Using a French press is a fantastic way to make quality coffee
at home. Here are some best practices. More photos...
We've endorsed the (admittedly "no duh") principle that it's more cost-effective to make your coffee -- quality coffee -- at home than going out all the time.
While of course we fully support visiting one of your local specialty-coffee providers for a treat, coffee emergency, or even as part of a daily routine (time and resources allowing), we feel that part of our mission is to make you happy with the coffee you make at home.
And it doesn't have to take much time. While many drip pots, vac pots, moka pots (a.k.a. stove-top espresso makers), and such are a little more time intensive, one of the best ways of making gourmet coffee at home is through an old standby: the French press.
Because if you can spare about ten minutes, owing to the mere four-minute steeping process in your French Press, then you can make some damned good coffee at home. Here's how.
First Things First: Beans, Grinding, Water
We always support purchasing your coffee as whole beans from a local, Santa Barbara-based specialty roaster. Make sure they've been roasted recently, as your best coffee will come from the freshest beans.
We also recommend grinding right before you make the coffee, i.e. "grind to use." The coffee will begin losing its flavor the minute its ground; from grinder to steep is ideal. A burr grinder is the way to go; the unfortunately ubiquitous "propeller" blade grinders do not create a consistent grind; your coffee granules will be of different sizes and will lead to a less enjoyable experience.
Case in point: today we're making coffee from a French Press, which calls for a coarse grind, to ensure that the plunger captures as much of the coffee as possible on its way down. Using a propeller grinder will create particulates of varying smaller sizes that the plunger can't catch; accordingly, your coffee will be gritty.
A bit of coffee particulates in your French Press is okay; it actually contributes to the mouth feel. But there's a difference between "mouth feel" and "drinking dirt."
Finally, water: coffee is mostly water, and you shouldn't use anything you wouldn't drink by the glass as the key ingredient in your coffee. Filtered water, ideally by reverse osmosis, will help yield excellent coffee.
Keep in mind that we're sharing best practices here -- generally accepted principles agreed on by coffee aficionados. If you can create coffee you enjoy by skimping on a step, by all means, do what makes you happy. I know people that are perfectly happy with pre-ground coffee supermarket and propeller-ground coffee. I am not one of them -- but however you adapt this for your own use is fine with me. (But if you don't want to invest in a good grinder, we'd highly recommend at least buying the beans whole and having them grind it for you at the store, then using it ASAP!).
Press it!
Behold the mighty French Press, press pot, or whatever you feel like calling it. A glass carafe, some sort of handle/holder, and a lid complete with a wire-mesh equipped plunger.
We'll assume that doing this quickly is a concern, so first start your water boiling.
Then to the grinder -- grind the amount of coffee appropriate to your taste and the amount of water used. A common starting point is two tablespoons per cup of water; personally, I prefer it a little stronger.
After grinding the coffee, place it at the bottom of the carafe. After the water boils -- and try to stop it right after it boils -- wait a minute for it to cool off a touch. Then pour the hot water into the carafe, over your coffee, in a nice, even, steady pour. Try to saturate the coffee evenly. Fill the carafe -- remember, not too full, you need to leave space at the top for the lid and plunger mechanism to be inserted.
Bonus variant: If you're one of those lucky cusses with a "hot shot" unit that gives you instant near-boiling water -- particularly if you've hooked it up to your reverse osmosis filtration system -- then you may get comparable results just from filling it straight from there.
Once the water is poured, stir the coffee, which should for the most part be floating at the top. The long reach of a chopstick makes it an ideal stirring tool; some caution that using a metal spoon may contribute to micro-cracks in your glass carafe. Put the lid on. DO NOT PLUNGE YET. Wait for the coffee to steep; the general best practice is to aim for 4 minutes. Some advise leaving it in longer for a darker coffee -- I do not. To my experience, stronger coffee should be achieved through using more beans; trying to extract more flavor with a longer steep causes bitterness or other imperfections.
After 4 minutes, push down the plunger -- nice, slowly, and evenly. You want to ensure that you're capturing as much of the coffee as possible on the bottom, rather than have it end up in your mouth. Also, no need for dramatic, frantic motions when dealing with still-hot coffee. Stay safe.
Now you're ready to pour your coffee. Many French press pots have a mesh filter that lines up at the spout to help further filter missed particulates. Again, safety first; a nice, even pour into a porcelain mug (for home use) or an insulated, covered mug (for commuters) should yield some fantastic coffee. If you're typically a cream and sugar/sweetener user, you might want to try it black, just to experience the clean, deep flavor and nice mouth feel of a properly prepared French press pot.
Check out the slideshow below for pics of each step and some bonus coverage.
Next time we'll tackle another of our favorite prep methods . . . the moka pot. Stay tuned.
Comments
Well done. I have a French press too, I got one after working in Starbucks all those years!
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