HOW TO USE A FRENCH PRESS
Step-by-step instructions featuring pro-tips from a coffee professional.
WHY BREW WITH A FRENCH PRESS?
If you’re new to brewing specialty coffee at home, using a French press is an excellent and easy place to start. French presses are generally inexpensive, easy to find in-stores and online, great to brew coffee just for yourself or even a couple of friends, and they deliver a consistent cup of coffee when used properly.
AN IMMERSION BREWING METHOD
The French press is considered an immersion brewing method. What that means is that the coffee is extracted by submerging grounds in water as opposed to a pour-over method that utilizes a paper filter. The result is a bold, big body cup with rich notes of the coffee you choose to brew.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT FRENCH PRESSES BEFORE WE GET STARTED
Brewing coffee with a French press is a simple and straightforward process, but there are a few things to keep in mind. First, be sure to use properly-ground coffee beans to prevent the coffee from becoming bitter or having a chalk-like consistency. At PRESS, we offer a variety of grind sizes when you order our coffee online including coffee that is properly ground for French presses. However, no matter where you choose to buy coffee, be sure to request that your coffee be ground for French press if you do not grind your coffee at home.
Second, be sure to decant the coffee immediately after brewing to preserve its flavor. Not doing so will cause your coffee to continue brewing and, ultimately, over-extract which will yield a less-than-ideal flavor. Following our French press brew guide steps below will ensure that you enjoy a rich and flavorful cup of coffee at home.
Lastly, it's important to mention that this is our take on this classic brewing method and our go-to recipe for French presses. However, everyone's flavor palette and coffee preferences are a little bit different so feel free to experiment and adjust your French press brewing method as you see fit. Let’s get started!
We recommend 32 grams of coffee to 480 grams of water. In ounces, this would translate to 1oz of coffee grounds to 17oz of water.
● French Press
● Coffee Grinder
● Kettle
● 32 grams of coffee
● 2 metal spoons
● Coffee Scale
● Timer
● Coffee Mug
While you can brew any coffee you would like with a French press, its important to note that not all coffees are created equal and this does mean that some coffees are more suitable for certain brew methods than others.
For French press brewing, we recommend our Four Corners blend which features specialty-grade coffee beans from Brazil and Sumatra. This big bodied coffee blend features strong milk chocolate notes and has very low acidity, making it our best coffee for French press brewing. Learn more about our Four Corners blend below or, if you already have a coffee you'll be brewing with your French press, feel free to proceed to our step-by-step brewing instructions below.
Preheat your French press with hot water.
● Using your coffee scale, weigh out 32 grams of coffee beans.
● Select your grind size and grind your coffee beans (if not already ground for French press). For this recipe, we recommend a course grind.
● Now that your French press is preheated, empty the hot water from it. You may carefully discard this hot water entirely as we will want fresh hot water from your kettle for our brew.
● Using your kettle, proceed with heating approximately 480g of fresh water.
● While your fresh hot water is heating, add your coffee grounds to your French press and place it on your coffee scale.
● Tare your French press' weight on your coffee scale so that it resets its weight to zero. This will allow you to accurately pour the proper amount of water into your French press in our next step.
● Switch your coffee scale to timer mode.
● Start your timer and pour 540g of hot water into your French press.
● After about 4 minutes, you'll start to notice a layer of crust forming at the surface of your brew. Stir this layer of crust that forms at the top so that it mixes evenly with your brew.
● With two spoons, skim the foam that has now formed on the surface of your brew into another cup or mug. This may seem like a tedious or trivial step in our brew guide, but removing this foam is actually intended to help remove the most bitter-tasting elements of your coffee. Discard the foam that you skim from the surface of your brew.
● Let your brew rest for about five minutes until all of the grounds have sunk to the bottom of your French press.
● Place your French press plunger at the surface of your brew.
● Begin very slowly plunging downward for the best coffee extraction.
IMPORTANT! You should feel a moderate amount of resistence when pressing down on your French press plunger but if it feels difficult to plunge downward or like your French press may break, this means that your coffee grind is too fine; if the plunger drops too easily or quickly, it means your grind is too coarse.
Always make sure to order your coffee with a proper French press grind when brewing with French press. At PRESS, we offer a French press grind with all of our coffees that are available to order online.
Your French press coffee is now brewed. You may now relax and enjoy your delicious French press coffee at home!
REMEMBER! Don't forget to decant your coffee immediately after brewing to preserve its flavor. Not doing so will cause your coffee to continue brewing and, ultimately, over-extract your grounds which will yield a less-than-ideal flavor.
As you can see, learning how to brew excellent-tasting coffee with a French press is a relatively simple process. With a few rounds of practice, you'll be efficiently brewing incredible coffee at home in no time.
However, if after following this brew guide, you're still unsatisfied with the coffee that you're brewing at home with a French press, consider the following:
● Try a different coffee that is more suitable for French press brewing such as our Four Corners blend.
● Adjust your grind size at home or have your coffee ground specifically for use in a French press.
● If you are able to control the temperature of your hot water, consider adjusting it slightly to your liking. You might also like to try adding a mineral supplement to your water such as Third Wave Water.
● Pay close attention to how long your coffee grounds are steeped for and ensure that you are not over-extracting them or waiting too long to decant your brew.
Learn more about us and what makes us unique by clicking here.
While our Four Corners blend is perfect for brewing with a French press, we offer a variety of exclusive blends and single origin coffees that are available as whole bean or with a French press grind. Take our coffee match quiz below and we'll recommend an expertly roasted coffee that we think you'll love.
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