How to use your French press
How to brew coffee in your French press
Brewing coffee with a French press is more art than science. You'll find instructions from a countless number of coffee roasters and bloggers online. Amazingly, you'll find plenty of different recipes, which proves my point: brewing coffee in a French press is more an art than a science. Add your personal taste preferences, and the process becomes less about a formula and more about you. Below is the recipe we suggest as a starting point. The coffee will be bold and rich in flavor, with a full body mouthfeel. Simply adjust the amount of coffee for your next pot based on your own preference. And if you use a different coffee varietal or roast, just fine tune the amount of coffee for the new beans you're brewing.
Here's our quick and simple recipe:
Use a good quality coffee that is coarse ground, similar in size to Kosher salt. (If you don't have a grinder at home, just ask the coffee shop to grind your bag of coffee for use in a French press.)
- Put ½ cup of ground coffee into the empty French press. (Depending on the boldness of the roast of coffee you're using, just adjust this a bit ± to meet your preference in the future)
- Our French press holds 1 liter, just over a quart of water. Bring some water to a boil. You want the temperature to be just under boiling for the best flavor extraction, so let it sit for 30-45 seconds then pour it into the French press about 1" from the rim.
- Give the grounds a quick stir so they're all wet, then put the lid and filter onto the French press, with the stainless steel filter resting on top of the water.
- Set your timer for 4 minutes and let the coffee brew. When 4 minutes is up, slowly press down the filter, pushing the grounds to the bottom of the pot. Four minutes is important. If you wait much beyond that, you're coffee will become increasingly bitter.
- Pour into your mug, smell the aroma, and enjoy!
