Are you looking to learn the fundamentals of making french press coffee? This post will show you everything you need to know, step by step, with explanations. That way, you will not only learn what to do, but why. This knowledge will allow you to make the perfect cup of french press coffee with the ability to alter it to your liking.
What’s so good about French press coffee?
Making coffee with a french press is an easy, passive way to brew coffee. Although there is some pouring and stirring you have to do, for the most part, it doesn’t require a lot of involvement. Additionally, if you want to add other components to your brew that require more than just a pass-through of water, this is a good option. Also, everything used when making French press coffee is reusable. The filter is built in, so if you already have a French press, you probably don’t need to go buy anything to make it happen (except coffee).
This is an easy recipe that provides both volume measurements and weight measurements. This way, you can choose which way to measure your ingredients. I’m not making any assumptions about your prior knowledge.
Recipe for 8 oz (236 mL)
Tools
French Press
This is a carafe (glass pitcher) with a plunging system built in. The basic mechanism a carafe allows is just a nice hot steamy bath for the coffee that gets filtered by a metal screen. The plunger has a mesh screen that pushes the coffee grounds down to the bottom of the carafe. The mesh part has a few other components attached around it that, along with the screen, need to be cleaned. This can be a pain, so for many people, using a french press is “special.” Some people, however, don’t mind taking it all apart and cleaning it, or they just let it be dirty. To each their own.
Kettle
This is what you use to heat up your water. There are two main types of kettles: traditional, and electric.
A traditional kettle needs to be heated by an outside source, like a fire or a stovetop. It will whistle when the water boils, but otherwise there is no definitive way to gauge the water’s temperature with this type of kettle. If you are making coffee, you don’t want the water to be boiling. You probably want it to be around 197 F or 91-92 C. To get it to this point, take it off the heat when it reaches boiling, and swish it around slowly and carefully for about twelve seconds. Then it should be ready to be poured.
An electric kettle sits on a self-heating platform that the user sets to a specific temperature. It will let you know when it’s ready in a less obtrusive way.
Grinder
This is what you use to break whole coffee beans or herbs into smaller pieces. This can be something as simple as two rocks that you smash one on top of the other, or as sophisticated as an electric burr grinder. I won’t go into too much detail because there’s a post about grinding methods here.
Wooden utensil
This will be used to stir. A metal utensil can damage or break the carafe, and who wants to use plastic in their coffee?
Timer
Since the french press method is passive, meaning you are just waiting for it to steep, a timer will help so you don’t have to watch the clock. Most modern phones have a timer app that works just fine.
Ingredients
- 2.5 tbsp of whole bean coffee, or 2.75 tbsp of ground coffee (12.5 grams)
- The whole and ground measurement are different because there is a little more air space between particles when the coffee has been ground.
- 8 oz of water (236 mL, also 236 grams)
- This is about how much most household coffee mugs hold. You can use any kind of water you like, as long as it is safe for drinking.
Instructions
- Measure your water into your kettle.
- One way to do this is to simply fill your mug with water and pour that water into the empty kettle.
- Set your water to heat up to 197 F (91-92 C). *
- In most cases, I recommend beginning to heat the water first. Usually the rest of the prep will take up about the amount of time it takes for 8 oz of water to boil. If my experience has shown that the prep may take longer, I will put one of the steps ahead of that
- Water for coffee can be anywhere from 195 F to 200 F. My advice is to start right in the middle. From there, you can lower the temperature if you think the extraction was too strong for you, or raise the temperature if it grabbed too much caffeine or flavor for your liking.
- Grind your coffee coarse (more on what that means here).
- Because the french press method calls for a prolonged extraction, a coarse grind is appropriate. A finer grind would cause too strong of an extraction, releasing unpleasant flavors and chemicals that give some people a headache.
- Put the ground coffee in the carafe.
- Set your timer for 4:30, but don’t start it yet.
- When the water is at the correct temperature, pour it into the carafe, getting all the grounds wet in the process. Do not stir.
- Begin your timer for four and a half minutes, and put the lid on, leaving the plunger up (the long stick part should be standing up out of the lid).
- French press coffee can be steeped for four to five minutes. I recommend starting in the middle and altering the process according to your liking.
- When your timer alerts you, remove the lid and stir the brew with a wooden utensil.
- Put the lid back on and plunge all the way down, slowly.
- If you try to plunge too fast, the hot expanded steam-air will give you resistance.
General tip: If your coffee is stale or over roasted, you’ll probably want to choose the lighter extraction options so you don’t get the nasty tastes that go along with potent extractions with the undesirable flavors of old or burnt beans. This means water on the “cooler” side, and a shorter steeping time. In this case, it would be water at about 195 F with a steep time of four minutes.
French Press Coffee
Equipment
- Kettle
- Coffee Grinder
- Timer
- French Press
- Wooden Utensil
Ingredients
- 2.5 tbsp Whole bean coffee (12.5 grams)
- 8 fl. oz Water (236 mL or 236 grams)
Instructions
- Measure your water into your kettle.
- Set your water to heat up to 197 F (91-92 C).
- Grind your coffee coarse.
- Put the ground coffee in the carafe.
- Set your timer for 4:30, but don’t start it yet.
- When the water is at the correct temperature, pour it into the carafe, getting all the grounds wet in the process. Do not stir yet.
- Begin your timer for four and a half minutes, and put the lid on, leaving the plunger up (the long stick part should be standing up out of the lid).
- When your timer alerts you, remove the lid and stir the brew with a wooden utensil.
- Put the lid back on and plunge all the way down, slowly.
Notes
Now that you have clear instructions with explanations on how to make french press coffee, you can try it yourself and see how good it is. If you enjoyed this recipe, subscribe to Herbs and Brew for more!