The French Press

Photograph By mhaithaca

Now here's a fine method of brewing if you insist on or are curious about the taste of bolder and much more flavorful coffee. In short, you'll find out that it's similar to the process in brewing tea. So what is it? A french press has a container, a metal filter attached to a rod that protrudes past the container's lid, and the lid itself. So now the entire brewing method starts with the grinding, the steeping, and the careful observation of time.


In this method, grinds must be slightly coarser than coffee grounds bought from the supermarket. This is due to the pores of the filter being significantly larger than that of regular paper filters*. But depending on the brand and make of the press, you may be able to use a french press with pregrinds as long as you don't mind the occasional bump with coffee grit.

Afterward. you'll have to measure out how much coffee you'll be required to use. In my opinion, a tablespoon per cup of water is suitable. Now boil x amount of water and as you're waiting, pour the measured amount of coffee into the container. When ready, pour the water into the container while stirring -- make sure to not overfill the container so that it can accommodate the added mass of the filter + rod. Now you'll place the lid, filter, rod (which is all essentially connected to one another on top). The rod will be protruding out of the lid at its maximum length indicating that the filter is still at the top of the container.

Now depending on how strong you wish to make your coffee, you'll have to wait a few minutes. A 2-4 cup press shouldn't take any longer than 2-3 minutes to steep. Afterward, you'll press down on the rod gently, pushing the grinds down. At this point, your coffee is ready and you're required to pour it all unto another container to avoid extra steeping time that may make your coffee bitter.

*There will be a detailed entry regarding the process of grinding at a later date.

- - Ken

Posted in: Coffee,French Press,Ken