How To Use A French Press Coffee Maker
It’s super easy whether you’re using pre-ground coffee or tea.
If you like full-bodied and flavorful coffee, a French press should be your go-to brewing method. A French press is a manual coffee maker with a cylindrical carafe, a plunger and a built-in filter that percolates the coffee. It uses just-boiled water to steep coarse grinds for about four minutes.
This approach is more gentle than drip coffee-making or stovetop brewing methods that heat the water very hot and sometimes scald the beans. With a French press, coffee also doesnt sit on a warming plate after brewing so it doesn’t continue to cook and turn bitter.
What Is The Best Cold Brew Ratio
The common coffee-to-water ratio for Cold Brew coffee is around 1:4 1:5.
If you use a 12-cup French Press to make Cold Brew, which has a 51 oz/1.5 l capacity, as we do to make Cold Brew coffee, you should prepare 300 375 g of ground beans.
Otherwise, use 6 7 g of coffee for every oz of water.
For a thicker and stronger Cold Brew coffee concentrate, you can opt for a coffee-to-water ratio as small as 1:2.
For a more diluted and easy to consume batch, 1:8 is recommended.
Can I Use A French Press To Make Tea
Yes, you can. French presses work equally well compacting tea leaves. Just dont go making the two beverages with the same press pot. Both tea and coffee leave behind persistent residues that no amount of scrubbing can remove.
The rule is: if you repurpose a press pot into a tea maker, then its off-limits for coffee forever and vice versa.
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Why Youre Going To Love This Method Of Making French Press Coffee
- Pin This Recipe For Later!
How Much Coffee Will My French Press Make
I dont know who invented the french press cup size system but they obviously did not have enough coffee when they did it.
You should generally get the following number of 9 oz cups of brewed coffee per each press size:
- How much coffee for 3 cup press 1 cup
- How much coffee for 8 cup press 3.4 cups
- How much coffee for 12 cup press 5.3 cups
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The Ideal Water Temperature For French Press Coffee
Since you need to heat the water before adding it to your French Press, you need to ensure its at the ideal temperature for extracting flavor.
When it comes to coffee, the hotter the water, the better the extraction of flavors. The best temperature to aim for is 200°F .
The best method is to simply boil your water and wait for 30 seconds before brewing.
Which Coffee Beans Should I Use In A French Press
One of the joys of full immersion brewing is you really get to see the extraction process in action. The downside to this direct method is that it quickly turns coffee beans with bright, fresh and fruity accents sour, while bold varieties with cocoa and chocolate notes end up bitter. So, what whole coffee beans do you choose?
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How Is Coffee Strength Measured
As I mentioned above, the coffee-to-water ratio affects the brew strength AKA how strong the cup is.
The brew strength can be measured in Total Dissolved Solids , as promoted by the Specialty Coffee Association .
TDS refers to the number of coffee compounds/solids that got extracted and are concentrated/dissolved in the final cup.
The higher the TDS is, the stronger the coffee is.
Many coffee drinkers also associate coffee strength with caffeine content. In other words, the harder the caffeine hit is, the stronger the cup is considered to be.
Thats another way to look at it. And, since coffee is the source of caffeine, the higher the TDS is, the more compounds are present, contributing to higher caffeine content.
So, its not wrong to expect an energy boost from a strong cup of Joe.
Should I Pour All Of The Coffee Out Of The French Press
Absolutely and always.
Even when you press down the plunger, your coffee beans are still interacting with the water. And that means theyre still brewing, even if very slowly.
Thats bad.
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Brewing a-m-a-z-i-n-g coffee is all about controlling the variables to achieve a balanced extraction. When you let your coffee keep brewing after plunging, you risk overshooting that sweet spot of flavor bliss.
And thats why you should always pour out all the coffee once the brewing is complete and the plunger is pressed down.
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What Is The Ideal French Press Steep Time
As we said, since the French Press uses the immersion brewing method, steep time is very important as it greatly affects the final drink.
Steep time refers to how long you leave the coffee and water to infuse before pushing the plunger. If you leave it too long, the coffee will lose all of its characteristics, leave it too little, and all the essential aromas that make the coffee unique wont be extracted.
We recommend 4 minutes steep time after the initial 30 second blooming phase. To clarify, regardless of the coffee to water ratio you choose, the steep time remains the same.
How Much Are You Brewing
The firstthing you have to do is determine how much coffee you want to brew. I havenarrowed my coffee to water ratios down so that they can accommodate pots ofcoffee that will serve three cups equal to about 12 ounces, four cups equal toabout 17 ounces, eight cups equal to about 34 ounces, or twelve cups equal toabout 51 ounces.
Yourstandard coffee mug will hold about twelve ounces of liquid.
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How To Measure Caffeine In Coffee
Here are some tips to start with: the finer the grind of your coffee, the hotter its temperature, the longer the brew time, and the more caffeinated your cup will be. Unlike how it happens to coffee, roasting does not have any impact on the caffeine anatomy of beans.
What that suggests is that the caffeine you consume is not determined by roast but by the amount of coffee you brew. The measure and size of the beans will either increase or decrease the level of caffeine content in your cup of coffee.
40 milligrams of caffeine=1 teaspoon of instant coffee
120milligrams of caffeine=1 teaspoon of instant coffee
The truth is that if you go by the volume measure, that is, using a scoop, what you find out is that a heavier and denser light roast will produce more caffeine. Essentially, if you go by scale measurement, using the weight, more caffeine will be in the dark roast coffees.
You can use a tablespoon to make a comparison if youre unsure of the amount of coffee your scoop can hold. In that case, what you do is to measure your coffee by simply pouring it from the measuring spoon into the coffee scoop.
How Does A French Press Work
The French Press works by steeping coffee grounds and hot water in a beaker. Once the coffee is done steeping, a metal mesh filter is pressed to the bottom of the beaker which separates the coffee grounds from the liquid coffee destined for your mug. The metal mesh filter allows the natural oils found in coffee and fine particles to pass through it giving the coffee a thick body.This process of steeping coffee and water together for an extended time is called immersion brewing because the coffee is immersed in the water as opposed to drip brewing where the water flows through the coffee grounds.
Since the coffee and water are mixed together it is easy to get a uniform extraction with immersion brewers. However this method is vulnerable to over extraction if the coffee is ground too small or the coffee and water are left to steep for too long.
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Pour The Coffee Into Your Mug
Pour the coffee into your mug or a carafe as soon as it finishes brewing. Its better not to let coffee sit in the French press. In the brewer, its still in contact with the used coffee grounds, and sitting with them too long can lead to over-extraction and bitterness.
If you dislike the thicker texture of French press coffee, you can pour it through a paper or cloth filter after brewing. Keep in mind that this may alter the flavor by removing the distinctive mouthfeel and natural oils of coffee brewed in a French press.
French Press Infusion Time
If youre following my basic instructions on how to use a French press, the ideal infusion time is four minutes. Other recipes may require a different duration. While Im not going to declare this the only true path to coffee nirvana, I cant see any real reason to extend or cut the steeping time much.
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Measuring Coffee Beans Without A Scale
How do you measure your coffee beans without a scale? It is simply by adding 36 ounces or 10 gram of ground coffee for every 6 ounces cup. What does that mean? Ok, then. You can use a coffee scoop. The regular coffee scoop is equivalent to two tablespoons, and two tablespoons equal the perfect amount of 10g.
It is important to know how many grams of ground coffee beans make a tablespoon and a teaspoon:
18 grams of coffee=1 tablespoon
12 grams coffee= 1 tablespoon
6 grams= 1 teaspoon
3 grams= 1 teaspoon
What Do Coffee Ratios Mean
When youre making a cup of coffee, you must work with the right ratio of coffee to water. This refers to how much ground you use relative to how much water you are steeping it in.
There is a bit of a science to determining the ideal brew ratio for different tastes and coffees.
Some people prefer their coffee bold and strong, meaning that they may want to use more coffee grounds per cup of water.
On the other hand, if you want a light, rosy cup of joe, then you might choose a lower ratio with less coffee and more water.
Ultimately, it all comes down to your preferences and how you like your coffee to taste.
However you decide to determine your preferred ratio, just remember that every little detail makes a big difference when it comes to creating the perfect cup!
But, why is brew ratio important anyway?
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The Ideal French Press Coffee Grind
When it comes to coffee grind size, there is a lot of debate among French Press lovers. Some like it very coarse, while others opt for a finer grind . Heres what we think works best:
The ideal french press coffee grind should be a coarse grind, similar in consistency to kosher salt. You dont want to have a very fine grind for French Press due to the infusion process.
Since you need to leave your coffee steeping, a fine grind will extract the coffee too quickly, whereas a very coarse grind, too slowly. You want to aim for something in between.
If you still prefer a very coarse grind, you need to adjust the steep time to around 6-8 minutes, instead of the usual 4 minutes.
Brewing French Press With The James Hoffman Method
James Hoffman is a coffee extraordinaire and his French press coffee method is widely revered. It brews a cleaner cup of coffee for those with extra time in the morning. The JH method is worth learning if you dont like the grounds that come in French press coffee.
This method follows the same process above until Step 4. Stir the coffee slightly once it has brewed for four minutes. This breaks the crust of grounds on top, and most coffee will fall to the bottom. Remove any remaining grounds floating on top with two spoons.
Put the lid on and wait for 5-7 minutes. The extra stir and wait is the main difference in the James Hoffman French press method. During the wait, the small coffee grounds settle at the bottom of the press.
After 5-7 minutes, place the lid on the press and pour out the coffee. Do not push the plunger down. The coffee grounds have already settled, so the plunger will only agitate them from the bottom. Leave the plunger at the top of the coffee to strain any floating grounds. There will be far fewer grounds in the cup because of the extra time to settle.
The James Hoffman French press method brews coffee with a clean taste, even at the end of the cup, while a typical French press coffee will have grounds. Its good for those who dont like the heavy, bitter mouthfeel and have an extra 5-7 minutes in the morning!
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Heat The Water To The Right Temperature
Bring your water to a boil, and let it cool for about 30 seconds to get it to the correct temperature. 30 seconds is about enough time for the water to reach the ideal temperature of 195 F.
If you want to make sure that the hot water is at the correct temperature, check again with a thermometer.
Alternatively, if you have an electric kettle that has custom temperature settings, simply set it to heat up to exactly 195 degrees F.
What Is The Ratio Of Coffee To Water For Chemex
To brew coffee with a Chemex, the brand recommends using 1 rounded tablespoon of coffee for every 5-oz cup.
That makes the coffee-to-water ratio as high as 1:30, which is very very diluted!
I believe that you should stick to the 1:16 1:17 ratio for the Chemex as well.
Feel free to add more or less ground coffee to make the brew stronger or weaker, ultimately meeting your personal taste.
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Should There Be Coffee Grounds In My Mug Of Coffee
Short answer: dont worry about it.
Realistically: you cant avoid it 100%. In a perfect world, all of your coffee grounds would be the exact same size and just large enough to not go through your french press filter.
However, when coffee beans are ground, they inevitably shatter into extra-small pieces that are tiny enough to get through the filter. We call these fines. It even happens with the worlds most advanced coffee grinders.
But heres the thing
A small amount of coffee grounds in your mug is perfectly fine and normal.
Even a large amount wont hurt you. You can literally eat coffee beans by the handful and be fine .
The issue isnt one of safety, but one of mouthfeel. If you dont like the thin layer of sludge at the bottom of your mug, you dont have to drink it. Easy as that!
How To Use A French Press
Contents
The humble french press is one of the most popular ways to make coffee. Its also one of the easiest, but there are a few things that you need to be aware of to make the best possible coffee.
In this post, well show you how to use a french press to make coffee the rightway. Its just a matter of using the right ratio of coffee to water, using the right grind, and brewing for the right amount of time.
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How To Measure Coffee For French Press
I lovecoffee. I adore coffee made with a French press. I was so lucky a few monthsback that I found a French press for sale at a rummage sale for anextraordinary price! The man selling the machine said he never was able to makea decent tasting cup of coffee using the machine and he simply got tired ofexperimenting and wasting coffee beans.
I couldsympathize with him, coffee beans are not exactly cheap, they sure are notcheap enough to be wasting them and throwing them in the trash. I thanked himfor the French press and then I happily headed home anticipating the best cupof coffee in the world.
It took mesome time, a lot of experimentation, a lot of wasted coffee and frustration,but I finally mastered the French press, and decided that I was going to sharewhat I had learned with others and save someone else money, time andfrustration.
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Pro Tip: Dont Leave The Coffee In The French Press After Plunging
One of the main things that can make a coffee unpleasant is bitterness. If you leave your coffee sitting in the French Press after the brewing process, you will get over-extracted and very bitter coffee.
The reason for this is that even if youve pushed down the plunger, the coffee keeps on brewing if left in the French Press. You want to avoid this as much as possible.
If you want to drink your coffee right away, the best solution is to make the exact amount of coffee you need .
If youve completely filled your French Press, pour the leftover coffee into a carafe or thermos. This will keep your coffee warm for later but more importantly, it wont over-extract the coffee.
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