How do you brew Golden Mandheling in a French press?

A French press brews Golden Mandheling without pouring technique or gram-accurate parameters. Coffee grounds and water simply need proper contact to extract a rich, full-bodied black coffee. The method suits medium-dark roasted beans and delivers a rounder body and more prominent sweetness than drip pour-over, which makes it a practical choice for freshly roasted single-origin beans.

The press dates to 1850 in France, when a filter screen with a press rod was added to a tea vessel to block leaves after steeping; coffee drinkers later adopted the same structure. The full process runs from warming the pot and grinding through pouring, pressing and decanting, with cleaning and maintenance afterward. Immersion extraction is what lands the rounded sweetness and oily mouthfeel in the cup.

You have a bag of freshly roasted beans on hand but are frustrated by the lack of proper equipment? A French press may be the most worry-free answer. It doesn't demand a particular pouring technique, nor does it require parameters accurate to the gram—as long as the coffee grounds and water make proper contact, it will reliably deliver a rich, full-bodied cup of black coffee. This article begins with the origins and structural improvements of the French press, explains why it is better suited to medium-dark roasted beans, and uses Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling as an example to break down the complete process from warming the pot, grinding, pouring, to pressing and decanting, along with cleaning and maintenance tips to help you land the rounded sweetness and oily mouthfeel of immersion extraction firmly in your cup.

When you've just opened a bag of freshly roasted coffee beans but haven't yet decided how to brew them, a French press often saves the day. It doesn't rely on complicated equipment, doesn't require practicing pouring techniques, and doesn't need parameters locked down precisely—a casual brew yields a delicious single-origin coffee. Ultimately, no matter the brewing method, the final goal is the same: to make the coffee taste good.

I once heard someone say: "Pour-over is so refined—a French press doesn't look sophisticated enough, and it lacks ceremony." But the point of brewing coffee has never been ceremony; it's the flavor itself. Pressurized, drip, immersion—ultimately they all let coffee grounds fully contact water, extract an appropriate amount of soluble materials, and finally become a cup of aromatic coffee that lets people relax.

Compared with drip pour-over, coffee made with a French press often has a rounder body and more prominent sweetness. When you've just woken up in the morning or are tired from work, being able to quickly brew a cup of coffee to wake yourself up is itself a very comforting thing.

The Origins and Popularization of the French Press

The French press can be traced back to 1850 in France. Its prototype came from a tea-brewing vessel: a filter screen with a press rod, matching the diameter of the container, was added to the pot to block tea leaves after steeping and prevent broken leaves from coming out when pouring the tea. Later, coffee drinkers discovered that the same structure worked for brewing coffee too, and produced a cleaner mouthfeel than direct boiling.

Afterward, an artisan partnered with a businessman to found the "Smith" company, made detailed corrections to the French press, and in 1852 applied for a patent for a "piston-filter coffee device," naming it the "French Press." However, early sales were not ideal because after the press rod was pushed down, the filter screen struggled to stay level; when pouring coffee, if the press rod was not held down, fine coffee grounds would still slip into the cup through the gap created by tilting.

By the late 1920s, a Milan company registered an improved patent: a spring was added to the disc-shaped structure at the bottom of the piston and to the filter screen, so that after the press rod was pushed down it would fit tightly against the bottom of the container, and fine grounds no longer escaped easily. In the following years, the company refined the overall design and brought it to commercialization, and people gradually came to appreciate the convenience of brewing coffee with a French press.

Which Coffee Beans Taste Best Brewed in a French Press?

Similar to brewing tea, the French press is an immersion extraction method, where coffee grounds and hot water coexist for a period of time. What it excels at is not the light layering of floral and fruity acidity, but body and oily mouthfeel, so medium-dark roasted beans are a better match.

If you can't quite accept acidity, you can prioritize Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling. This single-origin coffee is close to a dark roast with low acidity; when brewed in a French press, it develops unique flavors of spices, dark chocolate, toasted bread, caramel, and sandalwood, with extremely high body and a rich, lingering aroma.

How to Brew Coffee with a French Press?

The structure of a French press is very simple: a heat-resistant glass container plus a set of metal filter screens with a press rod. To operate, put coarsely ground coffee into a preheated pot, pour in hot water at 88-92°C, steep for 3-4 minutes, press down the rod, and pour out the coffee to enjoy.

1. First pour hot water into the pot to preheat both the container and the metal filter with the press rod, then pour out all the hot water and set aside.

2. Grind the coffee beans into coarse particles and pour them into the pot—about the size of coarse granulated sugar is fine; the ground particles should look roughly as shown in the image.

(If you want a more precise grinding reference, you can use the Chinese No. 20 standard sieve, with a pass-through rate controlled at 70%–75%.)

3. For a French press, the coffee dose is recommended to be no less than 15g, with a coffee-to-water ratio of 1:13–1:16 (15g coffee corresponds to 195–240g water). For a rich cup choose 1:13, for a moderate cup choose 1:15, for a lighter cup choose 1:16—and of course you can adjust according to your own taste preferences.

4. Different roast levels require different water temperatures. Front Street recommends steeping light to medium roasts (light brown–brown) in hot water at around 92°C, and dark roasts (dark brown) in hot water at around 88°C. After pouring water, pull the press rod up to the top of the lid and cover it; at this point do not press down the rod yet.

5. Steeping time also varies with roast level. Front Street recommends steeping light to medium roasts for about 4 minutes and dark roasts for about 3 minutes 30 seconds. There's no need to steep too long—the French press is direct ground-and-water immersion, and this amount of time is enough to fully extract the pleasant flavors; over-steeping instead tends to produce undesirable flavors like woody or burnt-bitter notes.

6. After steeping is complete, press down the rod and pour out the coffee all at once. If you don't pour it all out at once, the coffee particles in the pot will continue to release undesirable flavors, and the coffee left in the pot will only taste worse the longer it sits.

7. Coffee beans produce oils after roasting, and a French press that has just brewed coffee often has a layer of coffee oils clinging to it. When cleaning, disassemble all metal parts; both the container and the parts need to be washed with detergent, then thoroughly wiped dry and air-dried before storage.

- A slight grittiness in the brewed coffee is the soul of French press coffee! -

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.