French press, step by step
If you want the easiest door into good coffee, the French press is it. Cheap kit, no paper filters, and the whole method takes 4 minutes. The secret is three things: grind, ratio and timing.
The golden ratio
Start at 1 to 15: one gram of coffee per 15 grams of water. In practice: 30 grams of coffee, roughly 4 tablespoons, to 450 ml of water, which makes about two cups. You do not need a scale on day one, but a small one will dial in your taste much faster.
The grind must be coarse, like coarse sea salt. A fine grind slips through the metal filter and leaves sludge in the cup.
The steps
From boiling the water to pouring:
- 1Boil the water and let it rest for a minute. It should not hit the coffee at a rolling boil.
- 2Add the coarsely ground coffee to the press.
- 3Pour the water over all the grounds and give one gentle stir.
- 4Put the lid on without pressing, and set a timer for 4 minutes.
- 5Press the plunger down slowly and steadily.
- 6Pour immediately. Left in the pot, it keeps extracting and turns bitter.
Tuning it to your taste
Too bitter or heavy? Grind a touch coarser or cut the time to 3 and a half minutes. Thin and watery? Add two or three grams of coffee or wait an extra half minute. Change one thing at a time so you know what made the difference.
And if you order from us, pick the French press grind on the product page and we grind it exactly for this method.
