As a simple-to-operate home coffee device, the French press is easy to use and can bring out coffee's rich, full-bodied flavor to a great extent. This article will start with the origin and evolution of the French press, explain why it is suitable for everyday brewing, and provide a detailed guide to making iced coffee with Front Street Coffee's Frontera Estate · Sidra coffee beans, including the complete parameters and steps: dose, grind size, water temperature, steep time, and pouring method, helping coffee lovers make a cup of iced coffee with pronounced fruity notes, bright acidity, and refreshing sweetness in hot weather.

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Among the many home coffee devices, the French press is arguably the most effortless one, and it can also preserve coffee's own flavors to a great extent. Coffee brewed with it often fully expresses that rich, full-bodied character. The French press is not complex in structure, and its appearance is hardly eye-catching, but it does have many advantages. Today Front Street will talk about its strengths and how to use it specifically~

The History of the French Press

The French press first appeared in France in 1850. It consists of a heat-resistant glass body (also available in transparent plastic) plus a metal filter with a plunger rod, making it a simply structured brewing device. It was originally used to brew black tea, so some people also call it a tea maker.

In March 1852, a mechanic from Malijin and a merchant jointly obtained a patent called "Piston-Filter Coffee Device." The patent described a metal can connected to a movable rod, with holes at the bottom of the rod and a layer of flannel clamped above and below. After manually pulling the movable rod, the rod moved within the cylindrical container. The inventor wrote: "Press the rod all the way down, and the filtered coffee remains above the rod, clean and clear."

It was not until the late 1920s, after a Milan company registered a patent for a modified version of the French press, that the French press gradually became more widely known. Within a few years after registering the patent, this company gradually improved the design of the French press. In 1935, they launched an improved French press—the disc structure at the bottom of the plunger was fitted with a spring, which could keep the disc flush with the bottom surface of the container. However, it took considerable effort for the French press to become popular in the United States. In the early 1980s, some Americans began to follow the British in using the French press and called it a cafetiere, while others called it a "French piston coffee machine."

If you just want to drink a cup of coffee, the French press is a good choice—because its brewing principle is immersion extraction, so it does not require much attention to technique or skill.

Guide to Making Iced Coffee with a French Press

If you want to drink a cup of sweet-and-sour, tasty iced coffee in the hot summer, Front Street recommends using coffee beans with a medium-light roast and a more deeply fermented processing method. For example, natural, honey, and anaerobic processing. The coffee beans used in this sharing by Front Street are Front Street's Frontera Estate · Sidra coffee beans from the bean list. The iced coffee made with them will have an explosively fruity character, with flavors of grape, passion fruit, and apricot, very prominent! The extraction parameters are as follows:

Dose: 30g

Coffee-to-water ratio: 1:10

Grind size: Ek43 setting 9, 85% passing through a No. 20 sieve, fine sugar-like consistency.

Water temperature: 100°C

Steep time: 9 minutes

The steps are as follows:

①: First, pour all the coffee grounds and an appropriate amount of hot water into the French press, and stir with any tool, about 10 circles is enough. Then start timing and wait four minutes.

②: After four minutes, use any tool to press the coffee grounds floating on the surface down into the water, then wait again! This time the waiting period is five minutes.

③: After five minutes, we can put the lid on the French press, then push the filter down to the surface of the coffee liquid.

④: After completing the above steps, take out a cup filled with ice cubes (the ice used here by Front Street is 120g), then slowly pour the coffee over the ice. The purpose of doing this is to reduce the fine grounds poured out, so the mouthfeel will not be too rough.

When the coffee has been poured out almost completely, finally take any tool and stir the coffee, and then you can start enjoying a rich, delicious, refreshing, summer-cooling iced coffee~

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