the grounds. Be careful not to overfill the press pot.

At this point, we recommend that you give the coffee about 5 stirs to make sure all the grounds are wet. During stirring, the coffee will rise to the top of the pot.

6. Brew

Pop the lid on and let steep for approximately 2-3 minutes for a small pot, or 4 minutes for a large pot.

7. Press

When the coffee has finished brewing, you need to carefully plunge the press filter down through the coffee. Be slow, steady, and keep the rod upright. If you tilt the rod, or press too quickly you might ruin your brew by letting grounds escape from beneath the filter, or by overflowing the pot. If you do happen to press too fast and the pot overflows, be careful not to scald yourself.

8. Serve

Holding the lid, pour carefully from the French press into pre-warmed coffee cups. Enjoy!

When buying a French Press…

A few points to consider:

1. If you like your coffee very 'clean' and free of grounds, then look for a nylon filter. These have a finer mesh than metal filters.

2. Metal / chrome style pots rust occasionally - especially if placed in the dishwasher. There are other hardwearing plastic style press pots available that will avoid this.

3. The bigger the pot, the more effort is required to push the filter through the coffee. Pushing too hard may cause the coffee to overflow and scald you. So, if you buy a large pot, be aware that you need to be pressing firmly and slowly on the press. This might be difficult if you have weak or arthritic hands, so a smaller pot would be better.

4. You will see below that some non-standard French presses are available that will boil the water and/or keep coffee warm for hours. These are cute and innovative ideas - but remember that coffee kept too long, even if kept warm, will turn bitter. Also, always remember that water should be just off the boil before coming into contact with the coffee.

Types of Press Pot and Plunger…

I recommend you buy a simple, manual press pot. It is convenient and easy to use. If you are a traveller or want a specific-purpose press pot, you can check out these other styles of plunger, which are all available at Amazon.com (see the images above right):