A French press, also known as a press pot or plunger pot, is a popular coffee brewing device. It consists of a cylindrical glass or stainless steel container with a plunger and a fine mesh filter. Its original well-engineered design hasn’t changed much since its invention in 1929.
The brewing process involves adding coarsely ground coffee to the container, pouring hot water over it, allowing it to steep for a few minutes, and then pressing down the plunger to separate the brewed coffee from the grounds. The mesh filter ensures that the coffee is free of sediment.
French press brewing allows for more control over the extraction process and offers more room for customising different parameters, such as the grind size, coffee-to-water ratio, and brew time.
Immersion brewing, where the coffee grounds are fully immersed in water throughout the brewing process, allows for a more even extraction of flavours from the coffee grounds.
What’s also special about french press brewing is that the coarse grind together with longer brewing time brewing contribute to a fuller body and a richer mouthfeel. The larger coffee particles allow for more oils and flavours to be extracted, resulting in a robust and full-bodied cup of coffee.
coarse coffee grounds suitable for immersion brewing methods
Something to take into account: the filter screen has quite big holes in it so it doesn’t filter smaller particles and so-called dust. Keep reading to get some tips on how to deal with that.
While the water is heating, grind your coffee. For french press coffee you want a grind similar to coarse sea salt.
Firstly, a coarse grind ensures that the coffee grounds are large enough to be effectively filtered, preventing excessive sediment in the brewed coffee. That’s why it should also be even: use a manual grinder with ceramic or metal burrs to get coffee grounds of the same size with as little dust as possible.
coarse coffee grind for french press brewing
Secondly, a coarse grind allows for a slower extraction process, ensuring that the flavours are properly extracted without over-extraction. Generally, this brewing method involves steeping coffee grounds in water for a longer duration compared to other methods, so we don’t want extraction happen too fast.
The basic coffee-to-water ratio is 60gr of ground coffee per 1l of water, so you can easily calculate yours based on your french press size. For example, if your device is 250ml, you’ll need 15gr of ground coffee.
use a kitchen scale to measure the right amount of coffee beans
Warm up your empty french press by rinsing it with very hot water. Preheating the French press helps to maintain the temperature of the coffee during the brewing process. When the brewing vessel is warm, it minimises heat loss, ensuring that the water remains at an optimal temperature for extracting flavours from the coffee grounds.
The ideal water temperature for brewing in french press is 92 and 94 °C (197 to 201 °F). It’s not recommended to make it hotter as water at very high temperatures will scorch natural sugar and oils in the coffee grounds, moreover, it can lead to over-extraction. This process causes coffee grounds to release undesirable flavours and aromas, such as excessive bitterness.
Colder water does not extract the coffee flavours as effectively as hot water and will bring about under-extracted coffee, meaning your drink will taste weak, sour, and lacking intensity.
Use a kitchen thermometer or a kettle with one built in to measure the water temperature. If you have none, let the water sit off the heat for about a minute and a half after it boils.
You can also turn off the kettle before the water in it boils – it’s easy to determine the right moment by the bubbles. At the pre-boiling stage, larger bubbles from the bottom of the kettle will begin to quickly rise to the surface, forming multiple continuous chains of rising bubbles. It means that the water has got between 91 to 96 °C (195 to 205 °F).
you can determine the necessary water temperature by the bubbles
Now that your french press is warmed up, prepare the hot water and add coffee into the empty press. Start a stopwatch as soon as you start adding hot water.
First, add a small amount of hot water to pre-wet your coffee grounds. This initiates the process known as blooming. It allows the coffee grounds to release trapped carbon dioxide before the main brewing process begins.
During the roasting process, coffee beans produce carbon dioxide gas, most of which is released during about 14 days after roasting. When coffee beans are ground, carbon dioxide escapes quickly.
Yet, some of it gets trapped inside the beans. When hot water is poured over the grounds, this gas can create a barrier that hinders proper extraction and can result in an uneven or underwhelming flavour profile.
The blooming process causes the coffee bed to rise and bubble as the gas escapes. Your coffee grounds will be swelling and puffing until they finally settle down.
Use a wooden spoon or spatula to break the top layer (usually called crust) and give it a good stir. After 30 seconds continue pouring the remaining hot water over the grounds for the full brewing process. Put the top on your french press without pressing it.
leave french press for a few minute to let extraction happen
How long should you brew your coffee in french press? The recommended brewing time is typically around 4 minutes. Keep in mind that the it can vary depending on personal taste preferences and the specific characteristics of the coffee beans you’re using.
For example, light roast coffee beans are less dense and have a higher moisture content compared to darker roasts. This means they are more porous and absorb water more quickly during the brewing process. As a result, they tend to extract flavours faster.
It’s not recommended to brew them for more than 2:30 minutes to preserve the vibrant taste rich in floral and fruity flavours. Besides, light roast is often accompanied by higher acidity. If brewed for too long, the prolonged contact with hot water can intensify the acidity and make the coffee taste overly tart or sour.
It’s always a good idea to adjust the brewing time to achieve different flavour profiles, so feel free to experiment with brewing time. Keep in mind that brewing for more than 5 minutes will lead to over-extraction which means increased bitterness and unpleasant taste of your coffee.
Find two simple recipes below you can start with. After trying them you’ll better understand how to adjust the brewing parameters and find your ideal proportions.
30 seconds before the brewing end time open the cover and stir the liquid. By doing this, you make bigger particles settle at the bottom and ensure that all the extracted substances and flavours are evenly distributed in the water.
Cover the press again and wait until all the visible particles settle down. It may take another half a minute. After that, start pressing the plunger slowly. Don’t hurry up with that – you don’t want tiny particles to get through the filter and end up in your cup of coffee. It would badly affect the taste, making it gritty and quite harsh. Taking it slowly minimises the chance of any fine coffee particles or sediment escaping into the brewed coffee. Thus, you’ll get a clearer and more enjoyable cup.
After pressing is done, your coffee is ready to serve up. Pour it into cups right away to avoid over-extraction. If the coffee sits on the grounds too long, extraction continues, and the drink becomes bitter. In any case, the finest particles which inevitably get into the cup will continue extracting, so the taste of your drink will be changing over time. This is what differs french press method from other brewing methods.
To enjoy the optimal flavour of french press coffee, it is generally recommended to consume it shortly after brewing. However, if you prefer the evolving taste and flavour complexities that develop as the coffee sits, you can savour the changing characteristics over time.
Try these recipes:
French press cappuccino
Ingredients:
- 15gr of coffee beans (medium to dark roast, we recommend using Colombian beans for a well-balanced mix of sweetness and acidity)
- 85ml of hot water (92-95 °C)
- 130ml of milk
Instructions:
- Grind the beans (set your grinder to make a bit less coarse grind than a standard french press grind). The grounds should look like sugar particles.
- Heat up the water up to nearly boiling temperature
- Pour it into the press, making sure all the grounds are fully covered
- Stir very well and put the cover on
- Leave it for 1,5 minutes, then stir again, cover and let the particles settle down (around 45 seconds), then press for about 15 seconds
- Pour the liquid in a 250ml or even bigger cup (as the frothed milk occupies more space)
- Warm up the milk up up 65 degrees (use a microwave or oven)
- Froth it with a handheld milk frother
- Pour the milk carefully into your coffee. Using a spoon, hold back the upper layer of foam and pour the thinner milk underneath into the coffee part.
Enjoy your home-made cappuccino!
Kenyan light roast refresher
Ingredients:
- 15gr of light roast Kenya single origin beans, dry processed (natural)
- 250ml of hot water (92-95 C)
Instructions:
- Grind the beans (coarse ground beans have a texture similar to Kosher or sea salt)
- Heat up the water up to nearly boiling temperature
- Pour it 20-30ml of water, making sure all the grounds are fully saturated. Use one gentle stir without moving it too fast
- Put the cover on and leave it for 1:45, stir and let the particles settle down.
- Gently push the press all the way down, keeping in mind that you should be done by 2:20-2:30.
- Pour your coffee into a cup right away and let it rest for a couple of minutes.
Enjoy the refreshing acidity of your drink!
