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French PressOriginating in 19th-century France, it is called French Press in English, and in Chinese it can also be referred to as a "French press pot." Although the exact time of its appearance is unclear, in 1852, the Frenchmen Mayer and Delforge founded the "Smith" company, applied for a patent for a piston-filter coffee device, and named the product "French Press," marking the emergence of the French press as a commercial product.  

The French press has a simple and convenient design. "Simple" refers to the French press's simple structure, simple principle, and simple operation.

The entireFrench pressconsists of a heat-resistant glass container and a metal filter with a plunger. When making coffee, you simply soak the coffee grounds and hot water in the glass container, then use the metal filter with the plunger to filter out the coffee grounds and get a relatively clean cup of coffee. The manual operation in the entire coffee brewing process consists of only three steps: adding grounds, adding water, and pressing the plunger.  

How to use a French press to brew a pot of coffee

Becausethe French pressmainly extracts coffee through immersion, within a fixed capacity, a certain amount of water evenly dissolves the substances in the coffee grounds. During extraction, the main influencing factor is time. The longer the immersion time, the more substances are extracted from the coffee until saturation, or until it reaches a state where extraction becomes difficult—that is, the longer it steeps, the stronger the taste.

Therefore, first confirm the coffee-to-water ratio. Front Street generally recommends a ratio of 1:15 to 1:16; these two ratio ranges have a higher tolerance for error, and most coffees show excellent taste and flavor within this range.

Next is determining the coffee grind size. For the French press, Front Street recommends choosing a coarser grind, because the French press uses a metal filter, and the gaps are visible to the naked eye; choosing a coarser grind also helps with better filtration. Coffee beans of different roast levels also have different grind sizes. Using the No. 20 standard sieve pass rate as the standard, medium-light roasted coffee beans can use a finer grind (pass rate 72-75%), and medium-dark roasted coffee beans can use a coarser grind (pass rate 68-71%).  

Then comes the water temperature. Because the French press uses immersion extraction, during the process the coffee grounds and water are relatively static, so a relatively high water temperature is chosen. For the same bean, the brewing water temperature for a French press is 2-3℃ higher than for pour-over. When brewing medium-light roasted coffee, it is recommended to use 91-94℃; when brewing medium-dark roasted coffee, it is recommended to use 88-91℃.  Finally, the immersion time. As mentioned above, time is very important for the French press. Through multiple brewing comparisons, Front Street believes that for most coffee beans, steeping for about 4 minutes according to Front Street's recommended parameters gives the best taste and mouthfeel. You can also use this set of parameters as a blueprint to develop your own favorite brewing parameters.  

The operation process is actually really convenient. Taking 15g of coffee grounds as an example, pour the ground coffee into the pot, then pour in 225-240ml of hot water, pull up the plunger, cover the pot lid, and wait 4 minutes. Then slowly press down the plunger so that the metal filter is pressed to one-quarter of the pot body, avoiding the fine grounds at the bottom surging upward.   The simple French press does not only have the simple function of brewing coffee. It can also serve as a cupping tool.

The process of making coffee with a French press is very similar to cupping; both use a static immersion method. Many people use a French press to test the quality of coffee beans. The French press brewing method recommended by James Hoffmann, author of The World Atlas of Coffee, is exactly the same as cupping.  

It can also be used to brew tea

The French press is a simple device that integrates immersion and filtration. It can be used to brew coffee, and of course it can also be used to brew black tea, and it is also very convenient to use. If you look carefully, you will find that the tea brewers sold on the market are very similar in structure to French presses.  

It can even froth milk

The French press can also be used to froth milk. If you want cold milk foam, then you need a manual milk frother. In fact, the structure of a manual milk frother is very similar to a French press. Pumping the plunger of the French press can also froth milk like a milk frother.  

Some people may ask: Can a French press make iced coffee?

At first, Front Street was quite surprised, but since a friend asked, we will share with everyone ourFrench pressiced coffee method after several attempts.  

The idea

for the French pressis based on the principle of immersion extraction. When normally making hot coffee with the same beans, coffee made with a French press is more balanced and has a thicker mouthfeel than pour-over. Therefore, we also referred to the Japanese iced pour-over method to make French press iced coffee. That is, use a small amount of hot water to soak the coffee, extract a concentrated hot coffee liquid, then pour it into ice cubes to dilute and cool it, forming iced coffee.  

 Considering that ice needs to be added to dilute the concentration of the coffee, it is not suitable to use light-roasted coffee with relatively high acidity to make iced coffee. One reason is that dilution will make the mouthfeel thinner, and another reason is that immersing light-roasted coffee with acidity can easily produce unpleasant flavors such as almond and peanut skin. In the end, Front Street decided to use Honduras Sherry coffee beans, which are characterized by a mellow mouthfeel and rich aromas of vanilla and sherry, making them very suitable for immersion extraction.  

Extraction plan

① Preparation stage: prepare a French press, electronic scale, glass cup, hot water, and ice cubes. Use 15 grams of coffee. In order to obtain a more concentrated hot coffee liquid, the ratio of coffee grounds to hot water is 1:8, and the water temperature is 94℃. In terms of grind size, because the French press uses a metal filter, it is not recommended to improve the extraction yield by adjusting to a finer grind. For grind size, use a medium-coarse grind (No. 20 standard sieve pass rate 65%).  

 ② Grind the coffee grounds, pour them into the French press, and pour in 120 grams of hot water (and start timing). Pour the water directly into the center.  

 ③ After 30 seconds, use a stirring rod to stir the coffee grounds layer to improve the coffee extraction yield, forming three layers: coffee liquid, coffee grounds, and coffee foam.  

 ④ Put on the French press lid and wait until 3 minutes. During this time, you can add 105 grams of ice cubes to the glass cup.   

⑤ After 3 minutes, slowly press down the plunger. Let it sit for 1 minute to allow the coffee grounds to settle.  

⑥ At the 4th minute, pick up the French press and pour the coffee liquid into the glass cup with ice cubes.  

 In this way, a cup of iced coffee made with a French press is complete. Because it is filtered with a metal filter, the surface still retains good coffee oils. The vanilla flavor of the Sherry coffee beans is well expressed, refreshing yet still mellow.

So, how do you disassemble and clean a French press?  

As mentioned earlier, the metal filter design of the French press retains the coffee oils. Although it is environmentally friendly and allows you to enjoy a pot of coffee without spending too much on filter paper, it also means the French press needs to be cleaned more carefully. If you are lazy and cut corners, the coffee oils remaining on the French press will affect the taste of the next cup of coffee.

 The structure of the French press is not complicated; it mainly consists of a glass body, a metal filter, and a plunger. The part to be disassembled is mainly the metal filter section, because it is composed of several layers, so it is difficult to clean the components inside thoroughly without taking it apart. First, grip the head of the plunger with one hand, and with the other hand twist and loosen the metal filter section. Then clean the remaining components, drain the water, and reassemble.

What delicious coffee beans are recommended for the French press?

Taking Front Street's coffee beans as an example, Front Street Coffee (FrontStreet Coffee) has coffee beans from more than 50 producing regions on its bean list. Each coffee bean has its own characteristics. Those suitable for the French press are none other thanIndonesian Mandheling coffee beans, Brazil Queen Estate coffee beans, and Honduras Sherry coffee beans. Whether in terms of mouthfeel or flavor, these beans are all very suitable for the French press.

Front Street suggests that when choosing coffee beans for French press brewing, you might consider beans with better balance, such as Front Street Blue Mountain No. 1, Front Street Bird of Paradise, Front Street Huilan, and Front Street Brazil Cerrado, which have flavors leaning toward dark chocolate and nuts; as for beans with richer mouthfeel layers, such as Ethiopian coffee, Front Street does not strongly recommend them. Because the French press uses immersion extraction, if the bean's flavor is mainly floral and fruity, it is relatively difficult to express the bean's rich layers with a French press.

The French press is not like pour-over coffee, which is affected by many factors such as temperature, pouring technique, and circling speed. The French press is a coffee device very suitable for beginners to operate. You only need to control thebrewingtime, because the longer the immersion time, the more substances are extracted from the coffee until saturation, or until it reaches a state whereextractionbecomes difficult—that is, the longer it steeps, the stronger the taste.

In addition, when everyone tastes French press and pour-over coffee at the same time, you will find that the coffee brewed with a French press has a layer of oil floating on the surface, while most pour-over methods usingfilter paperwill filter out most of the oils because of the filter paper. So compared with pour-over coffee, the French press has a thicker mouthfeel, but you will also drink tiny coffee grounds, because the metal filter design will still let some "slip through the net." Everyone should not mind it too much.
 

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