How Does Coffee Brewing Work in a French Press?

A French press makes iced coffee through immersion extraction: coffee grounds steep in water, then get filtered out. For a balanced glass, use a ratio near 1:12 to 1:15 coffee to water, a coarse grind similar to sea salt, and steep for about 12 to 16 hours in the refrigerator or 4 minutes with hot water before pouring over ice.

Immersion brewing has a wide margin for error because flavor compounds release more slowly as the liquid approaches equilibrium. That tolerance lets you choose beans by preference. A full-bodied option such as Golden Mandheling works well, while fruitier or floral lots also suit the method. Water temperature and steeping time control the final strength.

On a scorching summer day, who wouldn't want a glass of ice-cold coffee that chills you to the core? The French press is deeply loved by coffee enthusiasts thanks to its simple operation and high tolerance for error. However, most tutorials only cover how to make hot coffee, while methods for brewing iced coffee are rarely shared. This article will explain in detail how to use a French press to make a rich and delicious iced coffee, including the coffee-to-water ratio, grind size, water temperature control, and the complete step-by-step process. We'll also recommend several Front Street Coffee beans suitable for immersion extraction, so you can easily recreate a professional-level iced coffee experience at home.

Among the many coffee brewing devices, Front Street has a particular fondness for the French press. The reason is simple—it's especially effortless to use. You don't need to fuss over pouring techniques or precisely control various variables, and you can still easily get a delicious cup of coffee, all at a very affordable price.

However, Front Street has also noticed a problem: online tutorials about the French press almost uniformly discuss how to make hot coffee, with very few sharing methods for brewing iced coffee. On a hot day, compared to a steaming cup of coffee, surely everyone craves an icy, refreshing coffee to beat the heat. So today, Front Street will teach you how to use a French press to make a rich and delicious iced coffee!

The French press uses immersion extraction. This extraction method has two clear advantages: First, it has a large margin for error. When the concentration of the coffee liquid and coffee grounds gradually approaches equilibrium, the release rate of coffee flavor compounds naturally slows down, so even if the parameters are set to relatively extreme values, over-extraction is unlikely to occur.

Because of this, you can be more adventurous when choosing beans. If you prefer a full-bodied taste, you can choose Front Street PWN Golden Mandheling; if you like fruity wine aromas, try Front Street Strawberry Candy; if you want rich fruit notes, Front Street Higue is worth a try; if you're after floral aromas, Front Street Goddingding Cooperative is a good choice... These beans are all very suitable for immersion extraction with a French press.

The second advantage is that no strict pouring technique is required—brewing a good cup of coffee is as easy as brewing a cup of tea. We just need to set the parameters, pour the water and coffee grounds into the pot together to steep, and when the time is up, filter it out and drink.

To make a rich iced coffee with a French press, the first step is to brew a pot of relatively high-concentration hot coffee. This is because making iced coffee with a French press, like pour-over, requires the use of ice cubes to achieve rapid cooling.

The ice cubes will gradually melt while cooling the coffee, which dilutes the coffee's concentration. If the brewed coffee itself isn't concentrated enough, once diluted by the melted ice water, the entire cup will become weak and bland, tasting like a glass of water with a hint of coffee flavor. Therefore, we must brew a pot of high-concentration coffee to offset the dilution effect caused by the ice cubes.

Just like with pour-over coffee, the key to getting a high-concentration cup lies in adjusting the parameters. Among these, the coffee-to-water ratio is what we focus on adjusting.

Using less water for extraction naturally increases the coffee's concentration. But to avoid under-extraction, we also need to pair this with raising the water temperature, grinding finer, or extending the steeping time and increasing stirring to boost extraction efficiency.

Next, Front Street will share through actual practice how to use a French press to make a rich and delicious iced coffee!

Brewing Guide

If you want to drink a sweet-and-sour, refreshing iced coffee in the scorching heat, Front Street recommends choosing medium-light roasted beans with a deeper degree of fermentation, such as natural, honey, or anaerobic processed beans. For this session, Front Street selected Front Street Fenzhijie Estate · Higue from our bean list. The iced coffee made with it has an explosive juicy quality, presenting flavors of grape, passion fruit, and apricot—very striking! The extraction parameters are as follows:

Coffee dose: 15g (adjust flexibly according to your French press capacity)

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:10

Grind size: Ek43 setting 9, 85% passing rate on a No. 20 sieve, similar to fine granulated sugar.

Extraction water temperature: 100°C

Steeping time: 9 minutes

The steps are as follows:

①: First, pour all the coffee grounds and an appropriate amount of boiling water into the French press, and stir with any tool for about 10 circles. Then start the timer and let it sit for four minutes.

②: After four minutes, use a tool to push the coffee grounds floating on the surface down into the water, then wait for a second round, this time for five minutes.

③: After the five minutes are up, put the lid on the French press and push the filter down to the level of the coffee liquid.

④: After completing the above steps, take a cup filled with ice cubes (Front Street used 120g of ice here), and slowly pour the coffee over the ice. The purpose of this is to reduce the fine grounds being poured out and avoid a texture that's too rough.

Once most of the coffee has been poured, stir it with any tool, and you can enjoy this rich, delicious, refreshing, and heat-beating iced coffee~

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