A lot of us coffee nerds will tell you with great sincerity that one of the easiest and best ways to brew coffee at home is the presspot or french press. What we don’t say is that its also quite easy to screw it up and few of us have batting averages worth bragging about. I’m sure a number of you have a french press relegated to the back of your cupboard, exiled for poor performance, messiness, or possibly an irrational hatred for the French.
The labyrinthine Coffeegeek.com has an obsessively thorough illustrated guide that breaks down presspot brewing into many steps and it’s usually the first place I send people to (some of them never return). My own bits of advice to you, echoing much of this and other guides after the jump.
• You’ll need a good grinder. Not only does your grind need to be course but it should also have relatively uniform particle size. The need for a good grinder will be a recurring sub-theme this week and I’ll be recommending several.
• Measure everything. Controlling your variables is the key to optimization. Use a timer and know your dose.
• Be prepared to dump it in the sink. The best way to master the kung fu of the press pot is to repeatedly fine tune your technique until you find the zone. Settling for an off brew and waiting till the next day for a rematch is a recipe for more off brews.
• Decant. When the pot is pressed any coffee that is going to be drunk should be in your mug or in a thermal carafe and not loitering in the press pot with spent grounds. The emptying of the pot is also the precise moment when you should be rinsing the thing clean - your coffee is probably still too hot to sip anyway.
If your final brew is too silty, muting the top notes and sweetness, you can try a coarser grind, lower dosage, or shorter steep time. The important thing is trial and error, making adjustments and tasting how they can effect the cup. Of course no amount of tinkering will save stale, poorly roasted, oily or low quality coffee and cheap grinders will thwart your best attempts at nailing down consistency.
But when properly tamed, presspots are an easy, no fuss way to get your coffee on. The presspots from Bodum
How is your relationship with the presspot - heavenly or headaches?
My experience with presspots is middle of the road. It’s a lifesaver stepping out of your tent at a backcountry site in the middle of nowhere at 6AM. It’s crap at home.
This can all be attributed to my lack of a proper grinder. Why do they have to make presspots so cheap and yet proper burr grinders so expensive?
I love my Bodum press. I bought the black plastic one, no frills or anything, just a plastic carafe and lid and a rubber housing for the screen. A lot of reviews on Amazon said people had problems with the “unbreakable” press shattering or cracking, but mine has performed great. Of course I’ve never dropped it, but hey…
I think the hardest part of my brew schedule is staying attentive. A lot of the time I’m cleaning up the kitchen, or the grinder, or I may have roasted and I’m putting the popcorn popper away. I follow Tom’s guide (from sweetmarias.com) and let the coffee sit after pour for 60-90 seconds then 1 or 2 stirs and let it sit for another 60 before pressing. Leaving it just a little bit too long in that first stage has drastic effects on the taste. For instance, this Brazil Cerrado I’m drinking now was incredibly sweet yesterday, but today most of that is gone. Oh well, live and learn.
Upon a friend’s urging, I just recently switched to a french press from my trusty Cuisinart drip monster. I have to say, I’ll never go back. The coffee is THAT much better, for sure. I picked up my press at Ikea for $17 or so. Compared with the Bodum models I’ve used, I’d say it’s every bit as good, if not easier to clean. Half the price too - can’t beat that.
coffee to try: Caffe Vita - their Cafe Del Sol rules my groggy ass.
http://www.aerobie.com/Products/aeropress_story.htm
The aero press is supposed to be the best french press there is,.
The Aeropress isn’t a french press.
It’s a different brewing method. If you follow the manufacturer instructions, it’s a pretty bad brewing method. If you “hack” it (it’s quite hackable), it can produce a superior, and quite unique brew.
Wait a minute! Hating the French is hardly irrational. I submit Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
I use my “8-cup” (i.e. 2.5-mug) FP every morning. I grind my beans (from Porto Rico Coffee) in a blade grinder (burr grinders are expensive and take up space) to a pretty coarse consistency (I have found one or two whole beans when I’m cleaning out the press). I use a lot of beans, too — I go through a pound of coffee in a little over a week. Then I pour water that has sat around for about a minute after coming to a boil and put the plunger on top and plunge just enough to submerge all of the grounds.
Then I go walk the dog. Seriously — I let it brew for, like, ten minutes.
After I’ve plunged and poured, I put the press in the sink, sideways. This lets the remainder of the liquid seep out over the next few hours. Then when I empty it, I only have fairly dry grounds to deal with instead of the infamous french press sludge.
5 years ago, I had an entire french press of Costa Rican La Manita, approximately 50 ounces total, all to myself. Needless to say, I was bouncing off the wall, but that changed my view of how coffee could be done. Not just drip, which is still good, but the magic of watching ordinary water become the nectar of the gods via French Press. I had the glass and metal bodum with the wire whisk filter. I would pour in water, approximately 180-200 degrees (depending on where I am), pour my grinds on top (1.25 ounces for a standard tasting coffee), let it sit for about 4 minutes before pressing down. I like the water-grind interaction and I love stopping in the middle to see the difference between the clear liquid below and the dark liquid above. Magic! And the taste… well, if we’re going French, ummm magnifique!
I like the idea of turning the press on it’s side. That would make it very easy to dump the grinds. I hate the sludge.
As long as you hold those tenants of right dose, grind, water-temp, heated-mug, drain the whole, it’s easy peasy. I mean that seems like a lot but I do this with one eye open every morning and have yet to ever have a bad cup of coffee. I don’t know how you can screw this up besides once or twice and not know where you went wrong. My only thing is if my wife has set the grinder to vacpress before I get up and am aware enough to look at the dial.. now that’ll jump start your morning haha.
I’m kinda mystified by the Eva Solo. It does seem to defy the pour it all out philosophy and I’ve had good cups of coffee out of it after 15-20 minutes past due time.
Press on! haha
-a
Regarding the Ikea french press mentioned above. I bought one and it was crap. Typical Chinese-made Ikea crap that they are well-known for (although many hipsters would never say a cross word about their beloved Ikea). Anyway their french press is crap, the frame that is. I threw away the frame and put the glass carafe in our old Bodum frame that is much more durable and heavy duty.
Some one was dissing the french above. It’s understandable, but any country that gave us a phrase like “Laissez-faire” can’t be all bad.